It’s that time of the year… July 1st has arrived and the Microsoft MVP renewals have been completed! I am excited and honored to announce that I have been re-awarded Microsoft MVP for Office Apps and Services for a third time.

Once again, I’d like to thank Microsoft for continuing my involvement with the MVP program, and embracing the relationship between the platforms we use and the community that is heavily involved with it.

Recap: The Past year

The past year has been an awesome year for me, both personally and professionally. Each year I like to focus on new methods and ways in which I can interact with community — this past year was no exception.

Community Closeups

My good friend David Warner and myself wanted to start a new Podcast/Vodcast called Community Closeups. Community Closeups is a video series that highlights the unique and talented individuals in our community. It’s a laid back interview where we get personal and talk about what makes us unique — and of course, lots of SharePoint!

I would like to personally thank everyone who has been a guest on our show and sharing a little part of themselves with the rest of the community. As David always mentions, we know each other online through our photos and our avatars, but rarely do we get to learn  about the personal sides of the people we interact with daily. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts for making this show a success!

Microsoft 365 PnP Team

This year I was/am honored to be invited as member of the Microsoft 365 PnP Team. The PnP Team is a collective of Microsoft Employees and community developers who work together to provide solutions, tools and guidance to the community through various open source initiatives. Over the last year I’ve had the pleasure of working on the PnP SharePoint Starter Kit and working in various GitHub Issues lists. It’s with great joy that I am able to help contribute to solutions and guidance that help developers adapt to the ever evolving landscape of Office 365.

Speaking Events

This past year was a really fun year for speaking. David Warner and myself teamed up and delivered a series of SPFx and PnP presentations across the US! We started in Salt Lake City, UT early in the spring and in fall we completed a “back-to-back-to-back”  weekend SharePoint Saturday tour starting in Los Angeles, followed by Boston and Denver! It was a great experience to share some of the tips and tricks for SharePoint Framework Development and meet all the extraordinary people in our community!

One of the coolest opportunities was being chosen to be a part of the Podcast center at Microsoft Ignite, where David and I hosted a Community Closeups episode with the great Vesa Juvonen!

Forums

One of the highlights for me every year is being a part of the rich community forums that we have. Whether you are a part of TechCommunity, Reddit SharePoint, Facebook SharePoint Groups, or any other forums, there is a limitless amount of knowledge sharing. The forums exist not only for asking for help and seeking guidance, but they are filled with community members sharing what they’ve learned, through blogs and videos and tutorials.

Looking Forward

2020 has started out to be a very interesting year. COVID-19 has introduced some difficulties in hosting in-person events, and as such, I likely won’t be speaking at too many conferences this year (unless virtual), but we are looking to try and host a SharePoint Saturday Event online at some point later this year or early next year!

This year I would like to take the opportunities to keep expanding Community Closeups and interviewing all the amazing people in our community (hopefully more interviews than last year!).  If you want to be on the show… reach out!!

Per usual, you’ll be able to find me in the forums. Whether it’s Reddit, SP-Dev-Docs or Facebook groups, if you need something, you know where to find me! 🙂

Thanks again!