Preparing for 2011 MVPs

Last year we launched the SDL Tridion MVP program, and being the first time it took a rather "Career Achievement" look to it, and (perhaps unfortunately) many of the nominations (over 60%) were for SDL employees.

No matter what people think of it, we decided to create an independent Selection Panel that would select who deserved the MVP title, and awarded it to those that did make an exceptional job of assisting people in the community.

In preparation for the 2010 MVPs I can confirm that we will keep the independent selection panel (with a couple of adjustments as to the members of the panel to adapt to people's changes in careers), but this year we will not allow for SDL employees to be nominated.

This means that great Tridion resources like Jeremy, Julian, Jeff and Peter will not be 2011 MVPs (and, of course, yours truly).

Now that this is out of the way, here's the 2nd part of my message for today...

Why would you want to be an MVP? 

Granted, being the first time we were doing it, there was a lot of guess work as to what people would want. First - and perhaps foremost - you get to have your name in a rather exclusive list of Tridion professionals. I know of at least 2 people that got contacted for work directly from being on that list, and there's probably more.

Second, you get a shiny award to show off to your friends (who already considered you a geek beforehand, and will now have confirmation of your uber-geek status worldwide).

Third, you get access to a MVP-only Linked-In group of very dubious benefit at the moment.

Fourth, you get to spend a "work" weekend with all your fellow MVPs on a nice sunny location, 1-star Michelin restaurant, and breakfast by the beach (aha!).

Fifth, and professionally the most important, you get access to anything related to Tridion. You want to participate in "internal-only" bootcamps? No problem. You want some version of some software? No problem. Want to play around with Tridion 2011 Beta? No problem. Want to escalate an issue with Customer Support? No problem (well, depending on the issue). Need access to a license, information on some upcoming product, you-name-it? No problem.

So, question for the day: What are you doing now that makes you a great candidate for the MVP award next January?

N

SDL Tridion MVP Awards

A few months ago our CEO asked me to launch a MVP initiative, intending to raise awareness about our community, and giving this people a way to differentiate themselves from the rest of the "general population" of Tridion consultants.

Thinking this was a great idea, I put my hands into it and about a month later we had a budget, a process and a web page. We wanted to be different from other MVP programs out there, so we decided that rather than having someone within Tridion selecting the MVPs, we would instead have a "Community Selection Panel" to do this. Idea is simple: 5 people, nominations by email, come January 1st just yay or nay per candidate.

And that's when you realize that not everything is black or white.

Anyway, all this to say that the Community Selection Panel has reached an agreement today about who is getting Tridion MVP status for 2010, and there's only 10 of them. Hopefully others will realize that this could be valuable for them too and start contributing more actively to the SDL Tridion community.

Many people think that this is an award for knowledge, where the most knowledgeable people get the award. It's not the case at all. This is an award for those that - for no financial reason - share their knowledge freely and openly to the whole community.

More to follow.