Wait, what? There were other MVP groups at the Summit besides SQL Server?

Of course. (To be fair, your paragraph about social media talked only about the SQL Server group.)

But there are several purposes to the MVP Summit other than providing and collecting information for a specific product group – not the least of which is thanking and rewarding MVPs of all flavors for their MVP-ness. I also don’t know that you can say with any authority how every other program group isn’t engaged like we are. Did you meet and discuss this with a suitable representative from every single discipline? I don’t have any authoritative knowledge either, but I find it hard to believe that we’re the only group where both sides of the table find value in the annual event.

I’ve lost count of how many Summits I’ve been to and, even back shortly before and shortly after the whole program was cancelled, there was no discussion about discontinuing the event. And if you think they pour a whole lot of money into the Summit now, and want to cut those costs, consider this: they used to also pay airfare and hotel. That balances out a little bit because there were fewer MVPs then, and yes you could take it as a sign that they’re trying to wind down spending to $0 gradually.

I choose to see the glass as half full, not half empty. I’ll wait to agree that the sky is falling when the sky is falling.

I think you need to look at the volume of the feedback we are talking about, and how it will be used. While you feel that the MVP event is there for the product teams to make great products I would counter that your view is skewed because you are a SQL MVP. We have great interaction with out product team counterparts (well, except for Connect, I guess, but that’s a different blog post).

Anyway, most MVP groups don’t have that, and most groups aren’t soliciting feedback to bake into their products. Most of the time the MVPs show up, get told about new things (which may or may not be new by that time), and then they go home. They are not actively engaged in the build cycle to the degree that the SQL MVPs feel engaged.