Last year, I was fortunate to be awarded my first Sitecore MVP award. The Sitecore MVP Award celebrates the most active Sitecore community members from around the world who provide valuable online and offline expertise that enriches the community experience and makes a difference. As you can guess, it’s a big deal for me.
I wanted to write something about this last year when I first received it, but I wanted to experience a year as an MVP and then write my experiences, hopefully giving an insight into the life of a Sitecore MVP.
Overall Experience
Sitecore treats their MVP’s really well. From early release previews to future roadmaps, MVPs are a very integral part of the Sitecore Product Evolution. There is a constant communication about feature development, enhancements, etc, and MVPs get to pitch in with their feedback to great extents. There are plenty of meetings/seminars and expert panels throughout the year that we can participate in, see new features in beta, etc. In general, the MVPs are part a very big part of the Sitecore Community. As part of the community involvement, I was quoted in the Sitecore White Paper for the initial review of Sitecore 8.1
Sitecore MVP Summit
One of the perks, amongst many others is an annual Sitecore MVP Summit that occurs with all the MVPs and the key personnel from Sitecore. This event is a two to three day event with all sorts of goodness. There is product roadmaps, upcoming features, breakout sessions, plenty of treats. The 2015 MVP Summit was in New Orleans, LA – home of Mardi Gras. We were unfortunately not there at the right time, but we were treated to a night at alligator farm, complete with a band and great food. We spent three days in New Orleans, got to mingle with other MVPs from around the world, got a mountain of information and some cool swag.
On day one, it was mostly meet-n-greet, and I got to meet (in person) all the MVPs I met online. Also got to take in a bit of the French Quarter.
On day two, the sessions took up most of the day and in the evening we went to the alligator farm, and went on a safari tour of the bayou.
Day three was also full of sessions, and that was just the beginning, as we segwayed into the SUGCON US.
Onwards..
I was recently awarded the Sitecore MVP award 2016, for the second time. I am honored and grateful that I am fortunate enough to be a part of this esteemed group and that I get to interact with this group day in day out. Looking forward to another year of awesome activities and even more knowledge!
2015 SQUAD #SitecoreMVPSummit #SitecoreMVP #NewOrleans #Swamp #MyFavoriteMVPs pic.twitter.com/4FVHQ38Nyx
— Marissa Dresnek (@MarissaDresnek) September 30, 2015
The Runtime Report 