The CollabTalk Podcast

Episode 102 of the #MVPbuzzChat series. Conversation between Microsoft Regional Director and MVP Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Founder & CEO of CollabTalk LLC, and Microsoft Regional Director, Oscar Garcia Colon (@almlatam), Chief Technology Officer for Allied Global BPO, Professor of Computer Science at Universidad del Istmo, as well as Professor of Strategic Management and lead for the Masters program for Project Management at Universidad Galileo, based in Guatemala. He is an active member of the PMI Chapter Guatemala, a Visual Studio ALM Ranger with Microsoft, and a Scrum Master for open source projects such as Glimpse, connector for Joomla, and Droopal for Applications insights, among others. Recorded in July 2020. In this episode, Oscar and I talk about his path into technology, including involvement with just about every product in the Microsoft Office family, and his long list of community activities -- including being president of the technology committee in the American Chamber of Commerce in Guatemala. It was great to hear Oscar's perspectives on the opportunities in technology in Central America, and how he is leveraging his role as a Regional director to help further expand these opportunities within the region. You can watch this entire video on the CollabTalk YouTube page at https://youtu.be/FbkQvhpnOXI

Episode 101 of the #MVPbuzzChat series. Conversation between Microsoft Regional Director and MVP Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Founder & CEO of CollabTalk LLC, and Microsoft Regional Director and Developer Technologies MVP, Gill Cleeren (@gillcleeren), a consultant, Xamarin MVP, Pluralsight author, and the CTO at Xpirit in Belgium. He is also the founder of Techorama, the biggest IT conference in Belgium, and runs Visug, the .NET user group in Belgium. In this episode, Gill and I walk through his path into technology, and discuss recommendations for those graduating or entering the workforce on where to focus -- while also recognizing that many of the "fresh faces" we see in the Microsoft ecosystem are older and/or more focused on the enterprise, albeit more experienced. We then talk about some ways that we in the community can reach out and encourage younger people to get involved with Microsoft technology, and with the community. You can also watch this entire episode on the CollabTalk YouTube page at https://youtu.be/xf8DQ2w-0t0

Episode 100 of the #MVPbuzzChat series. Conversation between Microsoft Regional Director and MVP Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Founder & CEO of CollabTalk LLC, and Microsoft Regional Director and Data Platform MVP, Reza Rad (@Rad_Reza), an author, trainer, speaker, and founder and consultant at Radacad, based in New Zealand. Recorded in July 2020. Reza is a 10-time business intelligence and data platform MVP, an active blogger, and a community organizer who helps organize the annual Difinity Conference, the largest Microsoft Data, AI, Power BI, Power Platform and Business Applications conference in New Zealand focusing on Data Platform, AI, Business Intelligence, Business Applications, Power Platform, and Analytics. In this episode, Reza and I talk about the evolution of the Data Platform category within the MVP program, and how Microsoft adjusts their focus areas from time to time as the technology evolves. We also have a great discussion on the data preparation and "clean up" that needs to happen before you can build your data visualizations, the learning curve, and the complexities and benefits of understanding your data. We also talk about how data science is one of the fastest growing job categories across almost every industry. You can watch this entire interview on the CollabTalk YouTube page at https://youtu.be/0giRbAehA-8

Episode 99 of the #MVPbuzzChat series. Conversation between Microsoft Regional Director and MVP Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Founder & CEO of CollabTalk LLC, and Microsoft Regional Director and dual-MVP in Azure and Developer Technologies, Rainer Stropek (@rstropek), co-founder and CEO of the company Software Architects, as well as an active coder, presenter, trainer, and author of numerous books and articles on C#, web and database development, and Microsoft Azure, and is based in Austria. Recorded in July 2020. In this episode, Rainer and I discuss his coding background and the start of his company, and how he was able to turn his passion into a growing business, creating SaaS IP and helping organization make the transition into the cloud. He also shares some of his current technology interests, including Rust (https://www.rust-lang.org/), and his work to build up the community around this new programming language, including https://rust-linz.at/. Rainer is also a very passionate about community and his participation in the .Net Foundation, and is a strong advocate for STEM learning through https://coderdojo.com/. You can also watch this entire episode on the CollabTalk YouTube page at https://youtu.be/SQ_1QJVIfWE

Episode 98 of the #MVPbuzzChat series. Conversation between Microsoft Regional Director and MVP Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Founder & CEO of CollabTalk LLC, and Artificial Intelligence MVP and Microsoft Regional Director Dr. Adnan Masood (@adnanmasood), an AI and Machine Learning researcher, software architect, visiting Scholar at Stanford University, and Data Science teacher at Park University based in Tampa, Florida. Recorded in July 2020. In this episode, Adnan and I discuss Microsoft's expansion of AI capabilities, and some of his favorite projects coming out of Microsoft Research (MSR), including Delve, Cognitive Services, and the Language Models. We also discuss two important AI topics: the management and "curation" of AI-automated solutions such as the forthcoming Project Cortex, and the ethical use and standards around AI. Adnan also shares his thoughts on how far we are from seeing sentient AI (and the inevitable Skynet problem). You can watch this episode on the CollabTalk YouTube page at https://youtu.be/ovob4wJ3zMw

Episode 97 of the #MVPbuzzChat series. Conversation between Microsoft Regional Director and MVP Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Founder & CEO of CollabTalk LLC, and Mario Trentim (@mariotrentim), a PMP-certified project management consultant and evangelist, CEO of TRENTIM Business Solutions and the PMO Global Alliance, as well as an author and professor, based in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Recorded in July 2020. In this episode, Mario and I have a great discussion on the evolution of project management technology within the Microsoft ecosystem, and its impact on other enterprise collaboration and information management systems. You can also find this episode on the CollabTalk Podcast on Soundcloud at https://soundcloud.com/collabtalk/ as well as on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and Spotify.

Episode 96 of the #MVPbuzzChat series. Conversation between Microsoft Regional Director and MVP Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Founder & CEO of CollabTalk LLC, and Sharon Weaver (@sharoneweaver), a newly-minted Microsoft Regional Director, Microsoft Certified Trainer, Six Sigma Black Belt, and Founder and CEO of Smarter Consulting based in the Kansas City, Kansas area. Recorded in June 2020. In this episode, Sharon and I begin with her appointment to the Microsoft Regional Director (RD) program and talk about the differences between the MVP and RD programs. We discuss path into the program, which includes a fairly extensive technical and community resume. Sharon talks about her passion for the Power Platform and collaboration tools (SharePoint, Microsoft Teams), but we also cover wide-ranging topics such as family, the impacts of no-travel due to COVID on her business, her favorite science fiction authors, and how her management style has adjusted to working from home. You can watch this entire episode on the CollabTalk YouTube page at https://youtu.be/lNHou4aeIu0

Episode 95 of the #MVPbuzzChat series. Conversation between Microsoft Regional Director and MVP Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Founder & CEO of CollabTalk LLC, and Benjamin Niaulin (@bniaulin), a fellow Office Apps & Services MVP and Microsoft Regional Director, and Head of Product at ShareGate, a leading ISV (independent software vendor) for SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams. Ben was previously the Product Evangelist and public face for ShareGate, and is a frequent speaker at events around the world. Recorded in June 2020. In this episode, Ben and I chat about the ShareGate headquarters in a beautifully-renovated factory in Montreal, and how much the Microsoft ecosystem has evolved and changed for ISVs (independent software vendors) and other partners since the software world has moved to SaaS (software-as-a-service), forcing companies like ShareGate to move faster and think more strategically about customers, competitors, and even new models for monetization. You can watch this entire episode on the CollabTalk YouTube page at https://youtu.be/RaRx_laX1I0

Episode 94 of the #MVPbuzzChat series. Conversation between Microsoft Regional Director and MVP Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Founder & CEO of CollabTalk LLC, and Beatriz Oliveira (@beatrizoliveira), an Office Development MVP and fellow Microsoft Regional Director, and the founder and CEO of BindTuning, a leading ISV (independent software vendor) for SharePoint and Microsoft Teams. Beatriz is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded a successful development company (CentralBiz), she currently serves as the President of IAMCP Portugal, and is actively involved in STEM education for youth and an ardent supporter of diversity in technology. Recorded in June 2020. In this episode, Beatriz and I discuss the difficulties in expanding a product company (ISV), her experiences in developing solutions for Microsoft Teams and working with the Power Platform, and how membership in the IAMCP (International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners at iamcp.org) can help tremendously in making connections with partners around the world, helping partners to instantly extend their reach. Beatriz also shares her background in the community, including her passion for diversity and inclusion -- especially about supporting people with disabilities. You can watch this entire episode on the CollabTalk YouTube page at https://youtu.be/hi0G2qSMgu0

Episode 93 of the #MVPbuzzChat series. Conversation between Microsoft Regional Director and MVP Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet), Founder & CEO of CollabTalk LLC, and Dux Raymond Sy (@MeetDux), Chief Marketing Officer for AvePoint, PMP, and also both an Office Apps & Services MVP as well as Microsoft Regional Director, based out of Northern Virginia. Recorded in June 2020. In this episode, Dux and I discuss his background as an engineer that found his way into project management, where he wrote a book and for a long time represented the PM perspective within the SharePoint community. We talk about the evolution of project and task management technology in the modern workplace, before diving into another shared passion: governance. Dux shares the 3 pillars of governance that he discusses with customers, including provisioning, ongoing management (enforcing policies), and information lifecycles (expiration of content, archiving, etc.) You can also watch this entire episode on the CollabTalk YouTube page at https://youtu.be/JnMvflfNDiI