Microsoft Australia's Rog42

And so many last minute "oh we have a hole, can a Readify guy fill it please?" guys too - awesome work, Readify! :)

Thanks Roger, and thanks for the inspirational talk that you gave at our company Kick-off!

Great presentataion Roger!  BTW I also cannot agree with Nick.  I think it would be great for Nick to hear your talk on community leadership - then consider whether in fact that company is just providing the most passionate leaders in our community.  I'd also happy to talk to Nick about his somewhat uninformed perspective.

Thanks Rog! Nick I can see why you see that, but as I was walking around Tech.Ed there was lot of stuff going on that Readify didn't have a hand it - take the Mobility Smackdown for example, that was a highlight for me personally.

Nick - I guess it’s just the insinuation that it’s a contrived or unjust relationship between Readify and Microsoft that worries me.  Sure, Readify supports its staff in becoming great leaders in the community but in the end you can’t make someone become a leader.   I can assure you that as a Gold Partner we get no special favours from Microsoft – what we do is INVEST in our people and what our people do is INVEST in their careers and in the whole Microsoft community.   I’d be surprised if any other company in Australia had as many people at TechEd as we did – the fact that so many helped out is testament to how many of those people are regarded in our  industry.   If you heard people say things like ‘ReadifyEd’ then I think that is in fact a great compliment to those in Readify that contribute so much to the Microsoft community at large.  I know our guys will get a kick out of hearing ‘ReadifyEd’ so thanks for the feedback, however I’m pretty sure everyone attending did actually know it was Microsoft’s TechEd :)

Not quite what was asked for, but I'm from Readify, I volunteered and I got "Coganed" - NHF tho...:-)

I see your point re:perception, Nick. But then Readify has so many MVPs that even if one MVP does just one presentation in an event like Tech.Ed, it still turns out to be a large over all number. Just out of curiosity - Do you have any MVPs in your company and did they do any presentations at Tech.Ed?

Leaving that aside, I wonder if working at Readify sometimes works against you - Like having a reverse effect on your chances at presenting in an event like Tech.Ed. i.e., you have proven credibility, but there are so many Readify folk presenting that you don't get a chance because Microsoft want to be seen as being impartial.

Just a thought.

I thought I would chime in here ... being a) not a microsoft person b) not a readify person in fact far from it c) a competitor to readify that would be happy to employ some of their staff. d) a MVP

I can understand Nicks perspective but I dont agree ... Microsoft gives other companies one being my company nsquared a fair oppertunity and believe there are some great opperunities if you want to take them

The issue is not that there was more Readify presense at TechEd. The issue is that others were not given a chance.  Look at the comment by Andrew Parsons on Roger’s blog.

“And so many last minute "oh we have a hole, can a Readify guy fill it please?" guys too - awesome work, Readify! :)”

How do you explain this? ‘...can a Readify guy fill it please” You need to have your head checked if you cannot detect favorism here.

Here are few comments from http://www.crn.com.au/News/84433,microsoft-blog-sparks-criticism.aspx

Other side of the coin, Microsoft Australia is rife with cronyism; hang around the lobby while waiting for an appointment and you will see "pal" after "pal", "mate" after "mate" coming for meetings with the same people. I've seen blog posts and Flickr streams of Microsoft employees holidaying and socializing with Microsoft "Partners", only to see those same "Partners" being ushered into deals ahead of any kind of vetting process. It's not only unfair, unconscionable, and unconscientious with regards to other partners, but to some degree, Microsoft staff hold a responsibility to the customers to act impartially and in the fair interest of all partners and customers, by giving friends favors or requesting support from a closed group, such as asking Readify staff to fill presentation slots, before opening that invite up in a public or partner forum, they essentially cheat other partners, and the attendees. And let’s be honest, it's not like the Microsoft staff are naive to the impact a speaking slot at Tech.Ed has on a Partners reputation and brand. It's simply cronyism at its worst, or, Microsoft Australian best.

AND

I once worked at Microsoft North Ryde as a contractor through one of their providers. The buddy culture is rife. They could not stop talking about the same new people. If there was an issue then the first thing you'd hear was Oh! let's call so and so Readify guy. I think that their so called evangelist are doing a disappointing job on the entire community scene. I wonder what their KPIs are. Oh! let me guess. How many favors did we do to Readify or our other crony."

I will leave it upto you guys to explain this.  Moreover this is not so much a Readify problem as it is a Microsoft problem.

I'm also impressed that Readify spent so much sending their staff to TechEd. Most of the companies that whinge about them don't want to make that sort of commitment.

What was disturbing this year though was the number of speakers that had to pay for their own flights and accomodation when speaking at TechEd, even speakers with some of the best sessions. That's poor form from Microsoft given what attendees are charged and what they wasted on some of the lousy international speakers this year.

When will Microsoft start enforcing the rules around the MVP program more:

http://blogs.msdn.com/charles_sterling/archive/2008/07/08/recipte-for-making-an-mvp.aspx

“Community contributions delivered in the previous year for which no revenue was received”

How much paid time do the Readify guys put into keeping or obtaining their MVP status? How much financial reward does Readify pay for each employee to keep their MVP?

No doubt you've seen the job ads that say that Readify will help you with your MVP ambitions.

Its a clear manipulation of the system and you guys are only too happy to help out.

I wonder what 'dot points' would remain once you take away all the paid activity that the Readify employees perform. I wonder how long the community efforts would last if they had no MVP's.