Category Windows 7

Welcome to Johnson County Community College, Microsoft’s newest Microsoft IT Academy!

We were welcomed heartily and had the attendance of students, faculty, community, IT Professionals, and those looking forward to a career in IT.    We visited them in the morning and in the evening, for another series of stops on our whirlwind adventure!   This provided an excellent opportunity to reach multiple audiences over these periods of times and the interaction was exciting.    We even were honored to deliver their ITA Plaque in person!

While being given a tour of this absolutely beautiful facility we came across The Center for Entrepreneurship which offers assistance with Small Business and Start-ups.   Due to the Small Business and Start-up nature of this center, Brian Prince discussed with them the opportunities Microsoft can assist in that market with the BizSpark program which is designed to accelerate success by providing fast affordable access to current, full-featured Microsoft tools and technologies, plus production licensing for hosted solutions.    I’m familiar with the BizSpark program and quite honestly, it is quite cool and if you’re a startup you should check it out!

I had the opportunity to talk with IT Professional Reed Porter who has quite a diverse and expertise background in the technology industry with heavy focus on Microsoft.   His investment in Microsoft and the community is one to be honored, including contributions to SpringBoard in the form of content and community!   He’s a great asset to the community and an amazing resource to business, in fact I believe he is looking for a new direction in his career so if you’re interested in leveraging his expertise I’d suggest getting in touch with him! Turns out he’s also on Twitter! @reedracer

So, I don’t know about you, but I love community and I love to meet the people in the community even more.   Your stories are inspirational and make this this community exactly what it is, a hotbed of opportunity, growth and wonder.    I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible in our remaining 5 days before we get to TechEd, and especially while at TechEd in Los Angeles!   See you in Denver, Colorado in the morning!

What a day, what a day!   This event was particularly Wow!   Our good friends at New Horizons in Kansas City, KS really know how to throw a party!   Well, not a party per se, more of a comprehensive training event which turned out a considerable amount of people, over 400!

Here the New Horizons Kansas City folks introduce the MSLearning team as they kick off the events of the afternoon!

Joanne delivers a presentation on Certification 101, all the details you need to know about the Microsoft Certification tracks and what to expect.   The halls were overflowing with people as they watched attentively to the presentation being delivered.   After Joanne was finished, Liberty delivered an indepth overview of what actually goes on in the creation and delivery of the certification exams which we eventually end up taking.

Attentions were rife, and seats were filled, not to mention the really cool mirrored ceiling which looked good enough for this Flag photo I was able to get here!

The organization which appeared to go into this event definitely paid off as the numbers of people in attendance was absolutely awe inspiring.   Tjeerd delivered what is quite possibly not only the best presentation on Windows 7, but also one of the most fun and exciting deliveries of it to be seen, the likes of which would have Steve Balmer jealous as he really got the audience engaged and excited about Windows 7!

Thanks New Horizons Kansas City for allowing us to partake in your wonderful event and being such great hosts while we visited here in Kansas City!  Be sure to follow them on twitter @nhkc

We’re on the road again with an all night trip out to Denver, CO now – So, see you in the morning and more details as the wheels on the bus go a-rolling!

Wow! Welcome to Exton, Pennsylvania! We drove tirelessly from Greensboro, NC all through the night to end up here in PA this amazing (rainy) day.    But What a day and what an event that lay before us as we arrived!   It started with a wonderful greeting in the rain!

Ken Rosen shakes hands here with Nadine Sievers and Certified Trainer, MCT, MCTS Project server and Project, Melanie Rosen (Oh, did I mention Professional Photographer?! :))

Bruce Cooper starts off Springhouse TechFest 2009 to a full room. Full crowd on a Sunday!

The whole crowd was great, they all seemed eager to learn, and learn they did!   The day ended with the whole Springhouse team taking a photo in front of the bus in the rain, and many conversations and connections were had by all!

I encourage you to check out Springhouse’s blog, and you can also follow them on Twitter @springhouseeduc and Facebook!

So, You notice I mentioned above that there were great conversations and learning to be had by all right? Well, allow me to share with you some insight of those conversations that I found

I was fortunate to get to know the type of character and culture which makes up not only the organization of Springhouse, but also how their mission around Education and Consulting is above all one of the best I’ve seen!   Their focus on full value solutions and ensuring that you are taken care of in the long run, whether consultatively or educationally is awe inspiring and not the type of behavior you see from other training organizations.

The relationship they have with their own internal staff has people coming back for more and more, and the things I heard about the types of training they offer and their educational guarantees left my speechless!

I definitely encourage you to check them out at their website, because these are seriously great folks and while they’re doing amazing things today, I know we can expect them to grow on that in the future.

What a beautiful day it was here meeting these wonderful people here at Gwinnett Technical College in Lawrenceville, GA.    Everyone was excited to be there, and eager to learn more about Microsoft Certification, Learning as well as Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2.

We got the opportunity to meet a lot of really amazing folks who are doing their part to drive forward their own lives as well as the lives of others around them by leveraging technology

Education comes in all shapes and sizes, and even some ghosts!

I’d like to especially mention Joey Snow, IT Pro Evangelist who delivered the Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 here at Gwinnett Technical College and will be joining us at further places on the tour!    You can follow Joey on Twitter at @JoeySnow

Also, thanks to the Gwinnett Microsoft Users Group who meets on the 2nd Thursday of each month at Gwinnett Technical College. Visit their website for more details here.

Here is a glance out at the next 3 days so you can stay in touch with us!

Sunday, May 3rd: Greensboro, NC to Philadelphia, PA

• Philly TechFest 2009 sponsored by Springhouse Education and Consulting Services, 12:00pm – 4:00pm (featuring live rounds of “Are You Certifiable?” Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 previews, and more)
• Microsoft Career Express at Cheyney University (Center City campus), 6:00pm – 8:00pm (register here)

Monday, May 4th: Philadelphia, PA to Cincinnati, OH

• Philly TechFest 2009 at Springhouse, 8:00am – 10:00am
• Antonia Pantoja Charter School, 7:30am – 9:00am (private event)
• Edward W. Bok Technical High School, 10:45am – 12:00pm (private event)
• MCP “Tweet-up” in Columbus (be sure to follow us on Twitter for details!)

Tuesday, May 5th: Cincinnati, OH to Indianapolis, IN

• MAX Learning Luau at MAX Technical Training in Cincinnati, 11:00am – 1:00pm (featuring Windows 7 previews, lunch, drawings and more!)
• “Bring a Friend” Night at “LANTech Training, Indianapolis, 5:00pm – 7:00pm (bring a friend interested in starting a career in IT, and you both might win a TechNet Plus subscription (and your friend might win a laptop, too!))

Hey, I use Twitter, you use Twitter right? Want to follow us on the Career Express and beyond on Twitter? me thinks you’ve come to the right place! Stay tuned for impromptu tweetups!