Dear SAS-L readers, gurus, programmers:

Congratulations to all involved in our successful annual regional conference!! And THANKS !!! In a small way, here is partial re-payment: my notes:

Thanks to Kathy Council for a great Key Note, and a great team from SAS Institute, and our own regional leadership. Many from the SGF executive council joined 500 attendees.

Charlie Shipp PS: Check out sasCommunity.org for regional links.

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Western Users of SAS Software     SF 10-19-2007 Closing Session (15th annual 'WUSS' conference)          Co-chairs MaryAnne Hope (Operations) and Besa Smith (Academic) closed the conf. Photo snapshots of the conference included Registration; Code Doctors;  Cyber Café;  paper sessions presentations;  SAS Essentials;   Demos; Tutorial; and Other.

Thanks goes for all the volunteer support including section chairs, session coordinators and speakers (invited and contributed.)    SAS Institute and sponsoring vendors held their drawings for valuable prized including iPods, printers, and SAS course gift certificates.

John Smale gave a presentation on SAS Global Accounts   "IT Matters!" 

The awards for Best Paper were presented for the conference sections.   Analysis & Statistics:  David Mink et.al.      "Recreating the SELECTION=SCORE Model Specification with the BEST=n          Effect Selection Option for PROC SURVEYLOGISTIC"

  Application Development:   Vic de Leon      "Is Your UNIX/SAS System Healthy?"        Coder's Corner:  Eric Elkin      "Govern the Clock -- Adding the Run Data and Time of a SAS Program to          Your Log, LST, and RTF Output"

  Data Presentation and Business Intelligence:  Nathaniel Derby      "Revisiting DDE: An Updated Macro for Exporting SAS into          Custom-Formatted Excel Spreadsheets:  (Part I -- Usage and Examples)"

  Database Management and Wearhousing:   Mal Foley      "MISSING VALUES: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know"

  Management, Careers, & Professional Development:  Kirk Paul Lafler and C.E. Shipp,      "Consulting -- Critical Success Factors"

  Posters:  Jeanina Worden and Chunmei Yong      "A Datum to Remember: Using the RETAIN Statement"

The election results for User Group Liaison:   Wei Chang ((applause))

Chair Warren Stinson presented a few slides covering SGF 2008. It will be in San Antonio Texas, March 16-19.

The next annual western states conference will be in Universal City, Nov 5-7, 2008. Operations Chair:  Mary Katz       Academic Chair:  Patrick Thornton "We all had fun [2007] and will continue next year [2008].   Volunteer!

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