Speaker Idol 2013 at TechEd North America

This year, TechEd North America, was held in New Orleans and featured four full days of sessions, exhibitions, certifications and networking. In all of these activities, MVPs had a prominent presence as presenters and attendees. One strong example of MVP involvement was in the Speaker Idol competition, a contest where speakers gave a five-minute presentation in front of an audience and a panel of judges. Contestants spoke on a wide variety of topics, ranging from ASP.NET to Network Monitor to Powershell.

ASP.NET/IIS MVP Richard Campbell was the host of the event and Enterprise Security MVP Paula Januszklewicz was one of the judges. Four of the twelve participants in the contest were MVPs. In the end, Windows Expert-IT Pro MVP Jessica DeVita , from Los Angeles, California, won first place in the competition after delivering a presentation on Office 365 Migrations. Her prize will be the opportunity to present during next year’s TechEd!

(DeVita, Campbell and Januszkiewicz pictured, from left to right.)

“It was a really fun experience,” Jessica exclaimed, adding, “5 minutes really forces you to get to the point. I learned how to connect with my audience and relax, and also learned a few things not to do, such as look back and forth between your screen and the projection screen.”

Jessica credits the MVP Award with creating new opportunities and avenues for her talent. “I've had more opportunities to give technical presentations since receiving the MVP award, and conferences provide the best opportunity to talk with other MVP's and the community as a whole.”

Other Speaker Idol MVP contestants included Virtual Machine MVP Aidan Finn, Dynamics GP MVP John Lowther, and SQL Server MVP Karen Lopez.

Congratulations to all the participants, and watch for Jessica DeVita on the TechEd speaking schedule next year!