Why #VMworld (2016 US edition)

When I started blogging I would have never believed that I would say this. This is a sponsored post. No no, I am not making money by writing this, but I was gifted with a VMworld blogger pass for Las Vegas. I’m really grateful for this opportunity and I can assure that this post would have been exactly the same if I didn’t received the ticket.

People knowing me better (and understanding what I am actually doing) know that I am very excited going to #VMworld. With the following post I try to give you some reasons why I love it & why VMworld is a great event and foundation to develop yourself a little further (it’s all about personal development, isn’t it?!)

If it’s your first time visiting VMware’s US event I think you will be able to extract some useful information to gain a maximum benefit out of it.

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Who was I in 2011 when I have been at my first VMworld in Las Vegas?! I was a certified instructor and student within the Information System field spending 6 months abroad in Atlanta. I was so f****** (I guess that means freaking) excited about visiting Las Vegas / VMworld and I was not anyway prepared about the things I should do there.

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When I look back at the pictures from 2011 I realize that I was really young….

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… I was young, knowledge-thirsty, good-looking (not) and I filled my complete schedule with breakout-sessions, breakout-sessions, breakout-sessions. I thought visiting a form of a lecture is what’s bringing me the benefit. It certainly is, but only up to a certain point.

In the IT-field it’s all about people. The first person I met there (I was never good in breaking the ice) was Derek Seaman. Waiting for the Live-Labs to be finally deployed we had a great discussion about the infrastructure field (and arguing with the lady working on VMware chargeback’s UI). I really hope to see this guy again this year since I benefitted a lot from his blogs/twitter-advices (yeah I know… I haven’t done my VCDX yet ;-/) during my projects and trainings. I know that sounds weird, but I always was proud when I referred to his blog-posts and told the people… ‘yeah.. I met him during VMworld before he was famous’ (just kidding).

I forgot that I wanted to give you good reasons that might convince your boss/company to sponsor the event for you. Here we go:

  1. Meeting/Connecting/Drinking/Eating or in business-talk: Connecting with people who love the datacenter field is such a great selling point of yourself. If you are passionate about something and you give something to others (blogs, tweets, vBeers or a simple thank you) there will come the day that you will get something back from them. If you are not good in breaking the ice (I know what I am talking about), always remember: ‘what happens in Vegas….’. Use VMworld to fiend new friends.
  2. The Solutions Exchange is a great chance to get in-touch with the overall ecosystem in our software-defined datacenter. Seek for a discussion with the people at the booth. I know, sometimes they cannot give you the level of information you want to have, therefore try to figure out which product might interest you and schedule an appointment with a specific person to discuss your needs and ideas.
  3. Many of the breakout-sessions are really really good. Remember: many Gin Tonic’s are good as well, but if you get too many …. you might know what I mean. Select your breakout session wisely. Remember that with a VMworld ticket you can access all breakout sessions later on (even though most of the session will get public-accessible after a longer-term). Do not miss the chance to talk to the presenter after the session. This year a lot of my focus will be within the #EUC field. Large scale AppVolumes & UEM implementation. Here I come.
  4. Meet the experts: VMworld will have a very high density of Experts. Try to make appointments to talk about certain problems, wishes, design/product-questions you have.
  5. Connect with people in advance. Go on twitter, figure out what’s going on in Vegas. Organize or join those public meetings & events. Figure out what the vendors/community-members are sponsoring in the evening. The VMworld party is NOT the only event in the evening. Make sure that you register early for those late-night events.
  6. Learn another side of Las Vegas: Take other participants, a car/helicopter and visit the nice countryside within the Nevada’s desert. Brian Graf organizes some events for the days to ‘have fun after’ VMworld and visit the beautiful landscape.
  7. Find business and job opportunities: Not a solid argument to convince your boss, but the opportunities within the SDDC and cloud era are big. New opportunities will come up outside and inside your company. To be able to recognize the opportunities you need to have a feeling for the market and environment. I realized during last VMworlds that this is the perfect location to develop such a feeling.

I could extent this list easily, but for now this should be good ;-). I am really looking forward to visit this event and so should you.

Register right now for VMworld 2016 US!

You want to see some impression from last years VMworld in Barcelona? Check the 187 seconds video I have created:

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