Remember Your NDA

Editor's note: The following post was written by MVP Award Program Manager Kerry Herger

It’s almost November and we’re now just days away from the start of the 2014 MVP Global Summit!  In a very short time over 1600 MVPs from around the globe will gather on the Microsoft campus to participate in over 500 technical sessions with hundreds of members of Microsoft product teams.

The sheer number of participants—and the amount of content shared—makes this the largest community event in the world. But that’s only part of what sets this annual gathering apart. For over 20 years, Microsoft teams have sat down with these technology and community leaders to provide MVPs visibility into early stage products and new releases giving MVPs the information they need to look forward in their work with community and to gain valuable community feedback to help make our products better.

“To me the MVP Summit is a great opportunity for what I call “direct interaction” between the MVP community on the one hand and all the different product teams and engineers in the product teams on the other hand” says Microsoft Developer Division Corporate Vice President Soma Somasegar.  “It’s the-two way dialogue, the two-way conversation and the feedback that is a part of what makes MVP Summit a great opportunity both for the product teams and the MVP community to meet face-to-face and have the high-level interaction and communication going on.”

Most MVPs have numerous communications with Microsoft product teams throughout their award year, but the hands-on experience and deep exchange of ideas at the MVP Global Summit is something most members of the community—including Microsoft’s product teams—look forward to all year. To lay the groundwork for this relationship, all MVPs sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) assuring they will not share any confidential information they may gain from Microsoft. Throughout the MVP Global Summit, MVPs hear the refrain, “Don’t forget your NDA!” since it’s essential to the dynamic exchange of ideas between the MVP community and Microsoft.