Today EMC announced the names of the EMC Elect 2015. I’m thrilled to be able to say: I’m one of them! Three years in, the Elect program is EMC’s way of saying “thank you!” to her online advocates. We share our knowledge, either by blogging or tweeting or speaking at public events. In return EMC gives us (among others) early access to new, hot product information, an easy path to the various EMC business units, some swag, comfy beanbags to sit in at Tier 1 events like EMC World, etc. And of course bragging rights…
The Judging
Out of 450 nominations, 200 people made it to the finals. This is no boxing match; instead the finalists were judged based on:
- Regular engagement on the EMC Community Network
- Great conversations on Twitter
- Strong technical presence via blogs and at industry events
And this basically sums up what the Elect are all about. Sharing knowledge and enthusiasm, mainly on social media but also in real life at events and with presentations. Most Elect I know are always eager to explain the inner workings of one of EMC’s products to you. Either from a deep technical point of view (how do you implement a product successfully or what did you experience in the field?) or on a more tactical or strategic level (Why should you choose for a certain technology). Yes, that may include having to say “this isn’t the right product for you” or “this functionality doesn’t work, EMC fix it!”: most of us use more than just EMC products, so we can make comparisons…
So who are the Elect of 2015?
Eventually 102 people passed the vetting: they can now call themselves EMC Elect 2015. You can find the full list here. As you can see its a mix of people: EMC internals, EMC partners, Independent analysts or EMC customers, each with their own story to tell. For pie-charts, head over to Dave’s blog to see the breakdown of relationships. Dave was also one of the 12 judges, so he’ll explain a bit what they did to get to the final 102 Elect.
What’s next?
Simple! For you, the people consuming all this knowledge: make sure to follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our blogs so you can get the news while it’s hot. You can follow me on Twitter over here, or this blog via the RSS feed or pressing the Subscribe button down by the comments. And don’t forget to browse the awesome people in the list above!
If you want to be a part of the Elect for 2016: share that knowledge you’ve got and make sure you’re nominated next year. This is no secret society and you don’t have to bribe anyone to get in: it’s all about the content you put out and you can’t fake that. You can even nominate yourself if you like!
And for the EMC Elect 2015? We’ll continue blogging and tweeting about the things we like and don’t like in EMC products. According to Mark Browne (one of the architects of the EMC Elect) 2015 is going to be the most exciting year to date for the Elect. I can’t wait!
