Interactive Innovation

Nothing beats an event for sharing strategies

Are you perhaps reading sas com on a bank of the Danube in Vienna, taking a breather between enterprise intelligence presentations at seugi 21? Or maybe sifting through business cards and printed materials you collected at the recent SAS Users Group International meeting in Seattle?

Whether you're reading this at an analyst symposium in Chicago, a data mining class in Las Vegas or an executive event at SAS' Cary, North Carolina, headquarters, you enhance your professional skills by attending presentations, participating in conferences, taking classes. Video conferences and Webcasts just can't take the place of real, face-to-face time with peers and colleagues.

But you already know that. In a recent reader survey, you told us that trade shows, conferences, seminars and demos provide the greatest value in helping you make decisions regarding technology.

In an InformationWeek study of the eight steps to an enterprise buying process, corporate managers consistently looked to peers and colleagues for their opinions before turning to any other source. InformationWeek tells us that this influence of peers and colleagues will continue to drive executives to attend select conferences and users group meetings.

Of course, different types of professionals in different parts of the buying cycle will turn to different sources of information. But few will argue against the strength of one-on-one communications.

That's why SAS participates in, sponsors and even hosts literally hundreds of events every year. You'll find us at conferences hosted by publications like Fortune, Forbes, Business 2.0, InformationWeek, BusinessWeek and BetterManagement.com. You'll find us at industry-specific trade shows and high-level conferences. And you'll find us at SAS users group meetings around the world.

And when you do see us, come by and say hello. We value the feedback we hear from SAS users and sas com readers – especially in person.

Diana M. Levey
sas com Editor-in-Chief

Matthew Barnason
sas com International Editor