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For five days this week I’m in Issaquah, Washington (southeast of Seattle) at the Microsoft Sammamish campus for the special SBS 2008 training that Microsoft arranged for the SBS-MVPs. So far the training has been absolutely fantastic. This is, by far, the most in-depth and valuable software training I’ve ever received, and I am tremendously thankful for the opportunity to be here! I just can’t thank Kevin Beares and his team enough for putting this event together, and our instructor, John Bay, knows this product with a depth I’ve never seen first-hand before. I’ve been using SBS since version 4.0, and it’s awesome to be able to turn the new 2008 version inside out and see what makes it tick.

In addition to the phenomenal training, another huge benefit of being here in person is the opportunity to network with the Microsoft SBS product team and other SBS-MVPs from around the world. It’s impossible to articulate just how much experience and passion these folks have for the SBS product and the community that uses and supports it. At every opportunity you’ll see folks sharing information, discussing best practices, giving feedback, and debating (sometimes fervently) the issues in the community and the product itself.

On Tuesday night Kevin Beares took the MVPs and some Microsoft folks out to dinner at Pogacha (a restaurant I *highly* recommend). As always, I feel like the least qualified person to be in the same room, but I’m thrilled at the opportunity to be there and share ideas and experiences.  Unfortunately, not everyone could make it to the training event, for various reasons. But for those of you have had a question answered in the SBS newsgroups, this picture of the dinner attendees should help you put a name with the face.

(Click for a larger picture)

1. Drew Spencer – Microsoft Dev Manager
2. Mitch Garvis – MVP – Montreal, Canada
3. Ryan “Fuzzy” Spillane – Sydney, Australia
4. Kevin Weilbacher – MVP – Florida, USA
5. Cal McLennan – MVP – Ontario, Canada
6. Kerry Brown – MVP – Squamish, BC, Canada
7. Stuart Applegate – MVP – Australia
8. Tim Barrett – MVP – Louisville, Kentucky, USA
9. Marina – Germany
10. Jeff Middleton – MVP – New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
11. Dave Nickason – MVP – New York, USA
12. Mark Claggett – Microsoft MVP Lead
13. Abhinay Kampasi – SBS Developer (backup)
14. Mehmet Demir – SBS Developer (system health, anti-malware)
15. Kevin Royalty – MVP – Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
16. Marina Roos – MVP – Rotterdam, Netherlands
17. Eriq “Q” Neale – MVP – Denton, Texas, USA
18. Dean Calvert – MVP – Adelaide, Australia
19. Wayne Small – MVP – Sydney, Australia
20. Susan “Bitzie” Bradley – MVP – Fresno, California, USA
21. Charlie Russel – MVP – Canada
22. David Belanger – SBS Developer (setup)
23. Oliver “Ollie” Sommer – MVP – Germany
24. Jeff Loucks – MVP – Ontario, Canada
25. Henry Craven – MVP – Melbourne, Australia
26. Steven Banks – MVP – Seattle, Washington USA
27. Kevin Beares – Microsoft Community Lead – WSSG
28. Jon Bay – Microsoft Product Support (our trainer)
29. Marie “Mom” McFadden – Microsoft Community Program Manager

    Also here, but not pictured…

30. Dana Epp – MVP – Canada
31. Frank McCallister – MVP – Helena, Alabama, USA
32. Larry Struckmeyer – MVP – Florida, USA
33. Tobias Redelberger – MVP – Germany
34. Steven Lai – MVP – San Jose, California, USA
35. Les Connor – MVP – Canada
36. Vlad Mazek – MVP – Orlando, Florida, USA
37. David “ShackDaddy” Shackelford – MVP – Seattle, Washington, USA

To all those with missing info, I’ll fill it in as soon as I can confirm info – I’m horrible with remembering names 🙂 If you know any of the missing info above, please feel free to post it in the comments. And if I missed anyone who’s here, please comment that too.

Thanks Microsoft for a truly awesome and valuable event!