Monthly Archive for August, 2009

Microsoft Partner Network event at Wembley Stadium – 07.10.09

Published on August 31, 2009 in Events. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

Here’s some details of a big Microsoft Partner Event taking place at Wembley Stadium in October. I know the event announcement has already created a great deal of buzz and there will be a *lot* of partners from SBSC to Certified to Gold Certified attending – so if you’re a Microsoft Partner and haven’t signed up, I’d encourage you to act and sign-up now.

“On Wednesday 7 October, the Microsoft UK team will be inviting partners to the number one UK channel event, Microsoft Partner Network: 2009 at Wembley Stadium.

This free event will give attendees  insights into current Microsoft strategies and the direction the company is taking the business, first-sight of some of the innovative technologies launching this year, and information about how partners can work better together for greater success.

The event is aimed at Partner executives and sales leads and set to be the event of the year for Microsoft in the UK.  American and UK Microsoft executives will be on hand to learn:

  • Insights from Microsoft executives as they share the Microsoft vision and strategies together with business growth opportunities and product innovation
  • A range of Partner-to-Partner online and offline networking opportunities, plus strategic and practical guidance on how to collaborate successfully with other Microsoft Partners
  • Market insights and guidance on developing customer opportunities
  • Useful resources to help you sell, market and deploy Microsoft technology, particularly when you find yourself in competitive technology situations
  • A glimpse into future industry trends and innovation, with exciting demonstrations
  • An introduction to the UK award winners from the Worldwide Partner Conference 2009

To register your place at this essential event, click: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/InviteOnly.aspx?EventID=DD-1E-C0-39-22-3C-75-22-2A-77-E7-A8-70-48-B2-67&Culture=en-GB and enter invite code: 22BAF4or call: 0870 166 6670

Check the Microsoft Partner Network 2009 website for more details about the event over the coming weeks. You can also sign up to our RSS service, or follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mspartnersuk”

An innovative use of eBay

Published on August 27, 2009 in Computers and Internet. 1 Comment

I received this e-mail from an old colleague of mine, Larry McFadyen, and thought I’d share it.

“As you may or may not know, Jay (my son) has been signed by Milton Keynes to play Ice Hockey up there this season. This is the ENL1 level and is pay to play, so I have come up with a novel idea for fundraising, and decided to use eBay. Ebay unfortunately need an “actual item” to be sold, so to get around this I have set up an “autographed picture” for sale.

These can be purchased for a low cost of £5 or if you are feeling generous, you can buy more than one. All these funds will help to cover the costs running at @ £5-600 per season.

As you all know me, and I have probably fixed something of yours etc. I thought I might as well try my luck and email my address book is search of sponsorship. If you can / want to help out, the link is below to the eBay item. If you do not, that is fine too, I will just redirect your calls to voicemail ( only joking ). If you or your company want to help out in other ways, just mail me here on through the eBay page, and I apologise if you receive this email / message more than once but it was bulk sent.

And here is the link.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Jay-Mcfadyen-Sponsor-Autograph_W0QQitemZ290342962698QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Sports_Memorabilia_ET?hash=item4399ca060a&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Take care and thank you for your time.
Larry”

Here’s the eBay link again – Jay McFadyen Sponsor Autograph.

Some might think it’s cheeky, others just delete the message without a second thought, but I think it’s a really innovative use of both eBay and Social Networking (Larry pinged e-mails through Facebook and Windows Live Messenger) – and really, we all know the “IT Guy” like Larry that we turn to for advice and fixing stuff on our home computers without every paying them for their time – so when was the last time you did something to help them in return?

Wishing Larry’s son Jay all the best in his Ice Hockey career! :-)

Free Virtualization Exam Vouchers

Published on August 10, 2009 in Computers and Internet. 3 Comments

Here’s a few nice bits of swag I picked up at Microsoft’s WPC 09 in New Orleans last month that I thought I’d share!

 

FREE Server Virtualization Certification Exam (#70-652)

(A $125 Value)

Go to: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9672263

Use code to redeem voucher: VIRT652

 

FREE Virtualization E-Learning Collection (#6319) for Exam Preparation

(A $150 Value)

Go to: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9672264

Use code: 6839-F6Y7-7777

Get more training materials at: https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40090820

 

FREE Microsoft Forefront Client and Server Certification Exam (#70-557)

(A $125 Value)

Go to: http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9672265

Use code to redeem voucher: FOREFRONT557

 

All the above are courtesy of Microsoft Core IO University – www.coreiouniversity.com – register with the code “WPC09” and earn 250 reward points!

Thanks for your Friend Request – but who are you?

Published on August 6, 2009 in Computers and Internet. 5 Comments Tags: , , .

With the explosion of Social Networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook – it’s becoming easier to connect with people.

I put myself out there across a number of channels – you can find me on Live Messenger, Skype, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo and others, and I advertise this fact via the web, e-mail signatures and business cards. I encourage people to get in touch with me using whatever method they prefer.

More often than not I find that these connections take the form of cementing a relationship I’ve already begun off-line, meeting people at a networking event, a Conference, or during a Trade Show – most people naturally ping a request off using their tool or tools of choice – and it’s not unusual for me to meet somebody new, then for them to start following me on Twitter, drop me an e-mail follow-up and send me a connection request on LinkedIn.

This is fine, and using tools such as HelloTxt makes it easy for me to update my status on multiple sites at once – for instance, some of my personal status updates get sent just to Twitter and Facebook, whilst some professional updates just to Twitter and LinkedIn, and others to all sites. I get responses back through all mediums – I know a lot of people who use Plaxo, but not LinkedIn, or Twitter, but not Plaxo. It really doesn’t matter – as long as we’re connected we can continue our conversation in whatever way is most convenient!

So it’s easy to connect with me and I actively encourage it. But is it too easy?

I’ve noticed a growing trend of receiving Friend Requests from people I simply don’t know. The request comes with no introduction (other than the generic so-and-so would like to connect with you on Facebook/LinkedIn/etc – well duh!) and whilst I can usually work out who the individual is by a sleuthing process of finding mutual contacts, industry relationships or just plain old Googling on their names, I still find the process bemusing!

Imagine for a moment you walked up to somebody at a traditional business networking event, said nothing, thrust your business card into their hand, and walked away. What do you think that persons reaction would be? Probably a little mystified, right? So my question is – why would their reaction to a request for an exchange of contact details in the on-line world, without any introduction, be any different?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not offended or annoyed by these people reaching out to contact me – but it all feels so… generic!

My reaction to these types of requests is nearly always the same, “Thanks for the request – where do we know one another from?”. Quite often the response comes back “We don’t, but we’ve a mutual friend in…” and so the conversation continues. Wouldn’t it have been easier to take 30 seconds to type that introduction in so it was included with the initial request?

Then there’s people who don’t respond to my polite request for a conversation at all. That feels a lot like you’ve been randomly clicking on buttons, rather than trying to actually connect with people! Here’s the thing – visiting a networking event in person isn’t about collecting as many business cards as possible, it’s about making quality connections, and using Social Networking is exactly the same. Don’t connect for the sake of making yourself look popular!

So – I encourage you to connect with me on-line in whatever way you feel best, and don’t be afraid to reach out to me to start a conversation – but please… at least give me a hint as to why we should be talking. :-)