Peter Timusk,
Centre for Special Business Projects,
Statistics Canada.
Abstract
 This talk will present how an author approached
the task of writing a SAS Global Forum paper
starting almost a year before the paper was
presented.
 The scope of the paper and degree of difficulty of
the topic will also be discussed and compared to
an assessment of some papers presented at SAS
Global Forum 2012....
Abstract (continued)
 This assessment of papers presented in the past
allowed the author to write a straight forward
paper that in the end was accepted for SAS Global
Forum 2013.
Timeline for SAS Global Forum 2014
 March 23-26, 2014.
 Preliminary Agenda/Content November 2013.
 Registration Opens October 2013.
 Call for Content Opens July 2013 (Next Month).
Timeline for SAS Global Forum 2013
 April 28-May 1, 2013.
 Conference Schedule and Abstracts Available on the
Web 2013.
 Call for Papers Closed November 19th, 2012.
 Call for Papers Opened August 28th, 2012.
Timeline for SAS Global Forum 2013 (more
detail from author’s tasks perspective)
 Conference Schedule and Abstracts Available on the
Web early 2013 also about February 14th.
 Decision about paper’s acceptance February 14th.
 Call for Papers Closed November 19th, 2012.
 Call for Papers Opened August 28th, 2012.
Timeline for SAS Global Forum 2013 (more
detail from author’s tasks perspective)
 April 28-May 1, 2013.
 April 14, 2013 Deadline for Presentations to be
Uploaded.
 March 14th Papers Deadline for Papers to be Uploaded.
My method…
 Think of four paper topics and write titles down.
 Spend a few minutes each day thinking about the topic
and the code you might use.
 Start writing the paper(s).
 Get a co-worker to read the paper and be open to
changes
Writing and speaking
 The presentation also takes thought but should write
itself once the paper is completed.
 Plan to submit a draft by the deadline that is almost
the final draft.
 Think through the talk, may be give the talk as a
practice run to some coworkers.
Example my four ideas for 2014
1.
Double Checking and Text Parsing: Data dependent
problems. [ cover: Perl Match, sub string, length]
2. Two Good SAS Programers are Better than One Great
Programmer. [ cover: power programming, one
programmer retires, intellectual property
management, knowledge management]
Example my four ideas for 2014
3. Looping Through Error Checking. [cover: how I
improved a weak program that needs to process error
files and ignore false positives]
4. Just a DOS Command Loop Macro Program. [cover:
making folders, searching SAS programs as text
variables and look for a macro variable assignment of
a dataset name and then copy just that dataset to a
new location.]
Resources
 Blogs at SAS.com have tips for writing a SAS global
forum paper and tips for writing presentations.
 Questions?