5 reasons why (you believe) you can’t be Microsoft MVP and why you should rethink it

Today is “that day of the year”, the MVP renewal day. You could see lots of posts on Twitter and LinkedIn about the event. MVPs are posting about being renewed for another year. It means more community work, opportunities, more tech knowledge shared, and more questions answered. It means more fun!

I’ve been a part of the Microsoft MVP Award program for some time. People reach out to ask me about the program. They tell me they think about becoming an MVP one day, but… I’ve collected some “BUTs” for you and summarised some of your concerns in the article below.

1. It’s not for me because I am an introvert (different, a private person, don’t fit in) And I don’t like public speaking!

People you see on a stage, “the MVPs” look like they have no anxiety or fear of public speaking. They talk and laugh, they record videos, and organize conferences. They look so extrovert-ish. You feel it’s not for you as you won’t be able to do it the same way they do. And you’d rather die than be on that stage.

There are many neurodivergent people, different people, people diagnosed with ADHD and never diagnosed but being on the spectrum, people with dyslexia and just different in a broader meaning of the word in the MVP community. There are introverts and extroverts. There are people with anxiety disorder speaking at events. Why? Because their fear of speaking is less than their desire to share. Also, it’s good to challenge yourself sometimes. There are people with dyslexia finding their own ways to read notes and excelling at presenting. Why? Their fear of failure due to their condition is less than their desire to share their passion with people. Also, it’s good to feel good after you get it done.

2. I still don’t like public speaking! (don’t want to record YouTube videos, do TikTok, record a podcast etc)

Don’t! Build dev tools (https://github.com/MscrmTools/XrmToolBox), write reviews and blog posts, organize user groups or contribute to open-source projects on GitHub instead.

Nobody asks you to change or do something you don’t like doing. Do what you are passionate about. This is the only way to guarantee you aren’t going to stop doing it again and again.

A great way to contribute is to be a part of the Power Platform Community( https://powerusers.microsoft.com) answering people’s questions.

There are many great ways to help people and share knowledge. You could invent your own way.

The MVP community needs all different kinds of people. Don’t be someone else, bring your awesome self!

3. I don’t know where to start.

As I mentioned above, there are many ways to contribute to the community. There are different ways to help people and share knowledge.

I’ve heard it multiple times: “MVPs just naturally do what they like, what they are passionate about. They’ve been always doing what they are doing. Then they just got rewarded for it”

What if you don’t know what you want to do? Does it mean you can’t be a “true MVP”?

Some MVPs I know personally HAVEN’T BEEN ALWAYS DOING THAT. That one thing they are famous for. They wanted to do something but they didn’t know straight away what exactly. It takes time to figure things out. And it’s OK to not know where to start. Just start somewhere then keep going.

4. I can’t find a unique topic. Someone has already posted something about everything.

The Mark Smith (https://nz365guy.com/), I think it was him, said that you shouldn’t worry about not being the first person to write or talk about something as you’ve got your own unique perspective.

This is true. Different people focus on different things, for the same topic you could read 100s articles, watch 100s videos, or listen to 100s of podcasts then write your own unique summary or review and people would find it useful. Because your perspective is unique.

5. Some people are just born this way (to be community activists, but I am not)

Hmmm it’s not true. It’s so not true!

I’ve never wanted to do stuff for free: using my free time giving unpaid advice or spending my weekends writing articles or running in-person events where I buy food and drinks from my own pocket. Nah.

I’ve never had time for community activities. I am a full-time working woman with a family and kids. I’ve never thought it’s important, I’ve never had time for that.

Until I did. One day I woke up and the kids aren’t too young anymore so they don’t need me 24×7. Suddenly I had time and had a desire to do things “for free”, to do community work. And now I believe it’s important.

Our life circumstances change, and we change as well.

To summarise what I’ve just summarised 😎 To become the next Microsoft MVP you only need these two things: a passion for technology and a passion for helping people to become passionate about technologies.

Hope it helps!