#upintheair

I get frequently asked "where I've been lately", and been finding it really hard to tell people where I've been, simply because it mostly feels like I only briefly "was" anywhere, never really got to be there - but I do remember going there and coming back.

So, here's a list of where I've been to this year for work, that I can refer people to if I don't feel like telling them... :)

• San José, CA (
• Laguna Beach, CA
• Newport, CA
• San Francisco, CA
• Oakland, CA
• San Ramon, CA
• Las Vegas, NV
• Washington, DC
• Phoenix, AZ
• Columbus, OH
• Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Helsinki, Finland
• Lisbon, Portugal

MVP Nomination stats

Got ten nominations in less than a week, so it's looking pretty good for the 2011 MVP awards.

With still nearly 3 months to go (nominations are valid if received before January 1st 2011) I'm hoping to have many more candidates! See how you can nominate someone for an MVP award here.

An interesting fact is that 85% of people nominating others are based in the Netherlands, the UK has not nominated anyone yet, and only one person in the USA has nominated someone.

There's clearly something wrong with those numbers, last time I checked the US had overtaken the Netherlands and the UK in number of visits to the forum and SDLTridionWorld, however the community is still very much based in and around Amsterdam.

A second interesting fact - which I hadn't noticed until someone mentioned it in the MVP summit last week - is that we have several (4) MVPs based in the Netherlands, but none of them is dutch. Actually, we don't have any dutch MVPs, which is quite odd if you look at the company's history. Maybe it will change this year?

Well, keep 'em coming, there is no maximum number of MVPs, all you need to do is to be valuable to the community, and share your knowledge.

MVP Summit 2010, Fortaleza do Guincho, Portugal

Judging from all the activity on twitter, one would think that the MVPs locked themselves in a room and did nothing else but code.

Indeed, I think we got something very useful off the ground with the Hello World GUI extension sample, and the Content Interaction extension (aka MVP Fondue Kit), but what I really liked the most was the opportunity to spend some time with the Tridion MVPs and pick their brain about the Tridion community, what to improve, what to expect from 2011, the whole MVP nomination process, etc.

And, of course, the location!

Surrounded by the cliffs of Guincho and the imposing Serra de Sintra, the scenery has to be one of the prettiest I've seen.

I'm obviously biased, having lived for 11 years pretty close to this location, but I had never stayed in the Fortaleza do Guincho hotel before, and I must say it was quite a good choice for the event, as we couldn't have asked for more.

So, rather than bore you with more details about what the MVP did or didn't while in Portugal, I'll just leave you with a couple more pictures...