Archives May 2009

Welcome to AmeriTeach, where Education, wine and cheese come to meet! (They had wine and cheese tasting, mixed with the finest in Technology solutions and training!)

If the sign is any indicator.. if you can find AmeriTeach, you’re definitely going to find winners, like Shannon Bray above.

The room was packed to the gills while people attended, watched and competed in Are You Certifiable!   Chris Rue and Joanne Lin put on a spectacular show while Elise Eckel on the keyboard ran the spinner!    While not every person who plays the game gets all the answers right, everyone walks away from the game a winner! Both in prizes they earn just for playing, as well as the education they walk away with and the knowledge for years to come!

Joey Snow does have a way of getting people interested in Win7! While giving his presentation on Win7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, someone in the crowd even started an install of Win7! (Okay, that was me, and I did an in-place upgrade of Windows Vista! … On my production machine! ;))   Sometimes though, when presenters are naughty like Tjeerd, they have to be put into the naughty room behind bars.   Shameful Tjeerd, Shameful!

One of the best parts about this presentation and all presentations for that matter is the community interaction.   The gentleman on the left provided some excellent questions and all around insight from his perspective, to be followed by Shannon Bray who went indepth.

Shannon Bray, a Senior Solutions Architect for Qortex is an IT Professional Extraordinaire! He holds his MCT, MCPD, MCTS and more so than that, he also holds a wealth of industry knowledge and experience (@noidentity29 on twitter!) !   During Liberty’s session on Certification, Shannon was able to provide insight into Hiring Managers and Certification.   Like many hiring managers, Shannon looks for Certification as proof of not only your knowledge of technology but your investment in yourself, while you may not have the Certification of what they’re hiring for, merely having a certification shows that you raise yourself above the rest and you’re one who is worth investing in.    We all appreciate Shannon’s insight directly from the field as I see it from hiring managers quite often.    Having skills and having those skills validated is something which stands out on resumes and furthermore allows you to stand out in the industry.

I’d like to thank again the fine folks of AmeriTeach for organizing this great event and the turn out was amazing.    The attendance was stellar and everyone had a wonderful time while attending various sessions, drinking wine, eating cheese and winning swag!   Thanks AmeriTeach and thank you Denver Colorado for being so hospitable!

Welcome to beautiful Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood Colorado!   What a campus and what a crowd!    We were greeted at the bus by the fine folks of RRCC and swag in hand (on cart) we headed off to set up!   This community college has a series of programs unknown in academia which are quite cool, including their 3d graphical/video program!

I was outside trying to get a cell signal when I found this mark in the landscape! Fairly cool, it seems to have some honor association with regards to RRCC – Definitely something cool to check out! Joey Snow is

Elise Eckel talks about the value of certification to an interested crowd.   These students got a considerable amount of depth on everything they’d ever wanted to know about how Certification will impact their life and what else will be going forward.   Never before have they been given quite the level of insight into every aspect of Microsoft and Certification

We did something different at the end of the presentations that we hadn’t done before, and that was a group Q/A with the whole team put up in front of the students and faculty.   While there were a lot of questions regarding Windows 7, there were also questions covering certification and our own perspective on things.  

Following up the event, we were taken on a tour of Red Rock Community College, and shown the 3d Graphical room, where you don a pair of glasses and sit back to enjoy a visual journey of interactive learning and education.    The whole experience was a great one to appreciate and enjoy, and look forward to interacting with the great folks from Red Rock Community College again in the future!

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!

Welcome to Bring a Friend night at LANTech Training here in beautiful Indianapolis Indiana.

Ken opened this event with not only some great questions, but also some great interaction from the folks there.   At Bring a Friend night at LANTech Training, there were a number of people who were new to IT to balance the people who already have careers in Technology.   The passion and interest of people looking to take up a career in the IT sector was exhilarating further emphasized by the conversations I had with people really looking to make a change.

While we show an interested group learning all about Windows 7, the real shot came when Ken Rosen provided his insight and perspective on the value of certification when the economy is unstable as well as to help improve and ensure stability in your career.

Everyone loves the Are You Certifiable game and typically walks away from it not only excited about technology, but also learning quite a bit.

Smiles all around as Chris Rue keeps the excitement in motion while playing AYC!

The line advances while people grab “I’m a PC” pins, Career Express T-Shirts, Certification Vouchers, Are you Certifiable stickers and MCITP Upgrade path fliers.

I had an excellent opportunity to talk with a fellow there who had an awakening hoisted upon him, an ultimatum of sorts, told that he needs to look at a job in Technology by several others.

Events like this one held at LANTech Training, User Groups, and the types of events we’ve been engaging in while traveling on the Career Express speak directly to that conundrum.    Brian Prince said it best with, “Your employer is in control of your job, but you are in control of your career.”   Think about that.  Is your career going where you want it to be?  If you make a change now can you get it on track to how you want it to progress?   Have you met your goals you’ve set for yourself over the years (There is no better time than the present to set goals if you haven’t already)   The time is here, and this is the place to take control of your career, and leave your job up to your employers.