4/5/2006 -- Registration for Microsoft's 2006 Microsoft Certified Trainer program opened up Monday, April 3.

Member feedback precipitated the move to have the registration period moved from fall to spring, said Ken Rosen, group manager of the MCT program.

"October is a bad time to launch a program," Rosen stated, adding that "it requires us to gear up our field and get our partner's attention during summer holidays and back-to-school. So we moved it to April, where the 90-day run-up is free and clear of distractions."

Besides an MCT certificate, wallet card and online access to Microsoft Official Learning curriculum, Microsoft is offering several new benefits:

• Free access to E-Learning on the Microsoft E-Learning site (available worldwide).
• 50-percent off Microsoft Press books (North America, EMEA, Australia and New Zealand); must be ordered from local fulfillment.
• 20-percent off Microsoft TechNet Plus (offer is not available in China, India, Korea, Latin America or Taiwan).
• 50-percent off Visual Studio Professional+MSDN Premium Subscription (to qualify, MCT must have an MCPD or MCSD on .NET).
• MCT Season Pass, which is a reuseable MCP exam voucher that allows MCTs to take exams at up to 56-percent off retail (can be used on a maximum of 5 exams per voucher).
• Early invitations to MCP beta exam and Microsoft software beta programs.

The other benefits are numerous and include Microsoft Learning Base Virtual Hard Disk DVDs, which contain the Virtual PC images required for Microsoft Learning, Microsoft Dynamics and Microsoft Business Solutions qualifiers for the MCT program; discount subscriptions; invitations to MCT-only events at Microsoft conferences; and access to community forums. Microsoft also points to an interesting feature, called Metrics that Matter, a best practices guide and reporting tool for measuring training customer satisfaction.

For more information, visit the MCT Web site here. -- Michael Domingo, courtesy of MCPmag.com