Recently I was awarded MVP status. The MVP Program attempts to recognise people in the industry who have made a difference to the community by contributing their expertise. This is an excellent goal but in my opinion the MVP Program suffers from a lack of transparency. With this in mind I thought I would start sharing more information about what this program means. I’m starting with something very simple: the gift that is sent to MVPs when they are awarded MVP status. Note that there are many other (considerable) benefits to being an MVP but this post is simply about what’s in the box that Microsoft sends to you.

We’ll start with the box itself:-

This picture shows the box complete with the outer, shiney sleeve. Remove the sleeve and you’re just left with the box itself:-

Inside the box is a professional certificate:-

On opening the box you can see messages from Steve Ballmer and Rich Kaplan congratulating you on your award:-

The booklet on the left tells you all about the MVP Program. There is an MVP badge on the top right and a brown MVP box that opens up like this:-

The box contains an MVP pen/light pen, an MVP post-it notepad, an MVP credit card wallet, an MVP 1GB USB stick/keyring and an MVP badge.