For the first time in Nepal, Microsoft MDP Nepal organized the MSP SummIT 2009 in order to bid the MSPs 2009 farewell and to welcome MSPs 2010. The event took place on August 14 through 15, 2009 at Chetana Kendra, Banepa 27 Kms out of Kathmandu amidst 78 MSPs and 3 faculty members.
It was early morning and the bus journey started from New Road, Mahakalsthan, where all the MSPs were asked to gather at. There was great excitement on each of them, everyone singing and cheering on the way to the venue. The program started after breakfast along with the registration.
The introduction session was handled by Shailendra Jha, the former Community Lead and Prashant Dhewaju, the MSP alumni. The welcome note was given by Allen Bailochan Tuladhar, the Country Manager of Microsoft MDP Nepal and with this he presented the welcome video by David Lim, Academic Lead, Microsoft APAC which was addressed to the MSPs. He also talked about the new initiatives for the Community Program. Each MSP present there were asked to put forward their expectations from the program and most of them were expecting to gain lots of technical knowledge. He then gave the presentation on “The Journey from the Caterpillar to Butterfly” where he described about the one year with the former MSPs and also included the further plans for MSP Alumni.
Deependra Raj Bajracharya, Partner Account Manager of Microsoft MDP Nepal started the second session with his presentation on Licensing. Gandip Khaling, DPE Lead, gave the presentation on Windows 7 where he discussed various features of it.
The lunch break was marked as “Fortune Telling Lunch” where the Palm Reader read the palm of the MSPs and it was fun to hear his fortune telling.
The third or the fun session was sports session which was lead by Binny Maskey, Account Manager of Microsoft MDP Nepal. Dumb Sharaarat and Passing the ball were the games played where everyone seemed to be enjoying.
In the fourth session, Gandip Khaling presented on technetnepal.net & msdnnepal.net. He encouraged all the MSPs to join in and put their ideas on the forum. Shristika Shrestha, DreamSpark Lead conducted a small program on DreamSpark. After this session, a small fun stuff; “Coke & Pepsi War” took place where they had to identify the chilled drink whether it was Coke or Pepsi.
Shailendra Jha took lead on fifth session, “The Year That Was”. He shared his experience of the past one year with the MSPs 2009. He was awarded with the Token of Love by the former MSPs as gratitude for the past one year.
After dinner, a group of people shared their experience of the community service that the MSPs did thru the Digital Literacy Training at a remote village of Gorkha. Subash Ghimire, Sabina Agrawal, Prashant Dhewaju, Anil Krishnan and Archana Maharjan talked about the trip.
The most exciting part of the event was the Groove Dance. It was almost midnight and the dance floor was decorated in such a way that it seemed not less than a discotheque with all the lights and the smoke. Everyone was seen on the dance floor jumping and cheering.
The seventh session was more technical with the presentation by Udhyan Timilsina, Technical Specialist of Microsoft MDP Nepal on Exchange 2010, Subash Ghimire on CO3 Project and Gandip Khaling on S2B program. Meanwhile, a video was played focusing on the Microsoft Products. With this the first day session was wrapped up and planning for the next day was made at about 2:30 am.
The next morning started with the morning walk and then the breakfast. Allen Bailochan Tuladhar started the session with a meditation and review of the day before. The former MSPs were asked to hand over their sash to the MSPs 2010. Further he continued with his presentation on Student Lounge. PTA team Junu Thapa, Denil Bhandari and Gaurav Amatya organized a role play on PTA where MSPs were divided in groups and each were given a role and they had to act accordingly.
Allen Tuladhar talked about Imagine Cup; the worldwide software competition. The lunch break was titled as “Country Profile Lunch” and everyone present at the SummIT had to sign on the map of Nepal. The lunch was also continued by the painting hands with Mehendi and it was lead by Sarita Shakya, MSP 2010.
The next session was dedicated to the nominees of MSP of the Year Award. Anu Shrestha, Kushal Gautam, Mukesh Chaudhary, Prashant Dhewaju, Ram Hari Regmi, Ravi Singhal, Ramesh Karakheti and Sabina Agrawal were nominated as contenders in which each of them were asked to share the activities they performed during the past one year within five minutes. The session continued with voting where all of the participants gave points to the nominees.
In the next session, Ravi Chandra Koirala, talked about Microsoft IT Academy Program. In the mean time, the overall calculation of the voting was done to declare the award. The last session of the event was with grand closing ceremony. Allen Tuladhar, Country Manager Microsoft MDP Nepal chaired the session were Subash Ghimire, Senior Programmer hosted as the Master of the Ceremony. Ravi Chandra Koirala, Community Lead, welcomed the participants. Three finalists: Prashant Dhewaju, Anu Shrestha & Sabina Agrawal were called on the stage. Shailendra Jha presented the citation of the three finalists. Lastly, Sabina Agrawal was declared as the MSP of the Year 2009. She was awarded the trophy and the event ended with official photo session.