Here’s an update on my .Net Community Contest. I’ve decided what I’m doing with my three MSDN Universal subscriptions, and I’m going to give them away to people in the NJ .Net Community that have stepped up to the cause and tried to help grow our little community. I’ve talked to some other folks that were given MSDN Universal licenses to give away, and some were a little hesitant on announcing the names of the people they gave their licenses to, fearing resentment from those who were not selected. Then there are others like Phil Weber, and myself (there may be others that I missed) that would like to publicly recognize folks for their hard work in the community. If you don’t win a subscription from me it doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve one, just that for whatever reason I failed to notice the work that you have been doing. If you hunt around I’m sure you will be able to find some licenses that are still up for grabs, or you can read the rest of this post and find how to win my last license.
2 people stuck out in my mind right away when I thought about the folks that are already donating their time and efforts to help make NJ a .Net hub, and have not (yet) been recognized by Microsoft as Microsoft MVPs.
Frank La Vigne – Frank was actually nominated for MVP for the Tablet PC (by myself and other local MVPs), and I thought it was a forgone conclusion that he would get it, so I originally didn’t even think of Frank when I announced the contest. But, Frank didn’t get it this time around, so here’s a big thank you for the community work you have done over the last year. Frank no longer lives in NJ, but does travel up to see his family, present at the local NJ user groups, and also came up for the first NJ Code Camp and did a talk on what else, Tablet PCs.
Chip Lemmon – Chip is a new comer to the NJ .Net Community, but is another person to keep an eye on. He has a blog over on GeeksWithBlogs but his real claim to fame is his Entry Level Enterprise training philosophy for developers. It must have struck the right chord with the attendees of the NJ Code Camp because even though this was his first two technical presentations, ever, he had some of the highest feedback scores.
I’m sure you can see the trend developing here, and I’m sure you will not be too surprised to see what the contest will be for the last available license. The last MSDN Premium Subscription With Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite license will be given out at the next NJ Code Camp to the best new community presenter. What’s the definition of best new community presenter? Well, as long as you are not already a MVP, don’t already have a MSDN Universal subscription, and haven’t presented at NJ Code before, well you are eligible. How am I going to define “best”, well I’ll let the evals do that for me (just like in Chip’s case). We are just now starting to plan the next NJ Code Camp but the best guess is late April early May, so you have time to develop a killer presentation, get up the nerve to present in front of a bunch of geeks, and maybe even practice. We will announce more on the next NJ Code Camp once we get some stuff finalized, but you have been warned. If you want to get a chance to win a very nice MSDN subscription, you will have pretty good odds if you present at the next NJ Code Camp.