Featured Presentations
Robin L. Smith, PhD
Best-Selling Author"Deleting Stress from Your Life – Downloading Personal Power"
Technology Connection and Keynote Presentation
8 a.m., Monday, March 17
Robin L. Smith, PhD, is a national television personality, best-selling author, preacher, keynote speaker and licensed psychologist. Smith's long-awaited relationship book, Lies At The Altar – The Truth About Great Marriages, is a No. 1 national best-seller on the lists of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Publisher's Weekly, Entertainment Weekly and many other publications.
Smith's first book, Inspirational Vitamins: A Guide To Personal Empowerment, was received with great enthusiasm and acclaim. Whether on television, addressing one of her convention or seminar audiences, or preaching a sermon, "Dr. Robin," as she is affectionately called, is best known for delivering a powerful and practical message.
Smith, a national and local television correspondent, is a frequent contributor to the Oprah Winfrey Show and has appeared numerous times on news and entertainment programs such as The Today Show, Good Morning America and Larry King Live. As one of the most sought-after speakers and relationship experts in the country, she is often quoted in national publications. She has produced an award-winning documentary on women and AIDS as well as instructional videos on stress management and other health-related issues. She now has her own show on XM Satellite Radio, Channel 156.
Smith is the founder and president of Ordered Steps International Inc., a consulting firm that advises corporations and institutions around issues of change management, stress management, human difference and diversity, managerial effectiveness, violence in the workplace, debriefing of critical incidents, sexual harassment and productivity in the workplace. She is also an adjunct professor at Palmer Theological Seminary, formerly Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Smith earned her doctorate in counseling psychology from Temple University, her master's degree from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary and her undergraduate degree from LaSalle University.
Arthur L. Carpenter
California Occidental Consultants"Programming for Job Security: Maximize Your Indispensability – Becoming a Specialist"
Lunch and Technology Presentation*
12:30 p.m., Monday, March 17
A great deal has been said about programming techniques designed for the efficiency and maintainability of SASŪ programs. We are taught to write code that minimizes machine and programmer resources. Unfortunately, easily maintained code requires fewer programmers, and fewer programmers mean pink slips and less job security. In these troubled times, programmers need to be able to maximize their indispensability. They need to become specialists – job security specialists.
In this tongue-in-cheek technology presentation, Arthur L. Carpenter will share with the audience how they can secure financial protection for themselves and their families by applying his suggested programming techniques. These techniques will cover programming style, editing style and naming conventions, as well as statements to use and to avoid. He will also cover ideas such as learning how to blur data steps, make non-assigning assignment statements, rewrite functions, take advantage of obscure options, use language features to full effect, and, in general, write code that no one will be able to figure out.
Carpenter, who has presented frequently at SUGI, SAS Global Forum and other users group conferences, has written four books and numerous papers. He has been using SASŪ since 1976 and has served in various leadership positions in local, regional, national and international users groups. In 2003, Carpenter served as the Conference Chair of SUGI 28. He is a SAS Certified Advanced Programmer, and through California Occidental Consultants, he teaches SAS courses and provides contract SAS programming support nationwide.
* Extra-fee event. Included in the Meal Deal
Paul D. Allison, PhD
Professor of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania"Convergence Failures in Logistic Regression"
Statistics and Data Analysis Featured Presentation
10:30 a.m., Monday, March 17
A frequent problem in estimating logistic regression models is a failure of the likelihood maximization algorithm to converge. In most cases, this failure is a consequence of data patterns known as complete or quasi-complete separation. For these patterns, the maximum likelihood estimates simply do not exist. In his presentation, Paul D. Allison, PhD, will review how and why complete or quasi-complete separation occurs. He will discuss the effects the separation produces and describe and evaluate several possible solutions.
Allison is Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has taught for the
last 25 years, and President of Statistical Horizons. He has published seven books and more than 50
articles dealing with a wide variety of statistical methods, including linear regression, logistic
regression, structural equation models, inequality measures, missing data and survival analysis. His
books include three for SAS: Survival Analysis Using SAS, Logistic Regression Using SAS, and
Fixed Effects Regression Methods for
Longitudinal Data Using SAS.
He regularly offers short courses on survival analysis, logistic regression and missing data. After completing his doctorate in sociology at the University of Wisconsin, he did postdoctoral study in statistics at the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania. A former Guggenheim Fellow, Allison received the 2001 Lazarsfeld Award for distinguished contributions to sociological methodology.
The Passing Zone
Jon Wee and Owen MorseLunch and Featured Presentation*
Noon, Tuesday, March 18
Take two guys who juggle. Put them in tights, throw in a Garden Weasel, and what do you get? Well, it's kind of hard to explain. They're called The Passing Zone. They'll amaze you. And make you laugh.
The Passing Zone (Jon Wee and Owen Morse) are unlike any other speakers – they deliver a presentation that is unique and absolutely unforgettable. Their comedy is hilarious, and their stunts are thrilling. They've been featured on The Today Show, Live with Regis and Kelly and The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. They were finalists on NBC's hit reality show, America's Got Talent.
These guys do more than just talk about teamwork; they demonstrate it. Wee and Morse have been a team for more than 18 years, and they depend on each other for the success of crazy juggling stunts. They're funny and they've got class – so much class that they were asked to perform at the Royal Command Performance for Prince Charles in London.
They break things like five Guinness World Records. And they've won 18 gold medals from the International Jugglers' Association – more than any other team in the world. They've appeared on television shows you've actually watched (The Tonight Show), in movies you've actually viewed (The Addams Family) and at venues you've actually seen (Caesars Palace and the MGM Grand).
* Extra-fee event. Included in the Meal Deal