Find my books here.

What do I do when I’m not writing stories? I’m managing online communities! My experience includes people who quite literally save lives and people who are striving to make their own offline communities and culture the best it can be. I’m happy to share my experiences and help others manage, nurture, and grow their online communities on various platforms and in various spaces, because I wouldn’t have gotten to where I am today without being helped along the way.

I’m a member of the Microsoft Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Board and also a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) [Updated 2021: Year 6!] for Office Apps & Services. It’s an award I’m both humbled and honored to receive.

I’ve learned several online community platforms from the ground up, and always have an eye out for what’s next. Currently I work with Yammer networks, both internal and external, and that means I work with some fabulous people.

Featured

• A write-up that brings tears to my eyes by Larry Glickman.
• What Mentorship Has Taught Me [Diversity & Tech Guest Blog]
• Putting Community First in Community Management [Yammer Guest Blog]
• The Microsoft MVP Summit Legacy [2019 campus visit]
• Microsoft Ignite 2018: Deeper Dive Into Connectivity. My interactive Sway!
• Without Capes: The Superheroes I Look Up To [MVP Contributor Program]

Academic Publications

• Rosemary’s Face: The Legacy of Rh Hemolytic Disease (Journal of Crisis Prevention)
• Building a Better Behavioral Framework: Tiers of Positive School Support (Journal of Safe Management of Disruptive and Assaultive Behavior)

The short version of what you are about to see is mostly located on LinkedIn, where I post about online community management, what having a community means to our customers, conferences, and more.

Microsoft Most Valued Professional (MVP) and Yammer Articles

• How My Yammer External Network Works Out Loud–And Saves Lives #wolweek
• Without Capes: Superheroes I Look Up To, Part II
• Microsoft Ignite 2017: Innovations & Inspiration —My prize-winning recap [Sway]
• Why It’s Okay To Have “Fun” Groups In Your Online Community
• Why Your Online Community Is A Great Place To Work
• Why Your Customers Need An Online Community (And How to Prove It’s Working When You Have One) (Updated 2018!) [SlideShare]
• Microsoft, Silent Disco, and the Collaboration Revelation [MVP Summit recap]
• How I Grew My Career in 2017 [MVP Contributor Program]
• Yammer Connects Customers & Company [There are stats in here!]
• Trap #5: No Community Manager

• How to Launch Your Yammer Network (And Keep It Going)
• How I Went From English Major to Yammer Community Manager
• Yammer: Yep, Still Kicking!
• Ignite 2016, or How I Spent My Fall Vacation [Sway]
• An Analog Way to Get People to Join Your Network
• How to Train (and Find!) Community Managers, From Home to External Networks
• How to Get “Recent Activity” in an Export: Solution
• Want to learn how to turn start-up social into community success? Learn from my experience.

MVP Speaking & Video Opportunities For Microsoft

• Yammer Customer Stories: CPI (Write-up includes a video) —I brought Microsoft and a film crew to showcase my company’s online community success story! 
  • EDIT to the above! Customer Stories have been removed and I can’t find them. But the video itself remains on YouTube (for now). 
• Ignite: Is Enterprise Social Still Valid? 75-minute meetup (session description)
  • Ignite: Is Enterprise Social Still Valid? (community discussion)
• Ignite: Mining Yammer Data For Gold Using Power BI (session description)
  • Ignite: Mining Yammer Data For Gold Using Power BI (session video)
• Ignite: Video! Yammer MVP Panel
  • Ignite Session Page: Hear stories from the frontline of collaboration: Yammer MVPs share their lessons
• Ignite: Video! Show the value of your network using analytics
  • Ignite Session Page: Show the value of your network using analytics

     

• Video clips

  • An Introduction to the Microsoft Tech Community
  • What do you love most about the Microsoft Tech Community? 
  • Have you had any aha moments in the Microsoft Tech Community?
  • How should I answer questions in the Microsoft Tech Community?
  • Tips on how to get started in the Microsoft Tech Community

MVP Podcasts and Interviews

• Microsoft Regional Director Christian Buckley’s #MVPBuzzChat, episode 21:  MVPBuzzchat with Becky Benishek
• tyGraph’s Moneyball podcast: How I manage my Yammer External Network
• Lesley Wolan’s #SuperWomeninTech blog: #WomeninTech Meet Becky Benishek: MVP, Yammer Community Manager
• Dean Swann’s Collab & Digital blog: When Business and IT Collaborate Instead of Collide
• ShareMuch with Yaroslav Pentsarskyy, live interview: How to Succeed With Yammer In A Mid-Size Organization
• Collab365 live interview: Microsoft Ignite Coverage 2017 with Becky Benishek and Beau Cameron
• Simon Terry’s #WOLWeek: Work Out Loud interview with Becky Benishek
• Paul Wood’s Yaminade podcast: Bridging the analog and digital with Becky B from the Crisis Prevention Institute
• 2 Guys and SharePoint: Episode 25 – The Yammer show with Mel and Becky

Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI): Projects, Posts, Social Media Successes

• I was the project lead for this paradigm-changing video about changing your perceptions to provide better care.
• Here’s how to achieve mindfulness at work (and beyond), with my month-long #mindfulness campaign that keeps on giving.
• We won a Bell Award for National Bullying Prevention Month, where I did daily social media posts that led back to all the great content we generated.
• Here’s an example of my Facebook Page engagement and the landing page I designed to go with the post.
• Another example of my Facebook Page engagement, where I was also the offline campaign manager, directing both an employee contest and the design team.
• Blog post example based on a successful Facebook Q&A session.
• The corporate Pinterest page I built works amazingly well for us.

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I had a prior incarnation in the career resources field! Here’s what I did then:

Career Resource-Related Guest Posts, Blog Posts, and Tutorials

• SlideShare tutorial for Facebook Privacy (originally written for my current company, then adapted for general use).
• What to Do When You Hear: “It happened for the best!”
• 5 1/2 Social Media Tips for Job Seekers
• 5 Things You Can Do When You Get the Axe
• Positively Unemployed
• Job Seekers: Put Your Best (Social Media) Face Forward
• 5 Quick’n’Dirty Ways to Be Green at Work

Career Resource-Related Mentions

Note: My Twitter handle was bbenishek at the time. (Now it’s @beckybenishek.)

• Top 100 Twitter Accounts Job Seekers MUST Follow (2013)
• Top 100 Twitter Accounts Job Seekers MUST Follow (2012)
• Top 50 Twitter Accounts Job Seekers MUST Follow (2011)
• How to Be a Great Community Manager (quoted)
• 55 Top Job Search Experts to follow on Twitter

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Find Me Online!

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Medium
• Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP)
• Microsoft Tech Community