Malcolm Gladwell headlines SAS analytics conferences

Outliers’ author presents alongside JMP customers, thought leaders on innovation

CARY, NC - Malcolm Gladwell, author of best-sellers Blink and The Tipping Point, will be the keynote speaker for the back-to-back analytics conferences. Gladwell will share surprising discoveries about who succeeds and why from his latest book, Outliers, and meet attendees at a book signing. His speech marks the end of Discovery 2009 and opens the Innovators’ Summit.

At Discovery 2009, Sept. 16-18, users of JMP® statistical discovery software from SAS will exchange best practices in their respective industries, learn proven statistical techniques and discuss the latest data visualization and data modeling trends. Highlights:

* Meet the chief architect of JMP software. The conference offers several chances to meet JMP developers, including JMP creator John Sall, also co-founder and Executive Vice President of SAS.
* Explore predictive analytics. Data visualization expert Stephen Few demonstrates the use of the JMP Prediction Profiler for building predictive business models and exploring how changes in one variable affect other variables.
* Dine at the Chicago Botanic Garden. The Discovery Cocktail Reception and Dinner takes place at the Chicago Botanic Garden, a pre-eminent center for learning and scientific research where researchers use JMP software.
* Learn from peers. JMP users show how they are using data to meet Army National Guard readiness and deployment needs, classify breast cancer cells, improve golf swings, teach statistics, share world-changing designed experiments, support Lean Six Sigma improvement processes, identify the NBA’s most valuable player and more.
* Hone JMP skills. Pre-conference workshops offer hands-on JMP training Sept. 14-16.

The Innovators’ Summit, Sept. 18-19, features world-renowned writers, statistics experts and decision makers across various industries. Speakers describe innovative breakthroughs achieved by harnessing and spreading the use of analytics in their organizations. Highlights:

* Learn to spot bogus data. Best-selling author of Damned Lies and Statistics and Stat-Spotting, Joel Best shows why statistical literacy is critical for evaluating numbers that astonish, arouse and alarm.
* Visualize “green” organizations. Daniel Arneman, environmental specialist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, explains how analytics helps UNC achieve climate neutrality.
* Tour the world of the analytical elite. Stephen Baker, BusinessWeek writer and author of The Numerati, discusses how sophisticated mathematicians and computer scientists are analyzing personal data to provide insights and predictions to retailers, political campaigns, employers and others.
* Meet a baseball statistician. Sig Mejdal, St. Louis Cardinals analyst, provides a look into player projections and data-driven decision making in the big leagues.
* Dine with experts. The Innovators’ Summit Dinner Dates promises stimulating conversation among diners and distinguished thought leaders with common interests.

About JMP

JMP is a business unit of SAS, established in 1989 to create interactive statistical discovery software for the desktop. John Sall, SAS co-founder and Executive Vice President, also heads the JMP business unit.

About SAS
SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions delivered within an integrated framework, SAS helps customers at more than 45,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know® .