"Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue."

The traditional rhyme for weddings could also be used to describe SESUG '97, the Fifth Annual Conference of the SouthEast SAS Users Group Conference. What do we mean by that? Well, we could take the easy way out, and simply advise you to find out at the Omni Jacksonville Hotel in Jacksonville, Florida between September 21-23, 1997. Instead, we'll explain ourselves right here and now:

Something Old: The most popular features from previous SESUG conferences will be returning for SESUG '97. Once again, there will be two distinct sections of Tutorials, separated into Beginning and Advanced topics. The expanded Statistics, Econometrics, and Time Series section, which was well received at SESUG '96 in Atlanta, should prove equally as popular in Jacksonville. Other sections, including Applications Development, Coders Corner, Host Systems, Information Visualization, and Posters will be returning in Jacksonville, as will SAS Institute's Formal On-line Demos and the Services and Information Area. And, we cannot forget to mention our Opening Session and Mixer on Sunday evening, and our Closing Session on Tuesday afternoon.

Something New: There are two new sections making their debut this year at SESUG '97. Technology 2000 will cover timely topics across the industry, such as Data Warehousing and Data Mining, the World Wide Web, and the Year 2000 Crisis. Serendipity, our other new section, will offer presentations on, well, almost anything! Papers on a variety of topics, many of which seem to fall between the dividin g lines of traditional categories, will now have a forum in Serendipity. The first two Co-Chairs for Serendipity thought it would be appropriate to have a theme, so they came up with: "Getting DATA into Information". Check out these two new an d exciting sections have gathered some very interesting and timely presentations!

Something Borrowed: Our Sunday program has been expanded in 1997. Last year's single Sunday afternoon course has grown into the Sunday Workshops, a popular feature at other SAS-related conferences. SESUG '97 attendees can now begin their conference experience on Sunday morning or afternoon, by registering for optional workshops on Data Warehousing, UNIX, Sample Size Analysis, or the SAS Supervisor. In ad dition, we will be introducing a "Meet the Presenters" luncheon to SESUG in Jacksonville - this will be your opportunity to discuss topics of mutual interest with some of the SESUG '97 speakers. PLUS, your Registration Packet will contain a ticket for either Monday's or Tuesday's luncheon, which is now included as part of your Registration Fee.

Something Blue: SESUG '97 attendees simply need to walk across the street from the Omni Jacksonville hotel to see the St. Johns River, then to look up to see a be autiful Florida sky. For those that wish to leave the conference hotel, a short drive will take them to the shore of the Atlantic Ocean.