Don't forget! MVP-led "Transform the Datacenter" Events all next week!

Just a quick reminder about some upcoming "Transform the Datacenter" events next week, led by a variety of Microsoft MVPs!  All of the events are free to attend. 

FL	Tampa	Monday, September 22	Adnan Cartwright, Telmo Sampaio, Max Trinidad (coordination w/Kevin Weilbacher)	Register to Attend
IL	Chicago	Monday, September 22	Trevor Sullivan, Annur Sumar, Brian Desmond	Register to Attend
WA	Bellevue	Tuesday, September 23	Brian Desmond (Coordination with Zubair Alexander)	Register to Attend
AZ	Tempe	Wednesday, September 24	Jason Helmick, Rory Monaghan, David Lundell, Tom Ziegmann	Register to Attend
CO	Denver	Thursday, September 25	Greg Shields	Register to Attend
TX	Houston	Friday, September 26	Anil Desai	Register to Attend
MI	Detroit	Saturday, September 27, 2014	Andy Syrewicze	Register to Attend
OH	Cincinnati	Saturday, September 20, 2014	Kevin Royalty	Register to Attend

Events for Your September Calendar

Do not ask me what happened to August. I have no idea. But as September will be quickly upon us, you might need something to do.

The Transform the Datacenter MVP Roadshow might very well be coming your way.  Some awesome MVP will be talking about what you might be missing from Server 2012 R2 and what you need to think about when it comes to migrating from older versions of Windows that are in your datacenter.

CA	San Francisco	Tuesday, September 2	Doug Spindler	Register to Attend
FL	Tampa	Monday, September 22	Adnan Cartwright, Telmo Sampaio, Max Trinidad (coordination w/Kevin Weilbacher)	Register to Attend
IL	Chicago	Monday, September 22	Trevor Sullivan, Annur Sumar, Brian Desmond	Register to Attend
WA	Bellevue	Tuesday, September 23	Brian Desmond (Coordination with Zubair Alexander)	Register to Attend
AZ	Tempe	Wednesday, September 24	Jason Helmick, Rory Monaghan, David Lundell, Tom Ziegmann	TBD
CO	Denver	Thursday, September 25	Greg Shields	Register to Attend
TX	Houston	Friday, September 26	Anil Desai	Register to Attend
MI	Detroit	Saturday, September 27, 2014	Andy Syrewicze	Register to Attend
OH	Cincinnati	Saturday, September 20, 2014	Kevin Royalty	Register to Attend

Also, IT Roadmap is coming to San Jose on September 17.  I've attended this event two or three times over the years and it's usually pretty interesting.  If you qualify, it's free.

IT Roadmap San Jose

Wednesday, September 17

San Jose Convention Center

7:30 am – 4:30 pm

Learn More - Attend For Free by Registering Here.  

Get out there and stay busy!

Found a Bunch of Smart People in a Room? You must be at MVP Summit!

This week I had the honor of attending the MVP Summit in Bellevue, Washington. This was my 5th Summit, though my first as a Microsoft blue-badge. I was very excited to be able to spent the week with so many smart people in the tech industry, but sad to know that I can’t be an MVP and an Microsoft employee at the same time. Over the last 4 years, I’ve made some great connections through the program and Summit is one of my favorites ways to catch up with colleagues that I only see on-line or via social media.

For those of you who’ve never heard of it, the MVP Program is a reward program for tech-minded people who also spend time contributing to the community. Participating in forums, writing blogs or authoring books, and running user groups that are involved with Microsoft products are some of the ways MVP Awardees make their mark.

Below you'll find a list of the people I've crossed paths with at Summit this year. I've listed them primary by Twitter handle because they span the globe and are worthy of you following them if you also use Twitter.  If you aren’t a Twitter user, check out their profiles anyway, you’ll often find links to their blogs and other resources!

First, those who need little introduction:

• @edbott (Ed Bott) - the tech journalist powerhouse and his lovely wife, @judybott (Judy Bott). 
• @mminasi (Mark Minasi) - the man behind MR&D, dozens of books on Microsoft server products and an endless number of keynote speeches.

For the 2nd year in a row, Ed Bott combined forces with three other MVP Eds, because we know four Ed’s are always better than one! So don’t forget to check out the workings of:

• @ehorley (Ed Horley) - Networking geek, IPv6 expert and soon to be author. Pre-order his book, Practical IPv6 for Windows Administrators.
• @Pluralsight_Ed (Ed Lieberman) - Technology trainer at Pluralsight and it turns out I’ve only known him for 10 months, though it seems like 10 years.
• @itpromct (Ed Gallagher) - Whom I met at my very first MVP Summit in a session on Exchange Server, but only learned this year that in addition to technology, he also hand-makes the most FABULOUS jewelry.

It’s hard to pin these guys down for long, but I was lucky to get at least quick moments with:

• @jeremymoskowitz (Jeremy Moskowitz) - The man behind GPAnswers.com, he’s usually so busy he never comes to Summit so I was pleasantly surprised to spend a moment with him!
• @grouppolicyguy (Darren Mar-Elia) - Known for his GPO prowess, Darren also speaks regularly about PowerShell, Desired State Configuration and Cloud.
• @JPBruzzese (J. Peter Bruzzese) - The only Exchange MVP on my list, Peter and I often orbit each other at conferences never crossing paths for more than a few minutes at time. MVP Summit was no exception. If you can pin him down, ask him about Exchange or his book, The Conversational Geek.

My friends from the “North” aka Canada:

• @darcy_lussier (Darcy Lussier) - My first conversation with Darcy was oddly about his hair, which is good because he’s an ASP.net MVP and I can’t talk about that at all.
• @jason_miller (Jason Miller) - Jason specializing in the SMB market and is active in the UG communities in Winnepeg.
• @ToddLamo (Todd Lamothe) - I met Todd two Summits ago when I was crazy sick and he kept me going by sharing his stash of cold medication.  Turns out he can deploy Windows pretty well too.

My California Cohorts and PacITPros Members:

• @UberGeekGirl (Jessica DeVita) - Do you live in SoCal? Do you need help with your computer? Call Jessica and consider it solved. Seriously.
• @jldeen (Jessica Deen) - The Bay Area is lucky to have someone who can walk between the Apple and Windows support worlds so easily!
• @scevans (Steve Evans) - Everything I might happen to understand about IIS I probably learned for Steve. Also, I think he understood DevOps long before it was a buzz word.
• @dougspindler (Doug Spindler) - The long time leader of PacITPros.org, college instructor and MCT, Doug lives to make sure IT Pros keep learning.
• @the_yeti (Jeremy Anderson) - Do you have an question about small business server or Server Essentials? This is your guy. I know people who swear by him, I’m not kidding.
• @alexlewis (Alex Lewis) - I swear I think I’ll followed him on Twitter long before I met him in person, Alex specializes in Unified Communications and Lync and is active in several user groups in the Bay Area.
• @richardhicks (Richard Hicks) - Another Enterprise Security MVP who’s be a repeat speaker at PacITPro.org events and other popular conferences.

Worlds apart, but they answer to the same name:

• @ftp_Alun (Alun Jones) - First introduced to me by Ed Horley, Alun always seems to be one of the first people I run into at Summit.  He’s a Washington local who specializes in Enterprise Security.
• @alanburchill (Alan Burchill) - I met Alan on the shuttle bus at my first Summit and for a while I ONLY ran into him on the shuttle bus. One of the few Group Policy MVPs, Alan makes the trip from Australia and does way more than just ride buses around campus! Remember, when it's midnight in the US and you are stuck in group policy bind, it's like 4pm where he is.

Where Tech is “Concentrated”:

• @concentratdgreg (Greg Shields) - Looking for Greg? Look no further than the popular conference, TechMentor Events. Not only does he act as Chair for that event, you shouldn’t miss a chance to hear him talk about Remote Desktop Services.
• @theJasonHelmick (Jason Helmick) - The first time I met Jason about two years ago, he taught me some PowerShell. Let him teach you some PowerShell and you won’t regret it.

Since I can’t program my way out of a box, it pays to know some developers:

• @RobinDotNet (Robin Shahan) - My list wouldn’t be complete with out an Azure MVP. Robin runs the Bay Area Azure Developers group and one of these days I swear, I’m going to make one of her meetings.
• @scottcate (Scott Cate) - Another ASP.NET MVP, Scott is also the founder of EventDay.com, an event management tool.
• @m_rosenberg (Mark Rosenberg) - Long time developer and certified trainer, I almost didn’t recognize Mark this year sporting his “Texas” beard!

And finally, these guys could easily stand alone, but what fun would that be?:

• @joe_elway (Aidan Finn) - I met Aidan for the first time when he came to present at a PacITPros event in San Francisco and it might be safe to say he knows more about virtual machines than you do.
• @SFoskett (Stephen Foskett) - Every time I talk to him I understand Storage more and more. Plus he’s a pretty awesome speaker.

Phew... no wonder I needed a weekend to recover from Summit. It's truly special to be able to spend nearly a week with people who not only understand technology, but also get that a thriving community is the only way technology grows.  If I missed you at Summit or accidentally omitted you in my list here... so sorry!  I didn't even include all the folks from Microsoft that I spent time with this year, for fear that you'd stop reading in exhaustion.

If you've gotten this far, I think I might owe you a coffee or something.

Redmond Bound!

I'll be heading out this weekend to attend the MVP Summit at Microsoft in Washington.  This is my second opportunity to attend this event, so I'm looking forward to getting out there and catching up with some of the MVPs I met last year.  (Though I admit, I'm not looking forward to the chilly, wet weather.)  Meanwhile, enjoy the next few days and perhaps I'll have some stories to tell when I return!

New Year = Second Year Microsoft MVP!

I’m excited to share that I’ve been awarded the Microsoft MVP award for the second year. 2011 is certainly starting out with a bang and I’m honored to spend another year as part of this great group of technical folks who are involved in supporting the community.

I’m looking forward to another great few days at the MVP Summit in February, catching up with the likes of Emily Freet, Stephen Rose and Jake Gray from Microsoft and some of my fellow MVPs!

Bytes by TechNet

Last week at TechEd, Microsoft TechNet launched a new web page called Bytes By TechNet, which features interviews of IT Professionals from the community and Microsoft attending TechEd 2010 by IT Professional Evangelists Keith Combs, Chris Henley, Matt Hester and Harold Wong. Topic included Windows 7, Windows Server, Windows Azure, SQL Azure, BPOS, Sharepoint 2010, Office 2010, Exchange Server 2010 and SQL Server 2008 and a variety of additional topics that they are passionate about.

I was one of the IT Pros interviewed and you can check out my video here. Check back every week as the TechNet team posts new interviews. They've got a great list of IT Pros scheduled!

The MVP Summit ends, but the experience continues

I had a fantastic time at the MVP Summit this past week. I enjoyed two days of sessions on Microsoft’s campus, as well as keynotes and other side events in downtown Bellevue to complete the four day adventure.

Even though I’m a Windows Desktop Experience MVP, I hit sessions from some of my other interest areas too – particularly Exchange and Directory Services. It meant I spent a lot of time switching between shuttle buses and hoping I didn’t arrive too late to sessions, but it was well worth the effort. Some of the sessions brought to my attention current features that I need to spend more time looking at and others highlighted things that will just have to wait a bit, due to the MVP NDA.

In addition to all the learning opportunities, I’ve met some great people and have run into some familiar faces from attending TechEd and other tech conferences over last few years. Now I have new blogs to check out, new people to follow on Twitter and more ways share information about technology.

All in all, my first Summit has been a great experience and a stellar way to start my first year as an MVP. I’m looking forward to staying in contact with Microsoft staff and my fellow MVPs the rest of year through other online and live events. And I hope I’ll get to enjoy this all again next year!

Looking forward to the MVP Summit

Next week, I’ll be heading to Bellevue and Redmond, WA to take part in the annual Microsoft MVP Summit. This is my first chance to attend the summit, so I’m hoping to make the most of it! I spent some time last week working on my conference schedule and it looks like it’s going to be a busy few days - full of interactions with members of the various Microsoft product teams and plenty of presentations and activities. I almost wish I could be in two places at once so I could attend sessions that share time slots.

I’m also looking forward to meeting other Windows Desktop Experience MVPs, as well as those in other technical areas I’m interested in, like Remote Desktop Services, Exchange, Active Directory and SharePoint. Events like this always get me jazzed about ongoing or upcoming projects I can work on - I'm sure next week will not disappoint!

Confessions of a new MVP

I confess. I've been a Microsoft MVP for less than 2 weeks and I didn’t realize what I was getting into. There is a well-known quote from "The Matrix" where Cypher says to Neo, "I know what you're thinking, 'cause right now I'm thinking the same thing. Actually, I've been thinking it ever since I got here: Why oh why didn't I take the BLUE pill?"

I thought I had a pretty good handle on what resources I had available to me as an IT professional. TechNet, conferences, white papers, sponsored webcasts, blogs, books, user groups, training classes… My schedule was easy to fill.

And then comes the MVP award. Sure, I could just hang my certificate in my cube and call it a day. After all, it’s an award for recognizing past contributions to the tech community. But turns out its more than just an award. It’s a door to a world of resources and information that I didn’t know existed.

Barely a week has passed and I find myself trying to be realistic about the amount of information I can actually consume in the next year. There are more webcasts and chats and online meetings and downloadable resources than I can even begin to get my head around. I feel like a kid in a candy store, or perhaps like someone in the TV aisle of Best Buy, trying to figure out where to focus my attention first.

I’m sure I’ll have a better handle on what direction I should be facing as I get more comfortable with the ins and outs of the program. I’m looking forward to being able to use this experience as a way to give back to all those who’ve helped me out of a jam with a timely blog post or magazine article. But until then it seems like I’m back at my first days as a high school freshman. Does anyone know the way to the cafeteria?

New Year, New Adventure

I was excited to wake up this morning to an email from the Microsoft MVP Program, congratulating me on earning an award for 2010 in the technology area of "Windows Desktop Experience." I'm honored to have the chance to be part of this group and continue to contribute to the technology community.

After nearly 10 years of being part of the Pacific IT Professionals user group, I think this type of community might just be in my blood. I hope this award allows me to bring even more benefits to our growing group of IT professionals.

I'm looking forward to learning more about Microsoft and meeting other fellow MVPs at the upcoming summit in February. Here's to 2010!