The Road to ECS - S1 E2: Laurie Pottmeyer
Laurie already has major FOMO about European Collaboration Summit, and in this episode, she shares why YOU should be there!
Hello everyone, welcome to the second and the best until now the episode of The Road to ECS with Mustafa, Valdek, myself and today we've got Lori Potmeyer as our guest. Hey Lori. Hello, thanks for having me. Thanks for being with us. So, Valde, what have you been doing for the past two weeks since we didn't see each other? It started with an A, ends with an I. Aviation. Yes, aviation. No, AI. So it's a big part of our work. And the interesting part is we're going to the part of the year where we get to breathe a little bit more. A few weeks back, we had this very big event of which you might have heard. So that thing is done. And now it kind of gives us room to think ahead and think some more about what is it that we want to do in the coming months. So I've been involved with that. Nice. So you're telling me that Microsoft has got some AI products. A few. A few. Good. Nice to hear. What were your past two weeks, except of working with me on a daily basis, which makes you totally happy, I know. Yeah, unfortunately. Yeah, but running to different events. We've been very busy on multiple things, like from run event perspective, it was like culmination of the year, having eight events in very short time. And I was part of two of them. Just got back from Belgrade where we had a really big event as well. That went really well. About those some kind of products about from Microsoft and AI. It starts with A and finish with I. Aviation, right? It doesn't end with an I. Vescu, in our last show, Laurie, Vescu started calling it computer intelligence. It was driving Lee nuts. Yeah, but Valdek made him do it. He made him do it, but no one can say artificial intelligence. Yes, yes. We were not allowed to say AI the whole show. So Wesko was calling it computer intelligence. That was driving me totally nuts, like through the whole show. That was so funny. So dear people, Lori Potmeyer, I don't know where even to start. She first came to Wiesbaden in two thousand nineteen for the ECS two thousand nineteen. And yeah. She rocked the stage as she always does. I actually first got properly to talk to you on that boat cruise we had after the event. This is where I first time properly actually sat down with you and we had a real conversation and everything. Well, the result of that is that whenever we announced dates for the next event, one of the first people, we just pick up the teams and call Lori. So it worked all the time until now. She was supposed to be with us in the past, but we all know we are not talking about the past. We had an online event that year and we asked Lori to keynote it, what she did. um she was with us in that uh a bit less dreadful twenty twenty one where it felt like a half of the ghost show uh where only half people turned out in uh in twenty twenty one and the last year in twenty twenty three laurie was again uh doing the main uh coordinate everything doing and delivering and coordinating the main keynote main keynote for us because it was a pattern uh if you all remember well so laurie is Speaker, legend, family member, friend, call it however you want. And unfortunately, I need to say, she's not going to join us the next year because of the private reasons on her side. But still, Lori is one of the first people whom we wanted to invite to this podcast to talk to. Lori. Oh God, I know that last part. I have FOMO already thinking about not being there, but, uh, you know, the show will go on and I'm so thrilled to be a part of the event every year. Um, you know, in, in, uh, that first year that I attended, that was one of the first community events that I had attended and really been a part of, let alone having a role. like i did and i will tell you i i i walked away just speechless it was amazing um but really getting on that stage and looking out there that first year i was like oh my god what have i got my self into this is really scary and you know it was one of the most welcoming Just awesome experiences. Everybody was so kind and so welcoming and just really excited to be there themselves. And I think, you know, that just energy really made me feel good about about being there. And it's one event that I definitely don't ever want to miss. So, yeah. Thank you for inviting me that first year. You took a gamble. nah this is good even but a lot of people don't know lori was really uh not only it wasn't only like the first time from the caribbean ecs she had a really really bad uh ai uh bringing up the happy memories right yeah that was one of the best memories actually i got to experience the german healthcare system which you know like and not speaking the language i mean it was planes trains and automobiles getting around that city trying to get that eye fixed and Oh my gosh. Everybody was so kind in trying to help me and, you know, found a wonderful doctor. So if anybody has eye issues and we spun, you know, we've, we've got a guy, so. But Valda, can you notice that she didn't, she also called the event the event. Yeah, yeah, so I was just about to add that. You said a few things about your first experience being on a stage, being like, you know, kind of like the moment where you are on a stage, all eyes on you, like two thousand pair of eyes looking at you and you're like, oh my God, oh my God. What makes it different? Because like you are embedded in community, across the world. You are attending events, organizing events, running community. You are used to engaging with folks. How is that standing apart from everything else that you do? Being on that stage, do you mean? Being, yes, being on the stage, being, but also ECS itself, like that event, because you said that you had really great experience from the very start to the, you know, throughout the years. Yeah. We're involved in it. Yeah. I mean, I just mentioned family, right? I mean, calling me family, like that is the feeling that I got when I walked in to that event. Just everybody was, and it wasn't a thing where everybody knew each other and I was the new person. You know, it didn't feel like that. It just felt like, yeah, you're here, you know, and and got scooped up and part of it. And I think it's the same for the attendees. You know, you walk into the hub or, you know, where all the sponsor booths are and, you know, the smaller stages. And there's so much energy in there and people are just like, wow. Walking around, collaborating, getting to know each other. And it just feels so happy in there. It's like this vibe. It's not a place you have to be and like, oh, I should go around and talk to the sponsors. It's like just a place you want to be. And it just feels good. Yeah. So, you know, and with two thousand people, it's interesting because you think, you know, if of course, if there was an event that was two hundred people, Fifty people, it would be more like that, right? Because it's smaller and more intimate. You kind of know everybody, but it doesn't matter where you are at ECS. You walk around and you see a face that you recognize and it may be not somebody that you've met in person or sat down, had a coffee or a beer with, but. It's somebody that you know from online and they're approachable or they recognize you and you're able to just, you know, hang out and have a conversation. It just feels good. I can't just, I can't, it just feels good. It's positive. Yeah. Would it be fair to say that you build communities for living at Microsoft? Is that kind of like the fair, high-level depiction of your work? yeah i mean in a nutshell you know i feel like i'm like the connector actually you know that little ai tool that we've heard about uh there's a prompt that you can put in there and it's kind of a long prompt so ask me later if you want it but uh it i it basically takes your emails and your um in your chats and then based on what it knows about you it will create a description of you and kind of give you your little rundown bio and And it has described me as the connector and I'm like, wow, that's actually really smart. So, um, and anyway, that's just kind of a fun prompt to do, but, um, I do feel like that that is my role, right? So building community. Yeah, absolutely. Started with Microsoft teams. actually Skype for Business doing community type work, was the first person to do the Microsoft tech community, our virtual community for Skype for Business. That quickly turned into, hey, guess what? You're going to start working on Teams now, this new little product. Moved over there, started doing the tech community for that. somebody asked me who the point person was in Microsoft Teams for the MVPs, and I was like, I don't know what you're talking about, but I'll figure it out. That led to, hey, guess what? It's you. You're the one that's going to work. . yeah yeah i you know and it's worked out you know that that's worked out and i really enjoyed it and so um you know based on my work with the mvp program for microsoft teams um i started doing more and more community type work because i wanted to be out in the community where our mvps were and to get to know more people that were potential mvps and so the community events were great opportunity for me to connect with those people and get to know new people in different regions of the world. I started doing that and then over the last year, year-and-a-half, I have transitioned into more Microsoft, so looking at community from all up M. three, six, five perspective and working with the individual product leads across our products, of which there's well over twenty. working with each of those individual product leads to make sure that we have a robust and consistent MVP program. So still doing all the community stuff, love being out there, getting to know who everybody is in this tech community, which I knew nothing about really until ECS. That was really my introduction of, you know, attending this event and being like, whoa, okay, I hear the word community, but I was thinking like little user groups here and there, you know, of ten to twenty people. I had no idea that there was like this massive opportunity to see people all in one spot from all these little communities coming together. So that's pretty cool. And I think, and I wondered about it, like as you got exposed from Skype for Business, Teams, MVPs, M-Tripsy-Five, all up, and also ECS. If you look at these groups, do you see the same spirit and the same welcoming atmosphere across the board everywhere? Is it a Microsoft Cloud thing where no matter which group you interact with, people really know that friendly, welcoming, and warm, or is it like, well, some groups are more than another, and is there a secret ingredient that you know, that you've learned over the years? It's like, you've got to do that. Before Laurie answers, this would be the right time to quote Jeff, the best community in tech. Well, I was going to start, I was going to lead off that, as you're right. Yeah, so Jeff always likes to say that we have the best community in tech, right? I think that stemmed from his SharePoint days and has kind of come along with him, and I think from Microsoft, it is really nice that our leadership has that belief that community is so important. Just hearing Jeff say those words, that sets the tone for what our teams You know, we at Microsoft, well, like, you know, like we're very customer driven, right? And part of being customer driven is not just listening to our customers who spend a ton of money, but it's getting out there and hearing what the world is really saying about our products. And going to events like ECS is really important. It's a really great opportunity for us to be able to see those people face to face and have conversations that are much more meaningful than perhaps looking at an email that somebody wrote in or, you know, a blurb on a feedback portal or something like that, which, of course, that is all important also. But having face to face conversations with people and really getting to understand their pain points, their challenges, and also their successes in a lot of detail through a real conversation really adds color to the themes that we're hearing from those other pipelines. It's a great opportunity. I love when I can bring along people who are new to community. At SUNY, that is a great example of A PM that we brought in who had no idea, again, of what community is, came from the calling meeting and devices team on Microsoft Teams and was like, yeah, I'll go to this event. I'll speak, I'll do a session. And has been actually, she, she messaged me this week, um, on Facebook or something and said, you know, something personal and was like, Hey, let's go to ECS this year. Um, you know, and she has, and she's a PM that's actually working on our products. And so, you know, I think it's just shows that, you know, through that experience for the PMs who are actually doing the work on our products, it's a very meaningful, um, and again, she felt super. super welcome to be there too it's not a scary thing being there in front of our customers for myself pink's uni tomorrow please do yes please do mental supervisor she goes she's she's beyond awesome mini mouse yeah mini mouse uh so it's just just pursuing i'm just doing this for her i didn't i didn't i wasn't prepared for this oh there we go okay i have no idea what it's about but that picture is burned in my in my brain forever now you may never see that again no but i'm just going to follow what you just said i just before this uh i had a business meeting with uh our swedish mbp colleague rebecca is it so she's new mbp uh since uh recently she's now your mbp if you want and rebecca is doing and she tells me she loves it she she'll also be here in in within digital but she loves doing collab days those small events what's what you take with those small events salary so like uh it has like two hundred three hundred people but which are local which happen in netherlands in belgium in uh switzerland in england or which are not like one big european or north american event right right more locally multiple local events You know, people always ask me, how do I become an MVP? And, um, you know, there's no, uh, well, that's a whole nother. A thirty minute conversation or, or more that we can have. Um, yes, yes. Um, however, I will tell you that one of the things that I say is, you know, one of the very first thing you should do is see what's happening regionally. Like what is in your backyard or. know within a one-hour car or train ride you know where you can go and meet up with other people who are interested in the same topics the same technologies that you are because those are going to be your people um whether you are considering yourself a speaker or not um that's a great place for you to get to know people And I think, you know, for people that haven't ever done speaking who want to or interested in someday doing something like ECS, a really great way to get your foot in the door is by going to these user groups. And there's a lot that are virtual, too. You know, it doesn't even if there's not one currently in in your community. region, you can do one virtually, but that's a really great opportunity for you to get your foot in the door by speaking and sharing your knowledge. You know, a lot of people say, oh, I'm not a speaker. That's fine. Some people aren't. Um, but, but I don't take the reason being that I don't have anything to share with people is I'm telling you what, every single person has something to share. If you, you know, first of all, nobody is an expert in, uh, the AI right copilot is so new. We're all at the same level right now, you know, so by thinking about, you know, oh, I have nothing that I need to share. Like every, even if you share something that Waldeck shared last week, you're going to have a different perspective, a different way of telling that. And you have personal stories from your own customers and the experiences that you have. And that is knowledge that other people will find interesting. So, you know, I would say if you have the opportunity to go to something like collab days, Definitely go. If you are interested in all in submitting, submit. Because the more experience you get at those smaller events, smaller venues, first of all, you're widening your own local community, but you're also getting that experience of talking. in front of a large group. And that's going to help you be more comfortable when you get to ECS. And then you don't get on the stage like I did in front of two thousand people. I walked into that room and I was like, are you trying to be a heart attack? Oh, my gosh. Even with all of that. Yeah, well, it's, you know, nothing like just jumping in with both feet, but a really great advice is to start small. Exactly. And maybe additionally, team up. Ask for help. Ask somebody else. You don't need to be alone on stage. Ask others. Absolutely. My favorite, like I just mentioned last year, we did the panel. I love that because it's different voices, it's different perspectives, it's different areas of expertise. Also, if you know people who are seasoned presenters, don't be afraid to ask them like, hey, next time you do a session, let me know. I'd love to help be your demo buddy or help you do Q&A or present the last couple of slides or introduce you. Right. Any experience that you can get tag teaming with somebody that adds interest to sessions, people, you know, sixty minutes or forty five minutes or even thirty minutes, sometimes a one person talking. is like, you know, I have ADHD, so like I zone out. But when it's multiple people, it keeps it interesting, right? So I would say, you know, don't be afraid to go and ask people who you know are speakers and just put it out there because oftentimes those speakers are like, oh, thank God, yes, I would love to have a little bit of help and have somebody to kind of share the banter with. Totally, totally. If anything else, I won't, so. I'm surprised. Yeah, I'm listening to this talk about the community and everything, and all three of you are coming from, like, I met you through Microsoft, the Microsoft Office community, but coming from a little bit different background than you. I've been going to events, being part of different communities for a very long time. And then Addis, some years ago, introduced me to this community for the first time. And I must say it's a little bit different than the others. Sure, there are some elements that are commonly shared among them, but definitely this pleasant welcome for everyone, like this family feel is very specific to Microsoft, three sixty five community. And I need to think that really is true. That is so. i see like laurie was a big part of building that community for for for for quite some time now but i'm also interested in one project that you had in there and can you tell us a little bit more about the inception and the impact of women in teams yeah women in teams was uh I guess, organization. It was something that I built and the community is still running it. Big thank you to people like Sharon Weaver who are keeping that community alive now that I'm not on the team's team. I'm still involved, but the community really is driving it, which is what it really was meant to be. But the reason why I felt it was important to create Women in Teams was because I wanted a place where anyone, not just women, anyone could come and just feel welcome. And ask the stupid questions that we all know aren't stupid questions because we all have the same questions. Sometimes it's hard to ask in an environment where there's mixed company or people that you assume are a lot smarter than you or have a lot more experience than you. I also wanted to find a way to get women at Microsoft, Microsoft employees who were working on the Microsoft Teams product. visibility so getting them to come and talk with women across the community and share with them hey this is you know i'm lori and i am a woman and this is what i do at microsoft and show the success that they're all having and and sometimes some of the challenges that they're having to show that hey it's not just you who works in another part of the world at a small company it's also women who are working at Microsoft, we have a lot of the same challenges. That's a great opportunity for us to get to know women across the world who are part of the community or who haven't been and welcome them into the community. I have seen a lot of people that came through Women in Teams who are now MVPs actually, because they had somebody to mentor them along the way and say, hey, you should speak. Right. You you should write. You should start a blog. You have the knowledge. Get out there. And sometimes, you know, it's hard for women to kind of raise their hand and and not all. And I know it is hard for some men also. So don't want to generalize. But, you know, traditionally, it's a little bit. more of a challenge for women to raise their hand and say, yeah, I should be an MVP. Absolutely. Or I should be a speaker on the stage in front of two thousand people like that. You know, we have a hard time raising our hand for that. So having a community where it's a lot of like minded women or men who are very supportive of women in their own communities, just kind of hearing them understanding the challenges or offering advice based on their experiences has been really useful. And it's fun to see a lot of those people really thriving now and going to different events and seeing the faces that I've seen virtually in our calls now really being active in the community. It kind of has served as almost an invite to do that. No, but a lot of people don't realize that back in the seventies, the majority of the people in IT were women. Something happened during the eighties and the early nineties, which flipped that. And I mean, I know that from reading, but I also know it as a true fact because my dad was in IT. As a kid, I was sometimes listening at work and most of the people working with him were women. So where did we lose that? How did we lose that? I mean, this is a totally different discussion, definitely not for this, but this is why I think it's really important to actually have this conversation and have these initiatives like Women in Tech, Women in Teams, and all the similar initiatives which we do have around. I think events like ECS are a really great way to bring women or young women even who are maybe interested in technology but don't think that technology is any fun or that they'll have support along the way. I don't want to sit behind a desk in the dark and code, right? I mean, that's like an old kind of visual we have of people who are in tech. And I think by seeing people at events like ECS and the collaboration that takes place, the fun that takes place, the shared knowledge people are willing to talk with others about, I mean, that's a really good way to bring females in. I always like to try to bring young women along with me. I know I've done it at UCS where I'll bring people with me and just say, this is a community, and introduce them to people. So again, if you are a speaker, if you are going to big events, Be thinking about people that you can bring along with you that don't look like you, that don't have the experience that you have and offer to have them be a co-speaker or help you out or introduce them to people in the community that maybe they can use as mentors as well. Cool. We said we are going to give this a twenty minutes, but that's a joke. We all knew that was a lie. We all knew that was a lie. It's good to have goals, Anes. It's good to have goals. Aspirational. It's aspirational. It's always good to have... We can't have Viva goals anymore, but we can have goals. This is an internal joke. Did I just say this? Yes. Laurie, thank you. This was awesome. See you around. See you around. I will see you around. If anybody is on the fence about going to ECS, I would say do it. You won't be disappointed. know we've talked a lot about community but ultimately you know you're there to learn and a lot of um and share and the sessions are awesome there's too much content right people are like oh there's not enough content or there's too much content like there's so much content uh you gotta pick and choose and be strategic about what you're gonna go and listen to but gosh that's a good problem to have um so i would say take advantage of the time that you're there go and talk to the speakers afterwards, go up to them. They're making themselves available at the sessions. They're in the big community hub at different times. The speakers who are there want to talk with the attendees. So take advantage of that. That's a great part of You know what's Mustafa doing? He's not putting anything in the speaker room except of water. So he basically doesn't want speakers to be in the speaker room. He wants them to be down to mingle with the people. That's true. I don't give a shit. Rather than water in the speaker room. Rather than water for speakers in the speaker room. That's very smart. Very smart. But ultimately, people want to be there. It's not like they want to hide out. They just get comfortable on their computers in the speaker room. But But when they're on the floor, they want to talk to people. And I think that's pretty awesome. Can you do me just one last favor, all three of you, just in order to troll Lee? Can you just... Everybody says just two words. Computer intelligence. I just asked. Computer intelligence. Now you, Valdek. Computer intelligence. Lori. Computer intelligence. Mustafa. Computer intelligence. Lee, this was just for you. So... Thanks, everyone. This was awesome. Talk to you, Laurie. See you hopefully soon in our summer. And probably we are not going to do another one in this year because Christmas holidays are coming now, New Year's Day. But early January, you can expect us with another awesome guest and another really serious conversation. Yes. Obviously, because all roads lead to ECS. All roads lead to ECS. Thanks, everyone. Happy holidays, everyone. Thanks for having me. Bye. Happy holidays. Bye-bye.