How to Get on the Bus! - Born to Learn - Born To Learn

The last month has been a blur for us—our little team is planning a cross-country bus tour and a major blog re-launch (more on that next week, but let’s just say our remaining days at this address are numbered) simultaneously, and the days are flying by…

but we’re thrilled by the response to our Get on the Bus! announcement, and I wanted to address the three most commonly asked questions in our comment section, inboxes and MCT newsgroups:

1) How do I get on the bus?

2) Why can’t non-US residents get on the bus?

3) What events will be happening in my town?

You know how it works here: you ask, we answer! So, let’s dive in:

How do I get on the bus?

The short answer: Convince us and the community that you’re the most passionate, knowledgeable ambassador for the MCP and/or MCT community!

The details:

On Monday, we’ll post a link to a registration site where you can apply to be a Get on the Bus! contestant
In your registration, you’ll need to select a city to compete in (Atlanta, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Denver, Phoenix, Las Vegas)—only one city per person.
You’ll also need to provide us your screen name for Are You Certifiable? and a URL to an essay (on your blog, for example, or Facebook, anywhere we can read it) on why you’re passionate about Microsoft certification. For bonus points, provide us a URL to an on-line video testimonial on the same topic.
Then get busy: play Are You Certifiable? as much as you like (you can even start now), and your highest score in the game by the end of the entry period (April 3rd) will contribute toward your Get on the Bus! qualifying points.
Based on each contestant’s game score, essay, and video bonus points (if supplied), we’ll select the top 5 contestants for each city as our finalists. My team will judge the essays and videos. We’ll let you know if you’re a finalist the week of April 7th.
If you’re one of the top 5 finalists in each city, we’ll ask you to attend our live in-person final round when we pull into town in May.
The final round will consist of a live version of Are You Certifiable? and a chance for you to pitch to the community why you would be their best representative on the tour. The event will be filmed and immediately posted to Born to Learn, where our readers will vote for one contestant only.
We’ll announce the winner in person at the event site the next morning—if you’re a finalist, you’ll need to be there with your bags packed, because if you win you’ll need to immediately Get on the Bus as we depart for TechEd 2009!

Full contest rules and legalese on Monday. Check back here for the link!

Why can’t non-US residents get on the bus?

We would love to have international folks on the bus with us—but we put this event together so quickly and so recently that the complexities of tax and gaming law are complicated enough across multiple American states… adding other countries to the mix would have required more time than we had.

Likewise: the qualifying entry period for contestants doesn’t leave us a lot of time to notify our finalists before the tour starts—if the US requires you to have a visa to enter the country, there very possibly wouldn’t be enough time for you to get one before you’d have to travel.

So we chose to open the contest for U.S. residents (note: you don’t have to be a citizen, just a permanent resident) only. But if this event is a smash success—and you can help us make it one, even if you live outside of the U.S. (you can vote, even if you can’t play)—well, we can always keep our fingers crossed for a bigger, better Season Two! :-)

What events will be happening in my town?

We’re putting the trip together real-time, so keep checking here and on our Facebook page for itinerary updates. But it’s safe to assume that we’ll have MCP and MCT meet-ups along the way—some planned and some spontaneous (follow us on Twitter to stay on top of those); special Microsoft guest-stars in certain cities; giveaways and other special events.

We’ll also be visiting CPLS partners, IT Academies, and customers, and we’re looking for cool, innovative, inspiring stories. If you have a great personal story about Microsoft training and certification—or if you know of anyone who does—let us know, and we’d love to get it on camera when we come to town.

Get on the Bus! is going to be a fun trip and an exciting contest, but our true aim is to help make the world aware of the incredible contributions our Microsoft Certified Professionals, Trainers, Learning Solutions Partners and IT Academies make to our industry, our customers, and our communities!

See you soon!

Posted by Krosen

Comments

Friday, March 20, 2009 1:29 PM by JKarnes

# re: How to Get on the Bus!

So, let's say we're not a resident of one of the towns your are visiting, but would like to "Get on the Bus". Is that possible? Can you guys swing through Memphis :) ?

Friday, March 20, 2009 5:22 PM by Krosen

# re: How to Get on the Bus!

Our route is pretty set, so I don't think Memphis is in the cards this time... but St. Louis is only a 4 hour drive away!

Friday, March 20, 2009 5:25 PM by Ben

# re: How to Get on the Bus!

Wow. This has had me pumped! You are still passing through Charlotte, right?!

Friday, March 20, 2009 6:53 PM by Krosen

# re: How to Get on the Bus!

You bet--will we see you there, Ben?

Saturday, March 21, 2009 10:29 PM by Michael Dragone

# re: How to Get on the Bus!

Darn. Next time, swing that bus towards New York. And team up with John Madden's bus. :)

Thursday, March 26, 2009 8:40 PM by Johan M. R.

# re: How to Get on the Bus!

Hi, i´m reside in Colombia, the promo apply to it ?

thanks,

JMR.