Most Active Speakers 2023

Sessionize proudly presents the list of the most active speakers in the year 2023!

  • 758 speakers
  • Auto-generated
James Reeves

James Reeves

Data enthusiast on a mission to make cost effective data platforms accessible to all while navigating the whims of an ADHD-powered mind – it's a bit like juggling flaming torches while riding a unicycle, but he makes it work!

Data enthusiast on a mission to make cost effective data platforms accessible to all while navigating the whims of an ADHD-powered mind – it's a bit like juggling flaming torches while riding a unicycle, but he makes it work! Show more

Poornima Nayar

Poornima Nayar

Poornima is a .Net developer with over 10 years of experience in .Net. She is passionate about learning new technologies and keeping herself up-to-date with the latest developments in technology. Outside her work, Poornima enjoys music and is undergoing training in Indian Classical music. Based in Langley, UK she mothers a little girl and spends her spare time reading, cooking and watching movies.

Poornima is a .Net developer with over 10 years of experience in .Net. She is passionate about learning new technologies and keeping herself up-to-date with the latest developments in technology. Outside her work, Poornima enjoys music and is undergo... Show more

Carmen Huidobro

Carmen Huidobro

Carmen Huidobro is a developer advocate and deved enthusiast. She thrives on lifting others up in their tech careers and loves a good CSS challenge. Always excited to talk about teaching tech, especialmente en Español, oder auf Deutsch.

Carmen Huidobro is a developer advocate and deved enthusiast. She thrives on lifting others up in their tech careers and loves a good CSS challenge. Always excited to talk about teaching tech, especialmente en Español, oder auf Deutsch. Show more

Lesley Crook

Lesley Crook

Help people adopt AI in a way that feels human with "lived intelligence", common sense, empathy. Nurture moving teams from fear of AI to curiosity, creativity, and confident collaboration.

Lead Microsoft Copilot adoption through a people‑first launch, communications, and Champion networks, surfacing real success stories and demonstrating clear value and ROI.

Coach individuals and small businesses to use free, open‑source AI responsibly and creatively.

Founder of MVP Viva Explorers, creator of Viva Origami, and architect of a Microsoft‑endorsed Viva Wayfinder onboarding experience. Co‑author of the adoption chapter in "Microsoft Teams Administration Cookbook", and a regular Microsoft event speaker and blogger.

MVP 10 years. 15 years at GSK Internal Communications. Proudly “the commsiest person in tech and the techiest person in comms.”

Help people adopt AI in a way that feels human with "lived intelligence", common sense, empathy. Nurture moving teams from fear of AI to curiosity, creativity, and confident collaboration. Lead Microsoft Copilot adoption through a people‑first la... Show more

James Serra

James Serra

James works at Microsoft as a big data and data warehousing solution architect where he has been for most of the last ten years. He is a thought leader in the use and application of Big Data and advanced analytics, including data architectures such as the modern data warehouse, data lakehouse, data fabric, and data mesh. Previously he was an independent consultant working as a Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence architect and developer. He is a prior SQL Server MVP with nearly 40 years of IT experience. He is a popular blogger (JamesSerra.com) and speaker, having presented at dozens of major events including PASS Summit, SQLBits, Data Summit, SQLDay, Enterprise Data World conference, Big Data Conference Europe, SQL Saturdays, and Informatica World. He is the author of the book “Deciphering Data Architectures: Choosing Between a Modern Data Warehouse, Data Fabric, Data Lakehouse, and Data Mesh”.

James works at Microsoft as a big data and data warehousing solution architect where he has been for most of the last ten years. He is a thought leader in the use and application of Big Data and advanced analytics, including data architectures such ... Show more

John Kerski

John Kerski

John leverages his 10+ years of technical and government leadership experience to help Federal Agencies, and private sector clients utilize Microsoft products to their fullest potential. His certifications with Microsoft products offers customers a high rate of return when looking to invest in Microsoft solutions.

John leverages his 10+ years of technical and government leadership experience to help Federal Agencies, and private sector clients utilize Microsoft products to their fullest potential. His certifications with Microsoft products offers customers a h... Show more

Lara Newsom

Lara Newsom

In addition to the many conference talks I have given online and around the globe, I am an Angular GDE, NX Champion, and a co-host on the Angular Plus Show where we talk about all things Angular and Angular adjacent. During the day, I am a Senior Software Engineering Technical Leader at Cisco working full time on a large enterprise Angular application using NgRx state management and leveraging Nx Monorepos. I am always energized by sharing my knowledge and being part of the software engineering community. I specialize in talking about cats and random facts but also love talking about software.

In addition to the many conference talks I have given online and around the globe, I am an Angular GDE, NX Champion, and a co-host on the Angular Plus Show where we talk about all things Angular and Angular adjacent. During the day, I am a Senior Sof... Show more

Viktor Gamov

Viktor Gamov

Viktor Gamov is a Principal Developer Advocate at Confluent, founded by the original creators of Apache Kafka®. With a rich background in implementing and advocating for distributed systems and cloud-native architectures, Viktor excels in open-source technologies. He is passionate about assisting architects, developers, and operators in crafting systems that are not only low in latency and scalable but also highly available.
As a Java Champion and an esteemed speaker, Viktor is known for his insightful presentations at top industry events like JavaOne, Devoxx, Kafka Summit, and QCon. His expertise spans distributed systems, real-time data streaming, JVM, and DevOps.
Viktor has co-authored "Enterprise Web Development" from O'Reilly and "Apache Kafka® in Action" from Manning. 
Follow Viktor on X—@gamussa to stay updated with his latest thoughts on technology, his gym and food adventures, and insights into open-source and developer advocacy.

Viktor Gamov is a Principal Developer Advocate at Confluent, founded by the original creators of Apache Kafka®. With a rich background in implementing and advocating for distributed systems and cloud-native architectures, Viktor excels in open-source... Show more

Chirag Patel

Chirag Patel

Chirag is an Independent Consultant & Trainer at Patel Consulting, based in London UK, focusing on enabling secure & compliant collaboration and productivity solutions in organisations using Generative AI, Microsoft 365 and Purview technologies.

With over 25 years of experience in technology professional services and training delivery, Chirag’s career spans from database development & administration, implementing collaboration & information management solutions to cloud deployments & migrations. Key roles include, Product Owner, Solution Architect & Engineer specialising hands-on delivery of technical solutions with demonstrated results in designing & implementing secure, reliable, scalable and fault tolerant mission critical enterprise solutions. Chirag’s contributions extends to various channels and partners on practical consultancy, classroom training, and personalised training with clients in many sectors, he establishes himself as leader and problem solver on projects for broad adoption of tech and is also a regular speaker at community events.

Chirag holds MSc in Business Systems Analysis & Design and is a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), TOGAF Certified Architect, BCS Chartered IT Professional and a recipient of Microsoft MVP award every year since 2020. He is also an Approved Chartered Membership Assessor at BCS (British Computer Society).

Chirag is an Independent Consultant & Trainer at Patel Consulting, based in London UK, focusing on enabling secure & compliant collaboration and productivity solutions in organisations using Generative AI, Microsoft 365 and Purview technologies. W... Show more

Mike Maadarani

Mike Maadarani

Mike Maadarani is a Microsoft Copilot & M365 MVP, a board member of the Microsoft Global Community Initiative, and a Cloud Solutions Architect who has been providing strategic solutions surrounding architecture, planning, migration and governance for medium to large-scale organization. With 30 years of IT industry experience, Mike spent the last few years managing and delivering collaboration solutions to a wide range of mid to large scale projects. He is an evangelist and visionary where he can and provide the business and technical leadership required for delivering successful global Microsoft 365 projects. This has giving him the opportunity to work with great talented colleagues and people who I have a lot of respect for their passion and dedication.

He is an active member in the Microsoft 365 community and have spoken in many Microsoft conferences, local events, and corporate functions.

Mike Maadarani is a Microsoft Copilot & M365 MVP, a board member of the Microsoft Global Community Initiative, and a Cloud Solutions Architect who has been providing strategic solutions surrounding architecture, planning, migration and governance for... Show more

Antoine Comble

Antoine Comble

I was touched by Agility, its principles and its values ​​in 2015.
For 5 years, I discovered the concept of “Serious game”: bring reflection, continuous improvement, ask the right questions, personal development and also a little letting go in business through play.
It was obvious: why not transpose what I do on the personal side into my professional life? Diverting existing games, creating new ones...
If like me, the subjects of Agility, Lean, Kanban, #NoEstimates and Serious games fascinate you, let's discuss it!

I was touched by Agility, its principles and its values ​​in 2015. For 5 years, I discovered the concept of “Serious game”: bring reflection, continuous improvement, ask the right questions, personal development and also a little letting go in busin... Show more

Gerrit Grunwald

Gerrit Grunwald

Gerrit Grunwald is a software engineer that loves coding for around 40 years already. He is a true believer in open source and he is an active member of the Java community, where he founded and leads the Java User Group Münster (Germany), he is a JavaOne rockstar and a Java Champion. He is a speaker at conferences and user groups internationally and writes for several magazines.

Gerrit Grunwald is a software engineer that loves coding for around 40 years already. He is a true believer in open source and he is an active member of the Java community, where he founded and leads the Java User Group Münster (Germany), he is a Jav... Show more

Joy Apple

Joy Apple

Joy Apple is a Microsoft MVP and Director of Partner and Customer Success at Orchestry.
As a seasoned information technologist, Joy strives to ensure technology is implemented with a purpose-driven, “human-first” approach. Teaching is one of her passions, and Joy finds personal and professional fulfillment volunteering in the Microsoft Community, speaking and educating others on best practices for success with Microsoft 365.
During her time as a SharePoint/Microsoft 365 consultant and trainer Joy has had the opportunity to work across industries, including government and our armed services.
When Joy isn’t working with the Orchestry team or speaking or writing as the “Joy of SharePoint,” she can probably be found at a music venue or the newest fun spot in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Joy Apple is a Microsoft MVP and Director of Partner and Customer Success at Orchestry. As a seasoned information technologist, Joy strives to ensure technology is implemented with a purpose-driven, “human-first” approach. Teaching is one of her pa... Show more

Edward Pollack

Edward Pollack

Ed Pollack is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP with a passion for learning how Data Platforms work and sharing that knowledge with the community. His experiences in data architecture, database design, performance optimization, and security are motivation for public speaking, writing, coding, and other community activities.

Ed has spoken at SQL Saturday events, SQL Bits, PASS Summit, EightKB, and many other regional and international events. Ed is the organizer of the Capital Area SQL Server Group and Day of Data Albany, as well as a co-organizer of SQL Saturday New York City. He has published a number of books, including "Dynamic SQL: Applications, Performance, and Security in Microsoft SQL Server", "Expert Performance Indexing in Azure SQL and SQL Server 2022", and "Analytics Optimization with Columnstore Indexes in Microsoft SQL Server: Optimizing OLAP Workloads". Ed is also an active contributor of content to SimpleTalk.

In his free time, Ed enjoys video games, traveling, cooking exceptionally spicy foods, and hanging out with his amazing wife and sons.

Ed Pollack is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP with a passion for learning how Data Platforms work and sharing that knowledge with the community. His experiences in data architecture, database design, performance optimization, and security are motivati... Show more

Fabio Franzini

Fabio Franzini

I'm CEO of Apvee Solutions, a company specializing in providing innovative software solutions for businesses based on Microsoft 365, Power Platform and Microsoft Azure. In addition to my role at Apvee, I am also a member of the Patterns and Practices (PnP) team, a Microsoft initiative to provide guidance and tools to developers building applications on Microsoft 365 and Power Platform platforms.

With more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry, I have held a variety of positions, including software engineer, solution architect, and project manager. My proven record of accomplishment includes the implementation of complex projects in a variety of industries.

I have been awarded Microsoft's Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for several years for both Business Applications and Microsoft 365 Development categories in recognition of my contributions to the community. As an active member of the technology community, I frequently speak at international conferences, sharing my knowledge and insights with other industry professionals. I also contribute to open-source projects, helping others solve technical challenges and stay up to date on the latest trends and best practices.

My passion is exploring innovative technologies and finding innovative ways to solve business problems. Let's get in touch and find out how I can help your company achieve its goals with cutting-edge software solutions.

I'm CEO of Apvee Solutions, a company specializing in providing innovative software solutions for businesses based on Microsoft 365, Power Platform and Microsoft Azure. In addition to my role at Apvee, I am also a member of the Patterns and Practices... Show more

Heini Ilmarinen

Heini Ilmarinen

Heini is a math teacher turned Azure expert. With her background in mathematics and teaching, she has a great passion for problem solving, simplifying complex things and a unique approach to architectures.
She is a Co-founder at Bruvo and a Data Platform MVP, specializing in Azure infrastructure and the data platform. She has been working with customers large and small for the past several years to help them sort out their path to the cloud and make sense of their architecture - both hybrid and cloud. She has worked extensively with both Azure infrastructure and analytics solutions, and makes the most of this skillset in her projects, as well as while speaking. On her free time Heini spends time in the nature, either snowboarding or mountain biking, depending on the season.

Heini is a math teacher turned Azure expert. With her background in mathematics and teaching, she has a great passion for problem solving, simplifying complex things and a unique approach to architectures. She is a Co-founder at Bruvo and a Data Pla... Show more

Alberto Acerbis

Alberto Acerbis

Alberto Acerbis is a hands-on software architect with a strong background in distributed systems. Recognized as a Microsoft MVP in .NET technologies, he actively contributes to the tech community.
In his role, Alberto helps customers transform their ideas into robust and scalable solutions. Beyond his professional work, he is a passionate technical speaker, having delivered numerous sessions at conferences over the years.
His dedication to knowledge-sharing extends to the communities he has founded and actively participates in, fostering collaboration and continuous learning in the tech ecosystem.
Outside of technology, Alberto enjoys mountain activities in all seasons and has a keen interest in philosophy and other disciplines beyond the tech world.

Alberto Acerbis is a hands-on software architect with a strong background in distributed systems. Recognized as a Microsoft MVP in .NET technologies, he actively contributes to the tech community. In his role, Alberto helps customers transform their... Show more

Dean Schuster

Dean Schuster

Dean Schuster has been envisioning and creating human-centered digital products since the advent of the commercial web. He is founder and owner of the user experience strategy firm truematter, leading the team to help national and international organizations change the way they do business online. He travels all over the world to speak and teach, mentoring professionals and challenging teams to a higher standard for digital experiences.

Dean is also an avid ultra-marathoner and trail racer, often found in out-of-the-way places, including Antarctica.

Dean Schuster has been envisioning and creating human-centered digital products since the advent of the commercial web. He is founder and owner of the user experience strategy firm truematter, leading the team to help national and international organ... Show more

Kathrin Borchert

Kathrin Borchert

Hi, I’m Kathrin Borchert, a Microsoft Data Platform MVP specializing in Power BI and Fabric—the only woman in Germany with this title. With over 9 years of experience in Power BI, I’ve worked with both small businesses and enterprise customers, helping them transform data into actionable insights. As Managing Partner at YoDaBI, I support organizations in leveraging Power BI and Microsoft Fabric to drive data-driven decisions. I’m passionate about sharing knowledge, which is why I organize the Female Fabricator User Group MeetUps as well as write on my blog YoDaBI.com, and engage with the community on LinkedIN and YouTube.

Hi, I’m Kathrin Borchert, a Microsoft Data Platform MVP specializing in Power BI and Fabric—the only woman in Germany with this title. With over 9 years of experience in Power BI, I’ve worked with both small businesses and enterprise customers, help... Show more

Joseph Guadagno

Joseph Guadagno

Joe Guadagno has been writing software for over 30 years, has been an active member of the .NET community, formerly serving on the .NET Foundation Board of Directors, as President, and has been a Microsoft MVP in .NET for more than 15 years. He has spoken through the United States and international events on topics ranging from Microsoft .NET, Microsoft Azure, Ionic, Bootstrap, and many others. You can see the complete list at https://www.josephguadagno.net/presentations. When not sitting at a computer, Joe loves to hang out with his family and play games. When not playing games with the family, Joe is checking out the latest in Home Automation. You can connect with Joe on Bluesky at @jguadagno.com, Facebook at JosephGuadagnoNet, and on his blog at https://www.josephguadagno.net

Joe Guadagno has been writing software for over 30 years, has been an active member of the .NET community, formerly serving on the .NET Foundation Board of Directors, as President, and has been a Microsoft MVP in .NET for more than 15 years. He has s... Show more

Vivek Yadav

Vivek Yadav

Vivek Yadav is an Enterprise Solutions Architect at FlutterFlow and a Google Developer Expert (GDE) for Flutter & Dart, with 8+ years of experience building and scaling production-grade mobile applications.

He has worked across startups, mid-size companies, and large enterprises, leading architecture and delivery of real-world apps. One of his published applications has surpassed 20+ million downloads on the App Store and Play Store, reflecting his strong focus on scalability, performance, and maintainable front-end architecture.

Vivek is deeply involved in the Flutter ecosystem as a speaker, mentor, and educator. He regularly helps teams and developers move from framework knowledge to product-ready engineering, covering topics such as Flutter architecture, FlutterFlow, front-end best practices, and building apps at scale.

As a speaker, Vivek is known for practical, experience-driven talks that bridge the gap between development and product thinking—helping audiences ship better apps with confidence.

Vivek Yadav is an Enterprise Solutions Architect at FlutterFlow and a Google Developer Expert (GDE) for Flutter & Dart, with 8+ years of experience building and scaling production-grade mobile applications. He has worked across startups, mid-size ... Show more

Yannis Martin

Yannis Martin

Yannis Martin is the founder and CEO of Nistin et OMK, a digital transformation consulting and training company.

With 16 years of experience in project management and transition management, he is a certified consultant and trainer in COBIT® 2019, ITIL® 4, and a PECB Certified Trainer in cybersecurity (ISO27001), and PRINCE2®. His expertise covers governance, IT security, and project management.

EiCnam engineer and sociologist by training, he has been a speaker since 2019. He has participated in numerous international events, including the Agile Tour, Devopsdays, and the IIBA and SMP conferences. He also teaches at the University of Avignon (2021) and EM Lyon (2025).

In 2024, he became a doctoral student at the Université de technologie de Compiègne, Alliance Sorbonne Université, and the COSTECH laboratory. His research focuses on how AI fits into the history of complexity and helps provide principles for approaching it in different domains.

Yannis Martin is the founder and CEO of Nistin et OMK, a digital transformation consulting and training company. With 16 years of experience in project management and transition management, he is a certified consultant and trainer in COBIT® 2019,... Show more

Peter Zaitsev

Peter Zaitsev

Peter Zaitsev is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Percona, Coroot and other tech companies. As one of the leading experts in Open Source strategy and database optimization, Peter has applied his technical knowledge and entrepreneurial drive to contribute as a board member and advisor to several open source startups. Additionally, Peter is the co-author of the book "High Performance MySQL: Optimization, Backup and Replication," one of the most popular books on MySQL performance.

Peter Zaitsev is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Percona, Coroot and other tech companies. As one of the leading experts in Open Source strategy and database optimization, Peter has applied his technical knowledge and entrepreneurial drive to contr... Show more

Namrata Agrawal

Namrata Agrawal

Namrata is currently working as Power Platform Developer. She has previously worked in KPMG as a Full Stack Developer and was a Gold Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador.

Driving passion for Accessibility and Sustainability using AI and Technology around the World !
Beside work, enjoying being artistic and creative.

Namrata is currently working as Power Platform Developer. She has previously worked in KPMG as a Full Stack Developer and was a Gold Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador. Driving passion for Accessibility and Sustainability using AI and Technology a... Show more

Jimmy Bogard

Jimmy Bogard

Jimmy is the creator and maintainer of the popular OSS libraries AutoMapper and MediatR, and the originator of Vertical Slice Architecture. Jimmy is an independent software consultant based in Austin, TX. Jimmy has received the "Microsoft Most Valuable Professional" (MVP) award every year since 2009.

Jimmy is the creator and maintainer of the popular OSS libraries AutoMapper and MediatR, and the originator of Vertical Slice Architecture. Jimmy is an independent software consultant based in Austin, TX. Jimmy has received the "Microsoft Most Valuab... Show more

Jennifer Wadella

Jennifer Wadella

Often described as a force of nature, Jennifer is a visionary leader with a proven track record in management excellence and leading software teams to successful execution of business goals.

With deep roots in frontend engineering Jennifer is still widely regarded as an expert in the Angular space despite her growing tenure in non-coding management roles. Jennifer combines years of experience in developing JavaScript applications through interfacing with users, stakeholders and business executives with a keen eye on the current development landscape & trends to craft strategic vision and lead teams to sustainable growth that contributes to company success.

Jennifer is passionate about developer communities, and shares her expertise in frontend development, engineering management, maximizing productivity, and community building across the world as a widely sought-after public speaker. She is also the founder of Kansas City Women in Technology, a non-profit that has taught thousands of women and girls in the Kansas City area to code, and helped women enter tech careers.

Often described as a force of nature, Jennifer is a visionary leader with a proven track record in management excellence and leading software teams to successful execution of business goals. With deep roots in frontend engineering Jennifer is sti... Show more

Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and co-lead of the Johannesburg Data Platform User Group. Professionally, he is the owner and principal consultant at Cobalt Analytics, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Michael regularly presents at many local and international user groups and conferences on topics including data engineering and analytics.

Michael Johnson is a Microsoft Data Platform MVP and co-lead of the Johannesburg Data Platform User Group. Professionally, he is the owner and principal consultant at Cobalt Analytics, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Michael regularly presents a... Show more

Vadym Kazulkin

Vadym Kazulkin

I'm Vadym Kazulkin 🇺🇦, husband and father of 3. I'm AWS Serverless Hero and Head of Development at ip.labs based in Bonn. I have been in the tech industry for over 25 years. My current focus and interests include the design and implementation of highly scalable and available applications in the AWS Cloud, with a special passion for Serverless, Generative, and Agentic AI, as well as the optimization of Java applications (also utilizing Spring Boot, Micronaut, and Quarkus frameworks) on AWS Lambda.

I'm also the co-organizer of the Java User Group Bonn meetup, a frequent speaker at various national and international events, and a regular author of articles in different published and online magazines and on my online blog.

I'm Vadym Kazulkin 🇺🇦, husband and father of 3. I'm AWS Serverless Hero and Head of Development at ip.labs based in Bonn. I have been in the tech industry for over 25 years. My current focus and interests include the design and implementation of hi... Show more

Annie Talvasto

Annie Talvasto

Annie Talvasto is an award-winning international technology speaker and leader. She has spoken at over 100+ tech events worldwide, including KubeCon + CloudNativeCon and Microsoft Build & Ignite. She has been recognized with the CNCF Ambassador, Azure & AI Platform MVP awards. She has co-organized the Kubernetes & CNCF Finland meetup since 2017. In the past, she has also served as a track chair for KubeCon + CloudNativeCon, Program Chair for Secure AI Summit (powered by Cloud Native) and hosted Cloud Native Live, a weekly livestream by CNCF, for over 3 years.

Annie Talvasto is an award-winning international technology speaker and leader. She has spoken at over 100+ tech events worldwide, including KubeCon + CloudNativeCon and Microsoft Build & Ignite. She has been recognized with the CNCF Ambassador, Azur... Show more

Kendi J

Kendi J

I'm a software engineer who enjoys solving problems and building cool things.
When I'm not working, I love soaking in the beauty of mountains and staying connected with awesome tech communities =)

I'm a software engineer who enjoys solving problems and building cool things. When I'm not working, I love soaking in the beauty of mountains and staying connected with awesome tech communities =) Show more

Please note that Sessionize is not responsible for the accuracy or validity of the data provided by speakers.

Most Active Speakers 2023

Every year, we put together a list of the most active speakers. This list features the top 3% of speakers who have participated in events using Sessionize during the 2023.

The 3% is calculated from the pool of all speakers that have at least one accepted session in year 2023. We don't include inactive speakers or speakers that had no accepted sessions during the year. There are around 25 thousand unique accepted speakers this year, the 3% is 771. Not all of them have their speaker profiles set as public, and we respect that, so the list doesn't show all of them.

The calculation is based on the number of accepted events, that's the main criteria, but to get more refined results we also look at things like multiple sessions per event, sharing a session with a co-speaker and how big the event is. Number of submissions and declined sessions don't affect the list.

Please note that the count of events and sessions in this list does not represent the number of events and sessions from the year 2023. Instead, it shows the number of events and sessions featured on the speaker's public speaker profile; these numbers have nothing to do with the award itself.