Eastside Heritage Center is excited to introduce the Microsoft Store as the Main Stage & Presenting Sponsor of the 2012 Bellevue Strawberry Festival, to be held at Crossroads International Park on Saturday, June 23, 2012 from 10 AM to 8 PM and Sunday, June 24, 2012 from 10 AM to 5 PM.

The sponsorship is the culmination of a month-long partnership in March between Eastside Heritage Center and the Microsoft Store in Bellevue Square to present local history programming and workshops for the community. The Microsoft Store is dedicated to reaching out to people of all ages, and to businesses in the community, providing tools and educational opportunities to help build a better future.

Eastside Heritage Center’s annual Bellevue Strawberry Festival celebrates the region’s agricultural heritage, as well as its diverse cultural past, present and future. This family-oriented, historic community event features fresh strawberry shortcake, hands-on history experiences, food and vendor booths, entertainment, a Classic Auto Show and tons of Family Fun with games, inflatable bouncers, strawberry shortcake eating contests and much more. In 2011, more than 40,000 people attended the two-day event, consuming 6,000 lbs of strawberries!

As the Main Stage & Presenting Sponsor, the Microsoft Store will be bringing an Xbox 360 Kinect experience to the Festival this year. With Kinect games, YOU are the controller. Literally. So if you find yourself jumping around, battling the dark side or break dancing in front of your children, don’t be surprised. It’s all part of the fun that the Microsoft Store will provide for Festival goers!

Eastside Heritage Center is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit organization committed to preserving the past as it builds community and connects people with their heritage. In addition to maintaining and preserving the largest collection of artifacts, photos and archival material related to East King County, Washington, the EHC focuses on sharing this collection with the community through exhibits, books, presentations and a wide variety of educational programming. Eastside Heritage Center was supported by over 5,600 volunteer hours in 2011 and engages more than 1.1 million people through its programs and services annually. For more information on the Eastside Heritage Center, visit www.eastsideheritagecenter.org.

It is still possible to buy tickets to attend MVP Nation in person, but it is also being live broadcast for a limited number of viewers.

Here is some information about SMB Nation from their website:

SMB Nation is a publishing and events company, targeted at the small and medium business (SMB) channel partner/reseller/consulting/VAR community. SMB Nation spreads the knowledge of SMB technology trends through its conferences, books, SMB PC magazine, online services, and world-wide seminars, workshops and accredited Pocket MBA certificate (an academic partnership with Aspen University). As an active participant in the technology community, SMB Nation has a long history of enthusiastic advocacy and evangelism. The SMB Nation tribe exceeds 45,000 followers worldwide.

The company was founded in 1999 as Matthew\Brelsford Associates and became SMB Nation in early 2003, to promote the books and consulting services of Harry Brelsford, the author of a successful series of books written for the global SMB IT consulting and reseller community. Initially the community conversations focused on Microsoft Small Business Sever (SBS), but has expanded into SMB infrastructure alternatives, Voice-over-IP (VoIP), cloud computing, and business technology consulting
best practices. Harry Brelsford is a popular conference speaker on SMB technology consulting topics and sits on several advisory boards in the SMB technology industry. He also serves as the Dean of the School of Technology at Aspen University.

Today, SMB Nation conferences, seminars and workshops bring forward-thinking IT consultants, technologies and vendor sponsors together, sparking new opportunities in the SMB
space. Being THE information source for SMB technologists worldwide, SMB Nation delivers complete business solutions to help consultants and resellers better manage their business, technological, and marketing needs. Whether it’s delivered in print, online, or in person, everything SMB Nation produces reflects our unshakeable positive belief in the power of information to spur a profitable global community. Visit www.smbnation.com and www.telephonation.com for more information.

MVP Nation offers attendees the rare opportunity to learn from Microsoft’s very own MVPs in a deeply technical environment. This year’s conference focuses heavily on Windows 8 and will provide attendees with a hands-on opportunity to create their own Windows 8 road map. IT Professionals will benefit from direct interaction with Microsoft’s leading Windows 8 trained MVPs, who come to MVP Nation fresh from Microsoft’s private MVP Summit event.

The new MVP Nation broadcast offering makes it easier and cheaper than ever for IT professionals to benefit from the expertise of Microsoft’s MVPs and learn the latest on Windows 8 and Windows Server 8.

Harry Brelsford, founder and chairman of SMB Nation, expressed his excitement about taking MVP Nation virtual: “There’s something magic about attending MVP Nation—or any good conference—in person. But what we’re hearing from community members is that even though MVP Nation offers amazing value and they want to come, they just can’t justify the travel time, airfare and lodging expenses associated with attending a conference. Taking MVP Nation virtual is a game changer.   It makes the event accessible to everyone, everywhere.”

Brelsford shared additional information about the event—and a bit of advice: “After our first MVP Nation last year in Seattle, we’re back with a focused two-day deep dive into everything Windows 8. The primary emphasis will be on Windows Server 8 topics, but we’re also addressing desktop, mobility and tablet issues. This event is for everyone who wants a deeply technical experience. We liken it to graduate school for geeks and joke that no wimps are allowed at our two-day event”

The MVP Nation team is confident enough in the value offered by their conference that they have introduced a new 110% money-back guarantee for any attendee who is not completely satisfied with the virtual conference experience.

According to Brelsford, “We challenge any Windows-focused IT professional to give MVP Nation a try. If it’s not everything an attendee hoped for, we’re happy to extend a full refund plus 10%.  And why not? –   with the new webcast option, attendees don’t even need to leave their home.”

By the numbers

• Attendees: IT Pros, In-house It experts, SMB channel partners, consultants, techs, geeks, MVPs and resellers
• Sessions: Focused on Windows 8 (server, workstation, mobility, tablet)
• Dates – March 2-3, 2012
• Virtual Seat Cost: $99.00
• Location: Microsoft Conference Center. Redmond, WA

Sign-up: mvp.smbnation.com

More information: 1-888-SMBNAT1

ABOUT SMB NATION: SMB Nation is a publishing and events community, targeted at the small and medium business (SMB) channel partner/reseller/consulting/VAR community.  SMB Nation spreads the knowledge of SMB technology trends through its conferences, books, SMB PC magazine, online services, and world-wide seminars, workshops and accredited Pocket MBA certificate (an academic partnership with Aspen University).  As an active participant in the technology community, SMB Nation has a long history of enthusiastic advocacy and evangelism. The SMB Nation tribe exceeds 45,000 followers worldwide.

Register Here

Hosted at the Microsoft Conference Center, Redmond, WA March 2-3, 2012.

MVP Nation offers the rare opportunity to learn directly from the esteemed Microsoft MVPs in a deeply technical environment. With a focus on the new Windows 8 technology, the two-day event will allow attendees to create their Windows 8 road map. MVP Nation is a gathering of three well-established communities. First are the Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) who are award-winning technical experts focused on all Microsoft product groups. Second are community members who rarely have the opportunity to interact directly with the MVPs in a public event. Community members include IT Pros, consultants, resellers, channel partners and in-house IT staff. Third are the community sponsors who can connect with MVPs and attendees to create amazing technology products and services.

“After our first MVP Nation last year in Seattle, we’re back with a focused two-day deep dive on everything Windows 8.” Shared SMB Nation founder Harry Brelsford. “The primary emphasis will be on servere-side topics along with content on desktop, mobility and tablet issues. Windows 8 is a topic that impacts everyone whether you are an IT pro, developer, user. This event is for everyone who wants a deeply technical experience. We liken it to graduate school for geeks. We joke that no wimps are allowed at the two-day brain explosion!”

MVP Nation follows the long-stand private and closed annual Microsoft MVP Summit that brings in 2,000 MVPs. MVPs represent over 100 product groups. The MVP Nation event allows an opportunity for attendee and sponsors to meet and learn from the MVPs. The speakers for the vent itself will by MVPs who will have just been briefed on the last information surrounding Windows 8.

The conference is well supported by enthusiastic sponsor community including D&H Distributing, Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, StorageCraft  and many other familiar names.

“First and foremost, we are community. We’re from the community producing a community event supported by the community and attended by community members. How cool is that?” Brelsford exclaimed. “Beyond the amazing SMB Nation staff and tribal membership, we have enjoyed fantastic support from like-minded similar communities including the MVPs, user groups, trade associations and other affinity entities. And most importantly, we really recognize and realize the warm welcome we’ve already received from Microsoft Redmond. For the first time in years, an SMB Nation event returns to the Microsoft campus at the amazing conference center. We hope that our efforts satisfy the Windows 8 hunger of the technology community!”

SMB Nation also introduced a 110% money-back guarantee if an attendee is not completely satisfied.

Eastside Entrepreneurs and BellevueBusinessJournal.com are proud supporters of MVP Nation!

By the numbers

• Attendees: 300+ IT Pros, In-house It experts, SMB channel partners, consultants, techs, geeks, MVPs and resellers
• Sessions: Ten sessions focused on Windows 8 (server, workstation, mobility, tablet)
• Sponsors: Over 30+  technology sponsors/vendors
• Dates
  • Conference: March 2-3, 2012
  • Location: Microsoft Conference Center. Redmond, WA

Sign-up: mvp.smbnation.com

More information: 1-888-SMBNAT1

ABOUT SMB NATION: SMB Nation is a publishing and events community, targeted at the small and medium business (SMB) channel partner/reseller/consulting/VAR community.  SMB Nation spreads the knowledge of SMB technology trends through its conferences, books, SMB PC magazine, online services, and world-wide seminars, workshops and accredited Pocket MBA certificate (an academic partnership with Aspen University).  As an active participant in the technology community, SMB Nation has a long history of enthusiastic advocacy and evangelism. The SMB Nation tribe exceeds 45,000 followers worldwide.

Get a great deal on a Xbo 360 Bundle with Kinnect:

On October 14, 2011 Social Media for Nonprofits conference series will be coming to the Microsoft Conference Center in Redmond, WA to help connect hundreds of nonprofit professionals and organizations with leading nonprofit social media experts and their peers. The event will provide practical tips and tools for fundraising, marketing, and advocacy, all delivered by dynamic experts in keynotes, workshops, roundtables, and panels. Several of the prominent keynote speakers that have volunteered their time and expertise for the event are Charles Porch, the head of nonprofit relations at Facebook, Claire Diaz Ortiz, VP Social Innovation and Philanthropy at Twitter and Bryan Breckenridge of LinkedIn.

The conference will be followed by a networking reception and launch party for the newly released book, Nonprofit Management 101: A Complete and Practical Guide for Leaders and Professionals. Edited by Social Media for Nonprofits Co-Producer and MC Darian Rodriguez Heyman and featuring practical insights from 50 leading experts across 35 topics, the handbook is designed as a compass for the social sector.

Social Media for Nonprofits is a young organization started by former Executive Director of Craigslist Foundation, Darian Rodriguez Heyman, and events producer, Ritu Sharma. Since its inception in June 2011, the conferences have brought social media trainings to sold out crowds in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington DC.

On behalf of each Microsoft Alumnus who participates on September 16th in a Day of Caring project alongside Microsoft employee volunteers, Microsoft will donate $100 to the Microsoft Alumni Foundation (MSAF) to be contributed to Alumni supported non-profit organizations doing work in King County–up to a maximum of $50,000 going out to these local nonprofit organization.

Join thousands of your friends, neighbors and colleagues on Friday, September 16 during this all-county day of volunteering. Your group might add a fresh coat of paint to a daycare center or clear a path on a hiking trail. Last year, 10,500 volunteers came together and collectively changed our community for the better at 424 project sites across King County.

Day of Caring is your chance to make a lasting impact in our community. Be a part of this fun day of community service by volunteering to improve local schools, nonprofits and parks in King County.  And then see your work go even further when Microsoft matches your efforts with $100 cash.  Register today! Even more volunteer activities will come online soon–especially for east King County–so check back often to see what you can do.

After completing the Day of Caring activity, alumni will receive an email asking them to vote for their topfive choices from a list of MSAF supported nonprofits. The top five overall vote-getters will each get an equal share of the Microsoft matching funds.

Alumni-supported agencies eligible to receive the Microsoft donation include:

• Anti-Defamation League – PNW Chapter
• Boys & Girls Clubs of King County
• Climate Solutions
• Community & Parents for Public Schools of Seattle
• Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project
• FIRST/WA
• Foster Care Justice Alliance
• Friends of Youth
• GenerationBIG
• Groundwire
• Lake Washington College Foundation (LWCD)
• League of Education Voters Foundation
• Microsoft Alumni Foundation
• National MS Society
• Pongo Publishing
• Seattle Children’s Hospital
• Seattle Girls’ School
• Starlight Children’s Foundation – Washington
• Technology Access Foundation
• The Center of Wooden Boats
• The First Tee of Greater Seattle
• United Way of King County
• Voices Education Project
• Washington Women in Need

That field was narrowed down to the top 22 teams, which will compete against one another during the next four days, demonstrating how they would use their technology solutions to solve the world’s toughest problems.

Now in its ninth year, the Imagine Cup is Microsoft’s signature program to inspire students to combine their imaginations with Microsoft technology to make the world a better place. The winners of the software-design competition will represent the nation at the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals in New York this summer.

What: Imagine Cup 2011 U.S. Finals Showcase and Awards Ceremony

Where: The Commons at Microsoft Studios West Campus, 15255 NE 40th St., Redmond, Wash.

When: Monday, April 11, 2011

9–11 a.m.: Finalist presentations — software design and game design

11 a.m.–2 p.m.: Showcase of student projects

2–4 p.m.: Keynotes and awards ceremony

Who: In addition to 22 elite student teams from universities across the country, keynote speakers and key attendees include the following:

Jane McGonigal, world-renowned game designer and author of “Reality is Broken”

Bill Buxton, principal researcher, Microsoft Research

Mark Hindsbo, vice president, Developer and Platform Evangelism for Microsoft

1M/1M will be working with Microsoft in helping entrepreneurs prepare for these grants. I will be traveling in India in April, and doing live roundtables in three cities: Chennai (April 9), Mumbai (April 16), and Pune (April 17). Girish Joshi, from Microsoft, will be attending the roundtables, and scouting companies for the grants with me. I will be reporting back on the companies we see on this column from the road.

At today’s session, first up, Ramkumar RS from Chennai, India, presented Mango DVM, an innovative solution to turn vendors of illegal, grey market music to legal distributors using a combination of mobile apps and media server technology. Ramkumar has made certain pricing model and delivery model assumptions that are yet to be validated. We brainstormed about the risks of those assumptions. However, only the market can tell to what extent those assumptions will hold true.

Next Jigar Doshi, also from Chennai, India, pitched 3gSimplified, in effect, a comparative shopping solution for mobile plans, which are apparently quite complex in the Indian market. As for business model, Jigar wants to sell services like refilling cards.

3gSimplified is a very early concept that has just launched, and the market feedback will be rolling in over the next few months. Our discussion today was around prioritization of the next few critical steps around customer acquisition and validation.

Then Balaganesh S., from Chennai, India, as well, discussed Report Bee, a data visualization solution for schools around report cards and student performance. Report Bee has two paying customers, and we discussed segmentation issues around where to focus for the early market penetration strategy. Clearly, affluent schools that can afford to buy technology, and also parents who have access to computers would be the best early adopters.

Janardhan Swahar from Salem, India, presented Swayam Foods, a health food company that is focused on the Indian palette across snacks, quick-to-prepare items, etc. The company has distribution through about 50 retailers in Chennai, and is looking for ways to market their product through online channels. We discussed guerilla p.r., product reviews through blogs, as well as SEO, blogs, and social media marketing.

Last up, Rahul Mishra from Bangalore, India, pitched Promedik, a “decision support system” for physicians. I wasn’t convinced about the assumptions of the business – there are too many gaps and flawed assumptions around the source and the cost of the data upon which the product is built. I advised Rahul to study Epocrates as a model. I believe, trying to offer a reference manual may be better than trying to offer a decision support system, which is a much more complex value proposition that requires expert systems to implement.

Before I end, let me also point you to an interview we’re running on my blog with Naval Ravikant, founder of AngelList, which you may find enlightening.

Also, some of you have asked me questions about the 1M/1M Premium Curriculum, which I have addressed on the blog.

Next week, the 1M/1M roundtable will focus on entrepreneurs in East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. You can register for the next roundtable here.

You can also listen to the recording of today’s roundtable here and select the business you like best through a poll on the 1M/1M Facebook page. Recordings of previous roundtables are all available here.

Sramana Mitra is the founder of the One Million by One Million (1M/1M) initiative, an educational, business development and incubation program that aims to help one million entrepreneurs globally to reach $1 million in revenue and beyond. She is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and strategy consultant, she writes the blog Sramana Mitra On Strategy, and is author of the Entrepreneur Journeys book series and Vision India 2020. From 2008 to 2010, Mitra was a columnist for Forbes. As an entrepreneur CEO, she ran three companies: DAIS, Intarka, and Uuma. She has a master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

MVP Nation is a new community event in the small and medium business (SMB) channel that will connect three important communities in one place at one time.

These communities are:

1. Microsoft MVPs- The best of the best, these guys are so good that they do not even work for Microsoft but MS has recognized them for being the absolute experts on their variety of products.

2. Community members, channel partners, consultants, and members of the public will be in attendance to learn from the  infamous MVPs.

3. Community sponsors that want your input on new technologies. Focus group anyone?

Why attend you ask? Well, here a just a few reasons:

Reason#1

This isn’t just any old tech conference

MVP Nation brings together a unique network of community members. You have the elite experts, the consultants, and community vendors that are asking YOUR input on what you would like to see next.

Reason#2

Innovative Speakers

The speakers at MVP nation are the best in their class. They will be covering subjects from best practices for the upcoming years all the way to creating you own private cloud and avoiding the bumpy ride!

Reason#3

Grade A beefy content

Relevant, in depth, high quality content that might just blow your socks off! You will leave this conference with immediate applicable how to knowledge. check out the Agenda here: http://www.smbnationevents.com/Agenda.aspx

Reason#4

Keynotes that frame the future

They are dynamic and enlightening. We refer to them as the elite experts, as they are the best in their game.

Reason#5

Hear from the experts on stage and off stage

There will be 100+ MVPs roaming the halls like any other attendee, making them readily available to press hands with.

Reason#6

NETWORKING

You will have the unprecedented chance to network with the experts, consultancy owners, and the vendors! As well as the usual exhibit hall networking experience, you will have the option of attending evening networking parties with free delicious food and beverage and live music.

Who should attend?

Mid & high level IT professionals

IT consultancy owners

Microsoft partner consultants

Small business specialists

To learn more about attending this star studded event, MVP Nation (Seattle, WA, March 3rd & 4th, 2011) visit www.mvpnation.org or call 1-888-SMB-NAT1. Register by Feb. 28th and you can save $100 off your ticket price taking it down to $299!

About SMB Nation

SMB Nation is a publishing and events company, targeted at the small and medium business (SMB) channel partner/reseller/consulting/VAR community. SMB Nation spreads the knowledge of SMB technology trends through its conferences, books, SMB PC magazine, online services, and world-wide seminars, workshops and accredited Pocket MBA certificate (an academic partnership with Aspen University). As an active participant in the technology community, SMB Nation has a long history of enthusiastic advocacy and evangelism. The SMB Nation tribe exceeds 45,000 followers worldwide.

The company was founded in 1999 as Matthew Brelsford Associates and became SMB Nation in early 2003, to promote the books and consulting services of Harry Brelsford, the author of a successful series of books written for the global SMB IT consulting and reseller community. Initially the community conversations focused on Microsoft small Business Sever (SBS) but has expanded into SMB infrastructure alternatives, Voice-over-IP (VoIP), cloud computing and business technology consulting best practices Harry Brelsford is a popular conference speaker on SMB technology consulting topics and sits on several advisory boards in the SMB technology industry. He also serves as the Dean of the School of Technology at Aspen University. .

Today, SMB Nation conferences, seminars and workshops bring forward-thinking IT consultants, technologies and vendor sponsors together, sparking new opportunities in the SMB space. Being THE information source for SMB technologists worldwide, SMB Nation delivers complete business solutions to help consultants and resellers better manage their business, technological and marketing needs. Whether it’s delivered in print, online, or in person, everything SMB Nation produces reflects our unshakeable positive belief in the power of information to spur a profitable global community. Visit www.smbnation.com