During VMworld a couple of announcements were made about the vExpert Awards which not many people seem to have blogged, except for Mike Laverick that is.
As many of you know 300 people received this award during VMworld Europe 2009. During VMworld 2009 in San Francisco there was a vExpert “Session” hosted by John Troyer. John invited Steve Herrod for a Q&A session where the vExperts, and especially Mike, challenged Steve Herrod. Now most of these questions were product related but a couple were related to the vExpert Award and this is where I think it got interesting. As of now Steve Herrod is the executive sponsor for the vExpert program. What this will lead to is still unclear but during the session there was talk about Lab access, beta invitations and possibly NFR licenses which should be an incentive to start contributing to the community in any form or way. I guess this all will get shaped in the upcoming months as the new award rounds will most likely be started in November/December. For the next round however the amount of vExperts will be reduced. John has not specified a specific number yet but it will be more exclusive that’s a certainty.
Vladan says
So it might be harder to keep the award for some of us… Well we’ll see.
I just have received mine… and I did not really benefit from any of the privilegies through the year… and already another year comes by… I have the impression that the life just goes quicker every year… -:)
Erik says
‘For the next round however the amount of vExperts will be reduced.’
Will the current number of vExperts be reduced (<300) or will there be added 50-100 vExperts instead of 300?
Do you have any idea what will happen to the current vExperts? Will they be re-evaluated or do they have to nominated again?
Duncan Epping says
I don’t know the actual amount but they will have to be nominated again and thus will be re-evaluated if they are nominated again.
In dutch: in het verleden behaalde resultaten zijn geen garantie voor de toekomst.
Erik says
Do you know the criteria for the evaluation?
Jason Boche says
I hope to make the cut for vExpert 2010. I hope Paul Maritz will actually sign the certificates this time instead of a having a copy of his signature placed on them.
David Marshall says
I’m with Jason on this one. I’d love to make the cut again for the 2010 award. And I think it would be a nice thing as well if Paul Maritz signed each one individually. We all know he’s a busy man, but…
The year isn’t finished, I believe it goes through Feb. However, Vladan is right, it went by quick! We were part of a group and part of history… the first 300. I’m proud of that. And it looks like now that they have gotten their feet wet, they may have a better idea as to what they want to accomplish or provide next year.
Forbes Guthrie says
Hi Duncan,
Any news on this programme? It’s almost February.