I had the chance to chat with Melanie Gass, aka the “Microsoft Princess,” and well-known speaker at various SMB Nation events, about her
As many of you know, Melanie was dubbed the “Microsoft Princess” as recognition for her training and consulting of Microsoft’s various products. I asked her how she got into radio, and how she’s seen the environment change, among other things. Read below for our interview:
Heather: How did you get into the radio show?
Melanie: The host of an internet radio show approached me and asked if my team would be willing to do a dedicated program on Microsoft products. No one at that time had something like this.
Heather: How long have you been doing your radio show?
Melanie: You know, we were actually approached this time three years ago! My team and I did a pilot show for them for about 8 weeks, and by the end of this, we had 50,000 listeners. We then jumped on board for the regular programming.
Heather: What is your main goal for the show?
Melanie: The ultimate goal is to help people get the info they need on Microsoft products. You know, we have an interesting cross-section of listeners. We have IT listeners of course, but we also have a lot of Business/Consumer listeners, and we strive to get them the knowledge they need about the various Microsoft offerings.
Heather: What is your favorite part of doing the show?
Melanie: My favorite part of the show really is getting the listeners the information they need, and then hearing the feedback that our information helped.
It’s really strange sometimes, too. People will sometimes joke about the “Microsoft Princess” thing, but I will meet listeners months later, and they will just give me great feedback as to how the radio show has helped them find the right solutions for their business. It just feels good to know that I have helped them.
Heather: What kind of topics do you typically cover? How have these major topics changed in the past three years?
Melanie: Our show topics are across the board of Microsoft products, but lately, most shows are focused around the Cloud, being Office 365 and Azure. In the past 12 months, I’ve seen the major topic shift from Windows and its various versions to the Cloud.
People are really curious about the Cloud and what you can do with it, how far you can take it. We also cover Microsoft’s Cloud offerings and the differences between competitors and Microsoft products for the Cloud.
Heather: So where can we listen? And at what time?
Melanie: It has actually changed a bit since the last time we spoke. You can still listen via Microsoft Princess Insider: http://microsoftprincess.com/radiondemand.html. It’s important to note that we have both live and on demand availability. The live version airs at 8pm Eastern every Tuesday, but anyone can listen to any show with our OnDemand links at the URL above. You can find On Demand shows by either date or topic.
So there you have it, the “411” on Melanie Gass’ Microsoft Princess Insider Radio Show. Join Melanie for this week’s live broadcast tomorrow at 8pm Eastern, and look for an Office 365 2015 Tour stop at a city near you to meet her live!