Speaker Spotlight is your chance to get to know the ESPC22 Speakers! Find out what projects they are most proud of, advice, tips, their favourite films and more!
Introducing Antje Lamartine, MVP
Antje Lamartine is Sr. Customer Success Manager at IF-Blueprint AG in Munich, Germany and Microsoft Office Apps & Services MVP. She started working on the Microsoft platform in 2010, and combines her passion for People and Technology with her focus on Adoption & Change Management around Microsoft 365.
Her goal is always to engage business users as early as possible in the process of an IT project to ensure that business users are being heard, and technical decisions are based on actual needs.
Please recommend one ESPC22 Session (you can’t pick your own 😊)
Viva Topics 18 months later – What did we get?
Finding information and expertise quickly is so difficult in most businesses and Viva Topics is an immensely powerful product to alleviate the pain. Getting a first-hand account of what it takes to implement it successfully is priceless, especially from a seasoned expert like Chris.
Can you briefly discuss a project you are most proud of?
My focus during M365 implementations is the people’s side of things. It is easy to make decisions from an IT standpoint, making decisions with the end user’s needs in mind is more challenging.
In one of my recent projects, I was able to create awareness within the IT team that making their decisions in a silo is the easy way, but overall, not the best way. They heeded my advice and with my assistance actively engaged core departments of the organization.
It helped us understand how departments collaborate, which M365 apps and functionalities fit their needs, and enabled us to create a phased rollout plan based on the actual business needs.
What is your favourite film?
Dr. Strangelove! Top notch satire with the one and only Peter Sellers, just thinking about it makes me laugh aloud.
What is the best career or life advice you have received to date?
Do not wait for permission, just lead and others will follow and always be kind to each other, because we always meet twice.
Have you any tips on receiving a MVP status?
Find something that you love doing so it comes easy and you can keep it up. Do not do podcasts if writing blog posts is easier. Find what truly matches your interests and then go for it.
Connect with the community, make your contributions visible, e.g., through a personal website and posts in social media, and try to collaborate with other MVPs. It will be much easier for them to nominate you if they have worked with you and know you personally.
And finally, do not compare yourself with other people in the community. Just do what you love doing, keep doing it, and the MVP will come.
