VMworld
It is upon us once again. A veritable nerdtopia of cool technology and smart people. It’s a marathon of breakouts, labs, sessions, networking with peers and events. For the uninitiated VMworld is VMware’s annual conference showcasing the latest technologies and products for the now Dell owned company. It is also a hell of a lot of fun if you’re into these sorts of things.
VMworld 2017 is being held in Las Vegas for the 2nd year in a row at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino. Historically VMworld has been held in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Las Vegas. For more general information check out the website and the wiki. I’m of course attending this year and it will be my 3rd VMworld in a row. For fun I’ll quickly run you through the last 2 conferences.
VMworld 2015
VMworld 2015 was in San Francisco and being my first trip to SF it was even more of an experience than I expected. I attended tons of sessions, labs and learned about all the latest and greatest from VMware. I also came back with tons of swag and stories. I won’t go into details so as not to incriminate myself but let’s just say we found the most amazing bar in an alley of all places. It’s called the Irish Bank and you should check it out if you ever go to San Francisco.
I also got to meet the Woz for the 2nd time. He was super nice both times. In this photo my coworker and I invited ourselves into a private event to meet him. Fun times.
VMworld 2016
VMworld 2016 last year was in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay just like this year. Having experienced the conference in San Francisco I somewhat knew what to expect. That being said it’s Vegas so I knew we were taking it up a notch or three. I’ve been to several technology conferences in Las Vegas before and many times on vacation. You walk a lot no matter what but surprisingly I walked less than I did in San Francisco. Everything being in the same hotel/complex makes a big difference. I was lucky enough to get a room on property as well which helped.
The show was noticeably smaller by a little bit from a vendor perspective at the Solutions Exchange. Perhaps it’s the proximity to Silicon Valley that may make San Francisco more accessible. There were tons of sessions to fill that void however. Aside from that VMworld 2016 was very similar in that I learned a lot about the new products, attended sessions, networked with peers and got tons of swag. So much that I had to ship a box home!
Sadly my phone was lost the first night I got there so I don’t have a ton of pictures to share other than the ones I took later in the week. Being in Vegas without a phone is not very convenient if you were wondering. All in all though it was a great show and well worth the time investment.
VMworld 2017
So here we are and it’s that time again. This year is a little different for me. I’ve started blogging since the last VMworld. I was humbled and honored to be awarded VMware vExpert status. I’m also an official blogger and was invited to attend by VMware which is crazy for me to even think about. It’s kind of surreal and exciting.
I’ll be blogging each day about the previous days events and will try to include lots of pictures for those not able to attend.
If you are going to VMworld 2017 next week and want to meet up drop me a line on here, message me on Twitter or LinkedIn. If nothing else make sure you’re signed up for the variety of events available after hours. If you know me you can just call me or email. You already got my number!
Stay tuned for my VMworld 2017 Series and thanks for reading!