I just got my MVP Award e-mail in the area of Exchange for the 4th year.
It is an honor to be selected as a Microsoft MVP since there are only around 30 or so Exchange MVP in the US and 120 world wide. In order to become an MVP you must be nominated by others in the technical community you work with, Microsoft employees, or other MVPs. Each year a panel of Microsoft employees reviews the contributions of each nominee for quality, quantity, and level of impact on the technical community.
So basically you have to write articles, blog post, or otherwise contribute to the technical community and be recognized for your work.
In order to keep your MVP status each year you must continue to contribute to the community. This year I was so busy with my new job at Mimosa Systems (blog post on this topic), who creates an Exchange E-mail archiving solution called NearPoint, that I haven’t had time to contribute as much as I normally do.
Here’s what I did in 2008:
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Participated in an "Ask the Experts" live chat on Exchange
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We have over 350 people connected and over 200 questions asked that Steve Brant, Pat Richard, Martin Tulip, and myself (all Exchange MVPs) answered.
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Tips & Tricks posted on my server: http://info.izzy.org/Technical/Lists/Issues%20%20Tips/By%20Year.aspx
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Posting on ExchangeNinjas.com: http://www.exchangeninjas.com/_Recent?mode=user&user-username=IzKen
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Posting on OutlookExchange.com: http://www.outlookexchange.com/articles/JasonSherry/default.asp
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Group leader
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FaceBook – Exchange MVPs & Microsoft MVPs
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LinkedIn – Exchange MVPs & Microsoft MVPs
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Did have much time to post in the forms this year
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Live search on “Jason Sherry” Exchange
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Created script for the Exchange community to track Exchange activity over time (the data can be used as an input for the Microsoft Storage Calculator)
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Other scripts and bit from this year:
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Attended Exchange Center of Excellence/Ranger training on Exchange 2007
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Testing E14 betas
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Participate on most E14 and 2007 calls with product and support teams
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Provide feedback on above
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Working on E14 book (but nothing public yet J )