This year marked my 15th year as a Microsoft MVP. To celebrate this milestone, Microsoft sent a number of us “15-timers” a list of interview questions that we were to answer. Some of these questions were answered in the following blog article:
For the sake of space, they only chose one of my answers. I thought it might be worth sharing the rest of my answers for those who might be curious why I enjoy the benefits of being an MVP.
What has motivated you to remain committed to the MVP program for the past 15 years?
I really value the immediate access to product team members at Microsoft that the MVP program provides. As a consultant who is working alongside multiple clients at any given time, I appreciate the twofold opportunity to learn about upcoming improvements to Microsoft products, which will help me deliver great solutions to my clients; and the opportunity to provide Microsoft product team members with feedback based on my real-world experience in the field. The annual MVP conference at Microsoft is the highlight of my professional year.
What impact has the MVP community had on your personal and professional growth?
Because the MVP award is based on one’s participation in the community, keeping my MVP status encourages me to seek speaking opportunities at various conferences. As an introvert, I may not naturally put myself “out there” if there weren’t for this extra motivation. However, once I attend an event that I’m speaking at, I always enjoy the opportunity to meet new people, and sometimes travel to another city. This has been rewarding personally.
Additionally, if I’m going to present at a conference, that usually means I’m trying to deliver a presentation on some new topic that folks want to hear about. If this topic is on some brand-new piece of technology or new product feature, it often requires me to dive into it technically so that I can deliver a helpful presentation. This forces me to take some time away from my “day job” to investigate something new. It’s not only rewarding, but it helps me talk about new products and features with my clients in a more intelligent way.
What advice would you give to new MVPs just starting their journey?
It’s easy to think that you have to do one particular activity to become an MVP, such as speak at conferences. However, the flexibility of MVP contributions means that you can lean into whatever communication medium you enjoy. For example, you can answer questions on message boards, write blog articles, record videos, lead a user group, or contribute code to a code repository.
Speaking personally, I received my MVP and then had 3 children after that. While I had presented at a lot of conferences in-person at first, when I had infants and toddlers at home, I focused on answering questions on message boards, blogging, speaking locally, and delivering presentations at virtual user groups. Now that my children are a bit older, I had the opportunity to take my oldest daughter with my to her first technical event this year in a different city. I have been able to focus on activities at different stages of my life that suited me to that period of time.
On another note, I would encourage MVPs to think beyond just Microsoft. I used to speak at a lot of Microsoft-centric events, but in recent years, Microsoft has shown that they value our leadership in other ways. This has encouraged me to speak about Microsoft technology at events that aren’t specifically Microsoft-focused. In this last year, I have volunteered to talk about my profession at a local middle school career fair, I have spoken at a “women in technology” event, talked about how Microsoft can help small businesses and non-profits during a technology-agnostic conference, and talked about how Microsoft helped me run by consulting practice at an event for business start-ups. Speaking at Microsoft-centric events is a fun way to make friends and lean into the products you’re already excited about, but sometimes speaking at those conferences can be a little like, “preaching to the choir”; they’re already Microsoft fans if they are there. I find it refreshing to bring my excitement of Microsoft tools to folks who maybe have never heard about them before and are excited to hear about something for the first time.
How do you balance your responsibilities as an MVP with your professional commitments?
As a business owner, speaking at conference not only helps me meet my MVP commitments, but it’s also a great opportunity to meet prospective clients as well as other technologists whom I can potentially partner with. Additionally, letting my clients know about my speaking engagements is one way I can remind my clients that I am a relevant thought leader. As such, the best thing I can do is to see my professional commitment as a business owner as being compatible with my MVP activities and not seeing them as competing responsibilities.