I've just been reawarded. 2008 will be spent with "MVP" after my name for my services to the community about Exchange Server. This is now my fifth year of nomination and I am very pleased to continue. I have made a lot of friends through this program and met some truly influential people.
Now that I know I am in the program in April, I can get ready for Summit (www.mvpsummit2008.com). So where did I put my rowing boat and which way is Seattle?
Showing posts with label MVP. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MVP. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
UK Office User Group
UK Excel MVP Nick Hodge will be speaking at an event in TVP Reading next month. He's a great and charismatic speaker even if you have no interest in "Customising the Ribbon UI".
The event is at: Microsoft Campus, Thames Valley Park Reading RG6 1WG UK. on Friday April 27th 2007.
The event is FREE and anyone wishing to register should go to http://www.officeusergroup.co.uk/ or email rich@gordonassociates.co.uk to register.
Also speaking are Rod Gordon, David Parker and Dave McMahon plus others but I've seen those three in action and they really know their stuff.
The event is at: Microsoft Campus, Thames Valley Park Reading RG6 1WG UK. on Friday April 27th 2007.
The event is FREE and anyone wishing to register should go to http://www.officeusergroup.co.uk/ or email rich@gordonassociates.co.uk to register.
Also speaking are Rod Gordon, David Parker and Dave McMahon plus others but I've seen those three in action and they really know their stuff.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Sleepless from Seattle
Managed to get up to my bed at something like 9pm, barely conscious after a long and weary trek of 5,000 miles though I did sleep a bit on the plane on Saturday night. So why have I been wide awake since before 2am UK time?
Seattle is a great place to visit but it is entirely too surreal to judge as Summit is a week of 110% commitment. Up early, pushing through the day, some event in the evening and then a periodic drink afterwards.
It is great fun to be an Exchange Server MVP, especially given the characters in the group. I don't get to the other major Exchange events in the US (Exchange Connections and TechEd US) so I don't know the people as well as they know each other, but it was a blast. Roll on next Summit.
Given the NDAness of the event, most comments will be held in check but thanks go to Karen, Laura, Lorna, Mark, Melissa for very different reasons.
Upsides: Learned a lot and not just about Exchange. Managed to get some sightseeing in so I felt like a tourist (Bainbridge Island and the Space Needle). Managed to swing my first seat upgrade although it was not for me.
Downsides: Not many really. The program was tightly packed so the collective downtime was minimal. The little Hitler on the plane acknowledged the seat was wet, supplied a blanket and refused to entertain the idea of moving us. Maybe he was expecting Club Class to fill up at the next stop.
Oh and the Westin is ideally located, full of MVPs and the beds are good. Though by the time an MVP hits the sack, anything will be fine.
Seattle is a great place to visit but it is entirely too surreal to judge as Summit is a week of 110% commitment. Up early, pushing through the day, some event in the evening and then a periodic drink afterwards.
It is great fun to be an Exchange Server MVP, especially given the characters in the group. I don't get to the other major Exchange events in the US (Exchange Connections and TechEd US) so I don't know the people as well as they know each other, but it was a blast. Roll on next Summit.
Given the NDAness of the event, most comments will be held in check but thanks go to Karen, Laura, Lorna, Mark, Melissa for very different reasons.
Upsides: Learned a lot and not just about Exchange. Managed to get some sightseeing in so I felt like a tourist (Bainbridge Island and the Space Needle). Managed to swing my first seat upgrade although it was not for me.
Downsides: Not many really. The program was tightly packed so the collective downtime was minimal. The little Hitler on the plane acknowledged the seat was wet, supplied a blanket and refused to entertain the idea of moving us. Maybe he was expecting Club Class to fill up at the next stop.
Oh and the Westin is ideally located, full of MVPs and the beds are good. Though by the time an MVP hits the sack, anything will be fine.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Nick Gillott MS-MVP (Exchange)
Yes, another calendar year starts and another round of renewals of MVPs. This year I made the cut so for the fourth year running I can declare myself to be an MVP in Exchange Server. MVPs are "recognized, credible, and accessible individuals".
Heck, two out of three ain't bad.
The new tagline is 'Independent Experts, Real World Answers'. Well yes, that's probably less patronising although I liked Jonathan Goodyear's comment from http://www.aspnetpro.com/opinion/2006/03/asp200603jg_o/asp200603jg_o.asp:
"In Microsoft parlance, MVP stands for Most Valuable Professional. I’m an MVP, so people often ask me what that means. Frankly, I’ve asked myself that very same question many times, and I wasn’t very confident about the answer I came up with. As an experiment, I asked numerous other MVPs, Microsoft employees, and other influential people in the industry their definition of a Microsoft MVP. The range of answers I got was pretty broad. I heard everything from “MVPs are super talented developers” (Microsoft employees are pre-programmed to use the word super in every other sentence) to “MVPs are developers who contribute to newsgroups a lot.” "
So for the next 12 months, I shall be responding to punters questions using google and the keywords they provide plus the little knowledge I possess about a reasonably decent application.
Heck, two out of three ain't bad.
The new tagline is 'Independent Experts, Real World Answers'. Well yes, that's probably less patronising although I liked Jonathan Goodyear's comment from http://www.aspnetpro.com/opinion/2006/03/asp200603jg_o/asp200603jg_o.asp:
"In Microsoft parlance, MVP stands for Most Valuable Professional. I’m an MVP, so people often ask me what that means. Frankly, I’ve asked myself that very same question many times, and I wasn’t very confident about the answer I came up with. As an experiment, I asked numerous other MVPs, Microsoft employees, and other influential people in the industry their definition of a Microsoft MVP. The range of answers I got was pretty broad. I heard everything from “MVPs are super talented developers” (Microsoft employees are pre-programmed to use the word super in every other sentence) to “MVPs are developers who contribute to newsgroups a lot.” "
So for the next 12 months, I shall be responding to punters questions using google and the keywords they provide plus the little knowledge I possess about a reasonably decent application.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Share the knowledge
Sitting next to the quietly spoken (but highly vocal) Tommy Lee on Friday (http://tfl09.blogspot.com/) and Tommy was blown away about the leaps with which the Exchange team have taken 2007 well beyond anything he could comprehend.
In fact Tommy was heard to say Exchange was "cool". It has taken 15 years apparently to get him to admit this but unfortunately there was no tape recording of the event.
So he starts asking me all sorts of things about UM, minor issues he's having and "how do you". Quite apart from any minor issues with hangovers that early in a morning Tommy, I can't recall much about the detail as it has been a while since I played with the product. But it made me think about the MVPs and product specialists in other areas who want to use Exchange or another product they are vaguely familiar with. The exchange (lower case E) of knowledge where VMs are available at events for an electronic chalk and talk - now that would be handy.
A sort of Ask The Experts booth for the experts to use.
In fact Tommy was heard to say Exchange was "cool". It has taken 15 years apparently to get him to admit this but unfortunately there was no tape recording of the event.
So he starts asking me all sorts of things about UM, minor issues he's having and "how do you". Quite apart from any minor issues with hangovers that early in a morning Tommy, I can't recall much about the detail as it has been a while since I played with the product. But it made me think about the MVPs and product specialists in other areas who want to use Exchange or another product they are vaguely familiar with. The exchange (lower case E) of knowledge where VMs are available at events for an electronic chalk and talk - now that would be handy.
A sort of Ask The Experts booth for the experts to use.
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