VMworld 2018 – Preflight Checklist

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This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series VMworld 2018

VMworld 2018I can’t believe it’s almost here again.  Less than a week from now and I’ll be in Las Vegas at the coolest technology conference of the year.  This will be my 4th VMworld overall. 3rd VMworld in Vegas and 2nd VMworld as a VMware vExpert and blogger.  I’m also an official VMworld 2018 Blogger for the 2nd year.  I’m incredibly thankful and honored for the opportunity.

VMworld 2018 is being held in Las Vegas for the 3rd year in a row at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino.  VMworld is VMware’s annual conference showcasing the latest technologies, products and services.  It’s also a place for all of their partners to showcase products and services and for their customers to learn about it all.  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.

This year is shaping up to be another amazing time.  So much content to consume.  Can you believe there’s almost 1200 different sessions, breakouts, workshops, roundtables, discussions and keynotes.  That’s crazy.  I’ll be surrounded by industry peers, coworkers and many of my customers.  Don’t even get me started on all the dinners, happy hours and straight up parties with headliners such as Snoop Dogg and Run DMC!  That’s completely insane for a tech conference.

VMworld 2017

My first VMworld as a blogger was definitely a learning experience.  I learned a lot by attending the conference but I didn’t get as much blogged about as I would have liked.  I really spent a lot more time than I expected talking directly with partners at the Solutions Exchange than I did in Sessions.  I also happened to have a ton of customers there as well so it was definitely a challenge to find time to blog as much as I wanted.

My first VMworld related post detailed my exploits at the previous years’ VMworld conferences in San Francisco (2015) and Las Vegas (2016).  Check it out here.  I followed that up by blogging every day of the conference in my VMworld 2017 Series last year.  I took a ton of pictures as you can see.  It was a blast, but the blog efforts suffered a little bit.

VMworld 2018

This year I plan on trying to get more useful information out.  I’m definitely still going to have a lot of pictures but I’ll try and add some more meat to that if I can.  No promises here but I’m trying!  I’ve got the posts already setup and I’m ready to drop as much content as possible on you guys every single day of the conference.  Along with that I’m attending five vExpert-only product updates and briefings with VMware and other manufacturers this week that I’ll be posting about as soon as I’m allowed.  Keep checking back here for the goods!

VMworld Preflight Checklist

As an early kickoff to next weeks festivities I wanted to help prepare those that are going.  If you haven’t been before or have but didn’t know what to do.  I’m here for you.  VMworld is a marathon week.  There’s so much to do.

  1. Make sure your Content Calendar at VMworld.com is locked in.  If you haven’t setup your schedule yet it’s probably a bit too late.  A lot of the sessions are already full but there’s still a bunch out there to go to.  You can almost always go wait in line at the sessions that you don’t get scheduled for and most of the time you can get in.
  2. Make sure you signed up for all the after hours activities and don’t forget to put them on your calendar on your phone.  Here’s a few links to help you.
    1. http://www.running-system.com/vmworld-2018-parties-party-gathering-events-list/
    2. http://www.vbrain.info/2018/07/02/vmworld-us-2018-parties-gatherings-events-and-more/
    3. http://vmblog.com/archive/2018/07/03/vmworld-2018-us-party-list.aspx#.W1d8_JM-dTZ
  3. Pack a phone charger and extra battery pack to charge your phone just in case.
  4. Download the VMworld 2018 Mobile App on your phone ahead of time and make sure you can get logged into it.  This is incredibly helpful to navigate the show and keep track of everything going on including all the sessions you hopefully signed up for prior to now.

Beyond these few tasks you clearly need to pack and check your flight schedule but I’m not here to babysit you!  Go forth and get ready for VMworld 2018 and maybe I’ll see you there!  I’ll be in the jeans and black polo shirt.  If you are going to VMworld 2018 next week and want to meet up drop me a line on here, message me on Twitter or LinkedIn.  Have a safe flight!VMworld 2017 - Monday

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