Who wants to live forever? 20 Great Answers with Michael Vermeersch, Accessibility Lead for Microsoft in EMEA

Plugged In, Switched On.

Did you have a life’s mission when you were a kid? Michael Vermeersch, Accessibility Lead for Microsoft in EMEA, sure did. And over the course of our ’20 Questions’ episode of the “Plugged In, Switched On’ podcast from Splendid Group, we discovered that he’s very much still on that same life mission.

Join your host and Executive Creative Director Barrie Seppings, as he gets 20 often life-changing answers during this month’s interview with Michael, covering everything from astronaut routines and realising your potential to finding the cure for cancer and getting stuck in an elevator door in front of a celebrity.
The interview format at Plugged In Switched On is very simple: we ask every guest the same 20 Questions and invariably we get 20 different (but always great) answers. Here are some of our favourites from our interview with Marketing manager Michael Vermeersch:

• What's the one career move you wish you could go back and undo?
• Who have you learned the most from in your career?
• What’s the one thing in this industry that has gone on for too long and needs fixing?
• What’s the most unusual situation you’ve found yourself in, thanks to work?
• Who has the worst job in B2B tech marketing?

Michael Vermeersch is the Accessibility Lead for Microsoft in EMEA and is an in-demand speaker, advocate and consultant on the subject of accessibility, technology and the human potential.

Barrie Seppings is the Executive Creative Director of The Splendid Group and the host of Plugged In Switched On. Connect with Barrie on LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening!
If you want to learn more about Splendid Group , see some of our work or meet any of our people, visit splendidgroup.com

Capitoli

1. Who wants to live forever? 20 Great Answers with Michael Vermeersch, Accessibility Lead for Microsoft in EMEA (00:00:00)

2. Question number one. The company that you are working for, Microsoft, what is it that they're selling and why would anybody pay good money for it? (00:02:26)

3. Question number two. What were you told when you were at school that you would be good at? (00:07:13)

4. Question number three. What part of your job do you just naturally enjoy? (00:12:11)

5. Question number four. What's the one career move or moment you wish you could go back and undo? Can you recall a moment in your career where it's very clear you just learned a lesson? (00:15:23)

6. Question number five. Who have you learned the most from in your career, which individual? And even if it was what not to do. (00:18:08)

7. Question number six. You're in a role where have to lead people towards change. How do you personally keep finding the energy to lean into change? (00:18:43)

8. Question number seven. How do you keep yourself healthy and manage your stress of physical health, mental health in a role like this? What's your routine? What do you do for you? (00:21:51)

9. Question number eight. Now, every market or industry or territory, a little segment group that you market to likes to think that they're different, they're unique. In your experience, which one really is? (00:25:28)

10. Question number nine. What's the campaign or event or idea or launch some marketing activity that you've seen that you really wish that you'd done? (00:26:17)

11. Question number ten. What's the one thing in this industry that's gone on for too long and you think needs fixing? (00:27:25)

12. Question number eleven. What's the one question you'd ask an agency if you knew they had to tell you the truth? (00:28:06)

13. Question number twelve. How do you make the call between collaborating with someone particularly, for example, somebody in your team or somebody you're leading and then knowing when to step back and let them do their thing? (00:30:04)

14. Question number thirteen. What's a long held belief about marketing that you may have had earlier in your career that you had to change your mind about and you no longer hold that belief? (00:32:33)

15. Question number fourteen. What tactics and approaches, what activities are you doing that really work for you? What channels and even technologies are you finding are useful and effective? (00:33:52)

16. Question number fifteen. What buzzword or concept do you think is getting too much airplay in our industry right now? (00:36:18)

17. Question number sixteen. So, you may have heard some supermodels don't get out of bed for less than $10,000. Michael, what do you get out of bed for? What gets you up in the morning? (00:37:47)

18. Question number seventeen. What's the most unexpected or unusual situation you've found yourself in thanks to work, not just Microsoft, but in your whole career? Where has it been? (00:39:21)

19. Question number eighteen. What was the pandemic and the lockdown experience like for you and your family? And then how has that changed the way that you approach work? (00:40:46)

20. Question number nineteen. How different are you when you're in work mode compared to when you are off the leash, when you're just at home relaxing or maybe out traveling or doing things just for yourself? (00:42:28)

21. Question number twenty. Do you have a secret weapon that you use at work? And if you do, will you tell me what it is? (00:44:12)