I hope to rectify this this year, and although some things are on-going and need to be worked through, other opportunities knock.

There are 3 TechEd’s run in MEA, TechEd Africa which has always boasted the highest level of Community / MVP engagement with their famed Community Lounge and quality and quantity of Speaker sessions offered by MVPs, TechEd Israel who this this year came close to pushing Africa off it’s community engagement pedestal , and the new kid on the block TechEd ME held in Dubai.

If they carry on like they have been then it looks like TechEd ME will become the sought after TechEd to be seen at, this year they are already boasting over 16 MVPs delivering content in some 40 Breakout sessions, have offered user groups discounts and will be hosting a community lounge (chill area so delegates can engage with community leaders and MVPs.

So juts to wet you appetite here are the MVPs featured this year as Speakers at TechEd ME!!

SEE YOU THERE!!!!!

Ahmed Bahaa

Dr. Ahmed Bahaa, is holding Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Computer Sciences, he is a Microsoft Regional Director, and MVP -ALM(Team System). He Works as a Principal Technical Consultant in an award winning Egyptian Microsoft Gold Partner named Compu Pharaohs, in addition to that he is an associate professor at Faculty of Computers & Information- Helwan University; in Cairo, Egypt. Ahmed is a frequent speaker/expert in TechEd EMEA/Europe, and Middle East versions since 2007. Last year, he has been awarded the Microsoft Regional Director’s Golden Global Impact Award. Through 16 years of IT professional experience, Ahmed has served more than 350 customers across USA, Europe, and Middle East. He used to speek into Microsoft Public events since 2002 when he spoke at the very first .NET 1.0 Launch event. Ahmed is a father for two kids; Bahaa, and Omar.

Andy Malone

Andy Malone is the CEO of Quality Training Ltd and founder of both the Dive Deeper Technology and Cybercrime Security events. Based in Scotland, Andy is a popular international event speaker and technology evangelist with over 15 years experience. Andy was also the 2006 winner of the Microsoft TechEd Speaker Idol contest. Andy has delivered technical and security content to thousands of delegates worldwide at various technical conferences, such as Microsoft TechEd, IT Pro-Connections and Tech-days. His passionate style of delivery, combined with a sense of fun has become his trademark. Although his primary focus is for security. Andy loves to talk about the Windows platform, Exchange and Office technologies. And with knowledge dating back to the MS-DOS 2 and Windows 2.0 era there is often an interesting story to be told. But technology never sleeps and Andy continues to work with the Microsoft product teams to create and deliver ground breaking material on Windows 7, Server 2008 R2 and beyond. For 2011 Andy is scheduled to deliver content in Europe, the Middle East, Russia and the US to name but a few. Andy’s blog: http://blogs.quality-training.co.uk/blog

Asem Alhourani

Mohammad Asem Alhourani is focusing on System Management Server 2003 since its first release. Successfully he has designed & implemented various SMS & ConfigMgr projects. He has been in the IT field for more than 9 years now. He is an MCSA 2003, MCSE 2000, 2003, MCTS in Configuring ConfigMgr 2007, OpsMgr 2007, SCVMM 2007, Hyper-V & MCT. He has founded the first IT Pros Community in the country (VirManSec IT Pro Community) -www.virmansec.com. VirManSec is not only an On-line community but it throws Off-line events that he usually participates in as a Speaker. Asem was also a speaker in Microsoft Open door event held in Riyadh and Jeddah.

Ayman El-Hattab

Ayman El-Hattab is a Regional Technology Solution Professional at Microsoft MEA Center of Expertise, SharePoint MVP, Author & Speaker. He is the co-founder of MS3arab community and SharePoint4Arabs.com, User Group Lead of Egypt SharePoint User group and he is always an active participant in Microsoft online and offline communities. Ayman is also a contributor author of "SharePoint 2010 Unleashed". Blog: http://www.aymanelhattab.com – Twitter: @aymanelhattab MVP Profile: https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Ayman

Daron Yondem

Daron Yondem is the founder of Deveload Software – a UX company based in Turkey. He is a Microsoft Regional Director with a Gold Global Impact Award in year 2009 and 2010. Daron is an international speaker leading the INETA MEA, he is a Silverlight MVP and author of two ASP.NET AJAX books and an HTML5 book. He is passionate about UX and can host sessions everywhere anytime. He has more than 180+ sessions hosted in year 2010 including a full night of free Silverlight community training called SilverNight! You can follow his thoughts at http://daron.yondem.com

Hammad Rajjoub

Hammad Rajjoub is a Connected System Developer MVP for last 6 years as well as a privileged member of Microsoft’s Business Platform Technology Advisors (previously Connected System Advisory board). His areas of interest include Enterprise Architecture, Highly Scalable Computing, SOA, .NET, Design Patterns and Quantum Computation. He has presented at various international conferences on Architecture, Design and Software Development. He is a published author, a geek, father of beautiful twin girls and a husband. For more details visit his blog at: http://hammadrajjoub.net

Marwan Tarek

SharePoint Technology Specialist at Microsoft. SharePoint MVP since 2008, and working with SharePoint technologies since 2005, experienced developer and SharePoint consultant working with SharePoint 2003, 2007 and 2010. Participated in Office and SharePoint 2010 beta testers program with Microsoft Product team and Windows 7. Also Microsoft certified professional since 2001, (MCAD, MCSD, MCPD and MCTS in SharePoint development and configuration.) He is the founder of the Egypt SharePoint User Group and leading all SharePoint events in Egypt and co-founder of SharePoint4Arabs.com first website publishes Arabic screencasts for SharePoint. MVP Profile: https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/profile/marwan Blog: http://www.marwantarek.com

Matt Milner

Matt is a member of the technical staff at Pluralsight, where he focuses on connected systems technologies (WCF, Windows WF, BizTalk, AppFabric, and Windows Azure). Matt is also an independent consultant specializing in Microsoft .NET application design and development. As a writer Matt has contributed to several journals and magazines including MSDN Magazine where he authored the workflow content for the Foundations column. Matt regularly shares his love of technology by speaking at local, regional and international conferences such as Tech Ed. Microsoft has recognized Matt as an MVP for his community contributions around connected systems technology.

Michael Noel

Michael Noel is an internationally recognized technology expert, bestselling author, and well known public speaker on a broad range of IT topics. He has authored several major industry books that have been translated into over a dozen languages worldwide. Significant titles include SharePoint 2010 Unleashed, Exchange Server 2010 Unleashed, Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed, ISA Server 2006 Unleashed, and many more. Currently a partner at Convergent Computing (www.cco.com) in the San Francisco Bay Area, Michael’s writings and extensive public speaking experience across six continents leverage his real-world expertise helping organizations realize business value from Information Technology infrastructure.

Mohamed Yehia

As a Technology Specialist at Microsoft and SharePoint MVP, Mohamed is working on Enterprise solutions using Microsoft SharePoint technologies for the past 7 years. As a co-founder for SharePoint4Arabs.com and Egypt SharePoint User Group lead he dedicates his time to share his expertise with the community. Stay tuned to his blog (www.mohamedyehia.net) and on Twitter @mohdyehia

Muhanad Omar

Muhanad Omar (MVP) is a consultant, trainer, international speaker and community advocate who helps organizations in the Middle East successfully develop, deploy and derive value from solutions built on SharePoint. Muhanad is the Managing Director and Principal Consultant for Devosis and specializes in architecture, deployment, administration and business adaption of SharePoint. Muhanad is a three-time recipient of the prestigious Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for SharePoint Server, Evangelist for the International SharePoint Professionals Association (ISPA), and the Founder and Leader of the Jordan SharePoint User Group.

Paula Januszkiewicz

Paula Januszkiewicz is the IT Security Auditor, Enterprise Security MVP, trainer (MCT), Microsoft Security Trusted Advisor and MCT Europe Polish Lead. She is also a speaker on many international conferences (incl. Tech Ed worldwide) and writes articles on Windows Security. The trainings and workshops she conducts usually cover Security, Virtualization and Windows system topics. Paula is passionate about sharing her knowledge with others. She conducted many IT security audits and penetration tests and drives her own company CQURE. Paula is the leader of Women in Technology community group in Poland, she organizes also Warsaw Girl Geek Dinners. In private, she enjoys researching new technologies which she usually publishes on her blog http://blogs.technet.com/plwit.  Paula’s last community project: http://digigirlz.pl

Rhonda Layfield

For almost 30 years, Rhonda has helped people securely deploy, protect, and streamline their IT resources. She began her career in the US Navy where she spent 7 years as communications specialist with a top secret clearance. Later as Sr. Security Analyst for an electrical utility company operating nuclear power plants she discovered serious security flaws in software about to be acquired. She also consults for large customers showing how to quickly and cheaply roll out 50,000 Windows 7 desktops, But there’s one thing that she loves even more than solving IT problems: sharing what she has learned with other people. Rhonda has a passion for learning products at the packet level and sharing that knowledge in her classes with clients large and small. She is an NT, 2000 & 2003 MCSE, Setup and Deployment MVP and Desktop Deployment Product Specialist (DDPS). Along with teaching she presents at International conferences such as Tech Ed US, Tech Ed EMEA, Australia, New Zealand, MMS, Techdays Belgium, Ireland and Slovenia and contributes articles to Windows IT Pro magazine. She is the only person to have won Speaker Idol on two continents (US and Europe). She is often in the top ten speakers as recently as Tech Ed Belgium (out of 91 sessions). She’s also co-authored two books, one on Windows Server 2003 and another on Windows Server 2008 and is currently working on her first “Microsoft’s Free Deployment Tools” book.

Shy Cohen

Shy is a software architect and a consultant focusing on cloud computing, distributed systems, and software architecture. Shy is the Principal of Shy Cohen Consulting, a technology-consulting company based in Bellevue, WA, and also the CEO of CloudValue, a startup focused on cost-management of cloud apps. Before starting his independent career, Shy was a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft, where he worked for 13 years on projects such as WCF, MSN, MSMQ, and Windows. Today Shy is a Microsoft MVP (Connected Systems) and a frequent presenter at technology conferences around the world. In addition to his consulting work for clients like Microsoft, HP and the US Government, Shy is closely involved with various product groups at Microsoft, and is often invited to participate in advisory boards and design reviews, helping Microsoft shape their future products.

ZEDDY ISKANDAR

Zeddy Iskandar used to work in Microsoft Indonesia as Developer Evangelist. He then founded a startup and made the first Silverlight ePaper product for Kompas (#1 newspaper in Indonesia) that can be seen at http://epaper.kompas.com. He also helped RCTI (#1 private TV company) to setup Silverlight Smooth Streaming that was used for President Obama’s University of Indonesia Speech in November 2010. Later he handed his company’s helm to a partner, but remained on technical advisory role. Currently he works in Dubai as a Sharepoint/Silverlight Consultant by day, and a Mobile Developer by night. Zeddy is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in Client App Dev, Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) and Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) in Windows & Web Development.

Zlatan Dzinic

Zlatan’s primary roles are Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Lead, System Architect/Lead Developer and Enterprise Content Management/Enterprise Architecture Consultant. Zlatan also comes from an extensive ECM product background (including Business Intelligence) providing solutions and managing projects for both the Public (Local, Provincial and National Government) and also Corporate Sector (Mining, Retail, Telecommunications, Oil, Manufacturing, Banking and Tourism Industries). With a strong Business and Technical background, he also serves as a Best Practices consultant on large ECM projects and Enterprise Strategy initiatives. Zlatan is a regular speaker at both national and international Microsoft conferences as well as local community events on the topics of KM, ECM, SharePoint Server and Technologies, Business Intelligence and Office Business Applications. Zlatan’s SharePoint work has been recognized by Microsoft in his position as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional.

Meet Ohad Plotnik – Forefront MVP from Israel

January 30, 2011|1 Comment

Tell us who you are? My Name is Ohad Plotnik, I am from Israel, I’m an Infrastructure and information security architect, and Forefront MVP. I have certifications in these fields… Read more »

Meet Alberto Diaz – SharePoint Server MVP from Spain

January 27, 2011|1 Comment

Tell us who you are? I’m Alberto Díaz, project manager and consultant for corporate collaboration, search systems, business processes and Business Intelligence in General de Software. My work at GSC is providing… Read more »

Meet Mohammad Azam – ASP.NET MVP from United States

January 25, 2011|4 Comments

Tell us who you are? My name is Mohammad Azam and I am the founder of knowledge based website HighOnCoding. I am a principal consultant at Sogeti. I am located… Read more »

Meet Mike Halsey – Windows Expert (Consumer) MVP from United Kingdom

January 16, 2011|6 Comments

Tell us who you are? I’m Mike Halsey, a tech blogger, author and teacher based in Sheffield (UK) and I believe your first UK MVP interviewee! I’ve been doing IT… Read more »

Meet Ayush Jain – Microsoft Excel MVP from India

January 12, 2011|2 Comments

Tell us who you are? I am Ayush Jain, 25 years old, lives in Delhi, India. I am Senior Reporting Analyst working at Agilent Technologies which is my Full Time… Read more »

Meet Adel R. Al Zubeir – Windows Phone MVP from Saudi Arabia

January 10, 2011|2 Comments

Tell us who you are? My name is Adel R. Al Zubeir, Syrian nationality and living in Saudi Arabia. My community activities started in 2009 where I was an active… Read more »

MEA MVPs Announced – January 2011

January 7, 2011|7 Comments

The Microsoft MVP Program is a worldwide award and recognition program that strives to identify amazing individuals in technical communities around the globe who share a passion for technology and… Read more »

Meet Ginny Caughey – Windows Phone Development MVP from United States

January 6, 2011|5 Comments

Tell us who you are? Hi, I’m Ginny Caughey from Wilmington NC, US. Tell us about your MVP history, when were you first awarded? I’ve been an MVP for 8… Read more »

Microsoft MVP for the year 2011

January 3, 2011|0 Comment

2011 has gotten off to a great start! I receive an email from Microsoft notifying me that I again got the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Award for the third year in… Read more »

So I guess I should cover the background a bit. What is this beast we call ComNight or Community Night (Yeye I know really cool name). Well it started some time back when sitting with a few like minded people at our work canteen one day discussing user groups, MVPs and how companies like Microsoft engages. We noted that the pains (well being an old hat at UG’s I have felt em all to often) around running a UG and around getting companies involved are similar on both sides of the fence.

This set wheels in motion to look for an options to enable UG’s and to make it easier and fun for Company staff to embrace the UG mentality. Thus the modal of Community Night which in it’s simplest form is “Open the buildings and facilities to UGs to meet and network on a reoccurring day/night of the month, all are welcome and the format is open so everyone can do their own thing but be part of a greater experience”. Behind the scenes it gets a bit more complex, but that’s what we do.

So it happens every second Tuesday from 4pm to 9pm at the Microsoft Offices Jozi.

This last Tuesday was yet again outstanding, we had a real full house with over 5 UG sessions going on and visitors form other UGs that want to get involved (even non MS UG’s )

We also had a VIP this night as Minkey of TechEd graced us with his presence and has given the imitative a thumbs up.

He even took part in the SQL UG presentation, I got to speak at the Information Worker Presentation, but alas no pics of me my strutting my stuff.

I have entered pics on my Facebook page as well.

We are also starting a group for you all to share your experiences, sadly I have noticed the FB groups have become very restricted but lets see how it goes… (ComNight FB Group)

Oh and another cool piece of info, Many Thanks to the Develop Platform Group, we now have a Kinect sponsored for ComNight so you can make a fool of yourself like I do and become part of the Kinect Madness club .

WHEN
Conference Dates:
March 8 – 10, 2011
Pre-Conference Seminar:
March 7, 2011
WHERE
Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre Dubai, UAE

Registration is open for Microsoft’s premier technical education and training event, Tech∙Ed Middle East 2011

Tech·Ed Middle East is Microsoft’s premier technical education event providing the most comprehensive technical training on Microsoft’s suite of products, technologies, solutions and services. Attendees get deep technical content, hands-on learning experiences, and opportunities to connect with industry and Microsoft experts one-on-one. If you are a technology professional involved in building, deploying or maintaining IT solutions using Microsoft technologies, Tech·Ed Middle East is the conference that will help you solve today’s real-world challenges and prepare you for tomorrow’s innovations.

WHAT YOU’LL GET AT TECH∙ED MIDDLE EAST 2011

Hear about the future of Microsoft’s products and technologies direct

ly from the Microsoft leadership team in the keynote
Choose from 200 technical sessions delivered by Microsoft and industry experts
Touch the technology through more than 40 PC-based instructor-led training labs
Ask your questions at the NEW Ask The Experts forum
Meet with product experts and see product demos at the Technical Learning Centre
Explore industry solutions at the Tech·Ed Expo

TECH∙ED MIDDLE EAST ATTENDEES RECEIVE A COMPLIMENTARY TECHNET SUBSCRIPTION

As an added benefit to registering for Tech·Ed Middle East 2011, attendees will receive a complimentary Microsoft TechNet Subscription. This subscription gives you access to the most current releases of Enterprise wide software, so you can evaluate and prepare for the needs of your organization before you deploy. See full details of this special offer.

GET A JUMPSTART ON TECHNICAL LEARNING WITH PRE-CONFERENCE SEMINARS

Arrive early and get a jumpstart on your technical learning. Choose from
five pre-conference seminars delivered by Microsoft and industry experts, and selected to give you an edge on the latest technologies and topics.
Seminars will run on Monday, 7 March 2011. Additional fees apply. To view the full list of seminar titles visit us online.

Community Night has now become a regular event happening every second Tuesday of every month and the one for February is approaching. If you have a community or want to start a developer related community and need a place to host contact us and we can work with you to host your group as part of Community Night.

Join in with you fellow developers at our Community Night. We’re hosting a various different communities at our Johannesburg offices to make it easier for you to find a community and take part. Communities are a fantastic way for you to connect with other like-minded people, share your experiences and learn from each other. It’s also a great way to meet people in your industry and even just have a chat over a drink.

Communities Involved

You’ll be able to attend meetings hosted by the following communities:

• Information Worker (Johannesburg)
• SQL Server Usergroup –
• SA Developer and DRP (these two groups are joining forces)
• Game Developers
• Programming Languages Discussion Session (a group of people interested in talking about programming languages)

When? Where? And Other Questions?

When? 8th February 2011

Where? Microsoft South Africa, 3012 William Nicol Drive, Bryanston (Map)

What time? Communities get to select times that suit their members best. The communities have selected the following meeting timeslots:

We’re serving refreshments between 17:30 and 18:30 for the hungry and/or thirsty.

How Much? Zip, Zero, Nadda and for the grand price of FREE!

I don’t live near Johannesburg. Can I get involved? At this stage, Community Night is currently only available in Johannesburg but give us a shout if you live in another city and tell us about your community. We are currently investigating the ability to record and stream community sessions to help out those who cant attend.

After last month’s launch of Community Night in Johannesburg we’re doing it again (and we will be doing it every month from now on, on the second Tuesday of every month). As a Christmas treat, we’ll have an Xbox 360 Kinect available for you to play with. Come along – it should be fun!

Communities Involved

We’ve worked with many developer communities in Gauteng to make this initiative happen. You’ll be able to attend meetings hosted by the following communities:

• Information Worker (Johannesburg)
• SQL Server Usergroup – Please note: the SQL Server Usergroup will not be meeting in December. They will be back in the new year!
• SA Developer and DRP (these two groups are joining forces)
• Game Developers (a brand new group!)
• Programming Languages Discussion Session (a group of people interested in talking about programming languages)

If you have a developer-related community group, looking for a place to host your meetings (and have food and drinks for your members!) contact us and we can work with you to host your group as part of Community Night.

Join in with you fellow developers at our Community Night. We’re hosting a range of different communities at our Johannesburg offices to make it easier for you to find a community and take part. Communities are a fantastic way for you to connect with other like-minded people, share your experiences and learn from each other. It’s also a great way to meet people in your industry and even just have a chat over a drink.

When? Where? And Other Questions?

When? 14 December 2010, (and on the second Tuesday of every month).

Where? Microsoft South Africa, 3012 William Nicol Drive, Bryanston (Map)

What time? Communities get to select times that suit their members best. The communities have selected the following meeting timeslots:

We’re serving refreshments between 17:30 and 18:30 for the hungry and/or thirsty.

How Much? One hundred million dollars! Community Night is free and you’re welcome to bring anyone else who might be interested in coming.

Do I have to stay for 4 hours??!! Only if you want to. We’re trying to be flexible with peoples’ time. If you want to stay for multiple meetings, you’re welcome to. If you only want to attend the meeting that you’re interested in, that’s cool too.

I don’t live near Johannesburg. Can I get involved? At this stage, Community Night is an initiative we’re trying in Johannesburg. If it works well, we’ll expand it to other cities. We’re also going to work out how we can record community meetings or stream them live online for everyone else to be a part of, but more on that in the future

There you have it. Community Night. Every second Tuesday of the month. Get involved in your developer community, learn something new and have some fun!

11/29: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Introduction to Cloud Computing and Windows Azure

12/06: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Windows Azure and Web Roles

12/13: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Worker Roles
01/03: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Working with Messaging and Queues

01/10: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Using Windows Azure Table

01/17: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Diving into BLOB Storage

01/24: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Diagnostics and Service Management

01/31: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: SQL Azure

02/07: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Connecting with AppFabric

02/14: MSDN Webcast: Azure Boot Camp: Cloud Computing Scenarios

And here is also the upcoming Firestarter event:

12/09: MSDN Simulcast Event: Windows Azure Firestarter

The contest can be found at www.sharepointjourneys.com and they inviting customers, partners, MVPs, SharePoint experts to participate by telling them where they are on their SharePoint “journey,” as well as the unique ways they’ve used SharePoint to achieve business objectives and/or enhance their organizations. 

Winner gets a pass to 2011 SharePoint Conference in Anaheim!

Check it out and please feel free to share!!!

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/pavely/archive/2010/11/01/xna-2d-game-tutorial-part-1.aspx

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/pavely/archive/2010/11/02/xna-2d-game-tutorial-part-2.aspx

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/pavely/archive/2010/11/04/xna-2d-game-tutorial-part-3.aspx

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/pavely/archive/2010/11/06/xna-2d-game-tutorial-part-4.aspx

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/pavely/archive/2010/11/07/xna-2d-game-tutorial-part-5.aspx

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/pavely/archive/2010/11/09/xna-2d-game-tutorial-part-6.aspx

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/pavely/archive/2010/11/11/xna-2d-game-tutorial-part-7.aspx

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/pavely/archive/2010/11/13/xna-2d-game-tutorial-part-8.aspx

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/pavely/archive/2010/11/14/xna-2d-game-tutorial-part-9.aspx

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/pavely/archive/2010/11/16/xna-2d-game-tutorial-part-10.aspx

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/pavely/archive/2010/11/17/xna-2d-game-tutorial-part-11.aspx