The MVP Award is defined by Microsoft as the below
Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals, or MVPs, are community leaders who’ve demonstrated an exemplary commitment to helping others get the most out of their experience with Microsoft technologies. They share their exceptional passion, real-world knowledge, and technical expertise with the community and with Microsoft.
This means that within the different areas of the Microsoft Stack there are those out there that really believe that the world can be a better place when we come together as a united front and share the knowledge that we have.
This can be knowledge that we have gained through personal experience of working with the products that we find the most interesting and beneficial to our personal & professional lives or though being there as a point of call for other members of the community to reach out to.
One thing about the MVP Program that has always struck me as an amazing program was the willingness of the MVP’s to do what they can to help you, even if it doesn’t immediately help them in achieving anything, often giving away a decent sized proportion of their own time to do so and in reflection on receiving this award, over the last year I’ve been doing the same, although completely unware that I had been doing so.
I have attended a number of different events in the last year (for more details check out the Where I Have Been page) and have met a tremendous number of amazing people at all these events. It was the framework for the SharePoint & SQL User Groups within the UK that lead me to start thinking about reviving the PowerShell User Groups and I have blogged about this in this post and I have enjoyed every minute of it.
The future for the UK PowerShell User Groups looked good however with being Awarded MVP last week the connections that I will make from being part of the UK MVPs will hopefully allow for the User Groups to grow in the coming months/years so expect there to be news of new User Groups forming in the coming months across the UK.
To help the groups grow, I’ll be putting together an “Organisers Pack” which contain useful information and a collection of the tools, contacts and general tips required which will help those interested in running a local group get it off the ground – however if in doubt get in contact with me.
However there is another aspect to receiving the MVP Award that I want to touch on briefly. As part of the MVP Program the MVP’s get the opportunity to help out in more community focused events, some ran by Microsoft, others ran by the community and others ran by non-profit organisations or the education sector. Giving back to the immediate communities is always going to be high up on my list of priorities however I am really looking forward to working with some of the bigger and more personally touching social opportunities over the next year.
This does mean that my calendar will be much busier but for me the end result is always going to be worth it.
Finally - A small shoutout to those that have supported me over the years and especially the last year and although I will not name anyone in particular, I’m sure that those people already know who they are!
2016 – 1 Quarter Down and 3 more to go and the Fun has only just begun!