Elisabeth's space

No one can ever accuse Canada of being boring. In fact our party was "crashed" by our wonderful partners from the U.S. and a few Brits when the bad weather closed down the huge party the U.S. was having at the Invesco sports stadium. Lightening and rain don't go well with most rock bands.  Well Carol Terentiak, the lady who had the challenge of making this a great P2P opportunity was the "hostest with the mostest". The food upon arriving was way better than I could imagine. Smoked salmon, mouth watering ribs and braised pork, pasta.....it was all too much. We had an outdoor terrace so we could relax and see the city.  We were also honored with a visit from Allison Watson and Marie Huwe (Go Mariners! Hey they just signed Ichiroi Suzuki). They both spent a great deal of time with us after receiving appreciation awards from the IAMCP Canada team.  They, among many others, deserved the recognition. THEN out came Tom Cochrane and the house got their happy faces on. Dance dance, dance! (and sing as they might try), everyone loved it.  Carol was right there up front and even got a photo with the band backstage (we're waiting for it from the band as the camera Carol's team had decided to take a vacation).  Hey there has to be one perk for working like a horse (no pun intended Carol.  P.S. Carol has a 2 month old foal named Socks). Carol along with many others pressed close to the stage for a better look. Mr. Cochrane still has the same rough, tough voice and was smart enough to pamper the ladies with a "this goes out to all the strong women here tonight" special song of the evening.  The man is smooth. Real smooth.

 

WPC is all about networking and where better to start than with your own country. I met up with the likes of Robert Geller "Mr. Vista", Brad Pawluk (off vacationing right now after working so hard in Denver sitting in sessions. Boo hoo. I hope a couple squirrels clean out your stash), Brad also works with IAMCP as the new LCA rep, Stuart Demeter our fearless VP SBSC IAMCP Canada and of course we introduced and made a fuss over our new IAMCP Canada president Wendy Callaghan.  She's dynamite and we can't wait to see what she has in store for us this coming year.

 

Our last homage was to John Payes, now past president of IAMCP, and how he has made such huge strides for parnters world wide with his  focus on value strategies working hand in hand with Microsoft.  He was also responsible for the WILIT session.  John was a great mover and shaker.  Being part of IAMCP has even greater value now than at any time in the last several years.   

 

Well we all donned our cowboy hats and rode through the evening getting a chance to catch up on each other's businesses.  Carol you outdid yourself. Congrats! 

 

Photos are in the album section.

I was one row away from center stage, so this year's gala basically gave me a "front row seat" on the action.  Allison Watson clearly loves this event. She has all the enthusiasm and intensity of someone who is giving away candy to a bunch of eager kids.  She gets to play Santa Claus for an evening and she does so while the finalists can squirm in their seats for up to 2 hours to find out if they walk away with the big prize.

The awards gala is in fact very important in the partner community. It recognizes the tremendous efforts and perfection partners put into satisfying customer’s technology solution needs and at the same time raises the bar with greater and more dynamic solutions year after year. They also recognize community activities that better the world through technology. No stone is unturned.

 Having won in Boston last year I can testify to the jangled nerves, although imagine having the possibility of also winning $10,000 to boot.  All winners get a case study, and good press is never lost on any partner. It should come as no surprise that some even have become triple crown winners.  Winning can be such an adrenaline rush you just have to repeat it over and over again. 

I was proud to know some of the finalists. My best buddy from Calgary was finalist again this year and he enjoyed the moment and afterward, even, though the big one got away. I now Stuart, he’ll be back again.  He is a great partner and will win soon enough.

If you really want to be part of a partner altering experience and help give credit to those around you that create amazing solutions then think about entering for next year’s conference. Not sure where it is yet but start planning your entry now!

WILIT was a huge success at WPC this year. With over 800+ registrations there was an obvious interest if not a definite curiosity. I’d be remiss not to point out that a month earlier at Tech Ed there was 500 women for a WILIT sit down luncheon. Elaine Brown, a technical evangelist for Exchange in the UK, who moderated the event not only gave me the video and materials from her event, she put me in touch with the panellists, each of whom had a fascinating if all too familiar and hilarious theme (de-stressing in the same yoga class). All had started from the bottom and worked on up, in situations from being the lone female merchant seaman on huge frigates, to a woman whose mother basically said you will be an engineer and somehow it turned into a successful career in IT. 

 The beauty of this event, though, was that we had the rich and diverse background of some of the most senior women executives at Microsoft. Margo Day Vice President, West Region, SMS&P, Tami Reller, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Business Solutions Dynamics and Karen Lay-Brew,   VP Sales, Marketing, Services Group (SMSG) Solutions Delivery (SD), Microsoft, provided us with a  “to the point” set of opinions of how they perceived their role as women in power and how they used that to encourage and mentor others and the value proposition they foresaw in this initiative. Karen, who has only been with Microsoft for 18 months, is a story of a globetrotting technical professional with the bigger challenge of now dealing with 14 twins. It doesn’t take much to see how we can help each other survive in more ways than one.   Even better Karen is very active in diversity initiatives at Microsoft, having set up the Women in IT organization and serving as the Executive sponsor of the Microsoft Asia Professional Society.  Karen was a great moderator and supporter of the session.

Sharon Healey, a dynamic and confident  woman who has successfully created and sold several ventures before diving back into a career with a successful  IT firm in Seattle has had the challenge of both being a woman entrepreneur and being considered legally blind!!!  Now try that one on for size.  Sharon joins me as a VP on the executive council of the IAMCP (Canada division, www.iamcp.org)  the organization who was sponsoring this event along with Microsoft.  I also chair the global Corporate Citizenship initiative for IAMCP and co-founded an IT development and consulting business with my husband for the last 22 years. The link with WILIT and corporate citizenship is evidenced by the actions of Tami Reller, as recently as two weeks ago, when she announced the delivery of software funding totalling $150,000 to a women’s business enterprise council that supports woman-owned small businesses trying to expand opportunities and break barriers in the business world.

I had woman after woman come up to each of the panellists grateful for such an organization that will bring Microsoft partners support and guidance. They also related to the issues presented and many will join our organization as area leads.  If you are interested to learn more then I am promised you can view this video presentation and email us at evanderveldt@conamex.com or wcallaghan@nexientlearning.com

We have momentum and desire.  You let Microsoft know if this means something to you and want to see it repeated next year.  Send those requests to me and I will make sure we get your voice heard. And give a comment here so Microsoft can hear you right now!

P.S. We need one big portal for all of us to be "connected" www.womeninleadershipandtechnology.com is it!

AND if you love Groove email me and become part of our WILIT workspace so you can post materials, chat, and see what else we are planning while the new site gets up and running. We're already booking more speaker events as I'm typing!

I concur with another blogger, Andrew, Silverlight is great and moreover the ability to finally be assured streaming video won't look like garbage is a welcome software technology! I no longer have to cringe when expanding video from my favorite site or from my own downloading and editing projects.  This site is done with Silverlight! Check it for yourself.  Put away the glasses and watch your favorite clip on your laptop clean and clear. Download Silverlight demo from the main Digital WPC page and slip in a dvd right away.  

I've been here since Saturday and let me tell you the weather has had its moments (U.S. party was cut short by lightening so they had to spread out and they came to our party as well) , but there has been plenty of sunshine and the temperature is perfect as my hotel is several blocks away but the walk back allows me to go down 16th street and pick up food or whatever I didn't pack at 3:30 in the morning on my way out to the airport. 

 

As to the food. WOW based on Boston last year someone msut have scared these people straight beforehand because the food is hot or cold, delicious, on time, plentiful and I just blew my diet big time, however healthy choices were abundant. My willpower just disappeared or my buddy Stuart was sabotaging me by ordering desert behind my back.

 

No traffic jams, no buses cut off as early as last year.  I feel truly welcome in Denver. People hare have been generous in spirit as well.

 

 

Gala Awards dinner tonight! Can't wait to see what is in store for us.