EDIT 10 September 2020: Congratulations to Scott Shervington for winning the Premier Pass! Scott, please DM me on Twitter or email me at sathanas@vmug.com before 5 PM EST on September 11 and we’ll work out the details! If We get to 5 PM EST, I’ll have to roll the dice again. Congratulations!
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I love VMworld. I know it’s trendy and somehow contemporary in 2020 to be sort of down on everything and not get excited about anything, but I am unashamedly a fan of VMware’s conference that takes place every year - despite having a few reasons not to love it.
My favorite part about this picture is that I had just watched “A New Hope” with the kids before I left, and they were legit worried I was going to be killed by stormtroopers.
They haven’t realized stormtroopers have terrible aim… yet.
First off, every year it happens directly over my kids’ first day of school. I have been at VMworld for both of my kids’ first days of Kindergarten. I’ve always been “FaceTimed” in, but I am not there to personally hug them as they teeter off for another year of learning and all-too-rapid growth. For another, I work for a large research university and the time right around the start of our fall semester is our busiest time of the year, without question. And of course, it’s a hike away from my Boston-area home. Even when it’s in Vegas, it’s still a flippin’ six-hour flight away. And I don’t get to spring for business class, so I’m next to someone I don’t want to sit near for the entire flight.
Still, I look forward to VMworld every year and there are three simple reasons why: the technology, the connections, and the community. I’d like to talk a bit about each of them, and then I have an opportunity for you to jump in with both feet this year!
First, VMworld is a great place to hear the biggest announcements – from VMware, obviously – but also from a ton of partners and even competitors. VMware - of course - lines up their biggest news of the year to drop on the public at VMworld in both the US and Europe. What’s kind of exciting for 2020 is that because VMworld is all virtual, there won’t be two events, so you can expect the announcements at VMworld 2020 to be a double shot of innovation. These are just cool to see, even if some of the announcements won’t apply to you or your company. That said, I think that paying attention to them is always smart even if you don’t think your role would be hands-on with the announcement. No one in IT has ever been penalized for knowing more than they need to in order to get job done.
As I mentioned before it’s not just VMware announcements that make VMworld special, but announcements from companies ranging from storage vendors to cloud providers and even development tool creators launch products and services at VMware. Sometimes just walking the expo floor at VMworld is like getting a masterclass in what’s new in forward-thinking technology. Of course, there’s also a lot of distractions and I’ll admit that fifteen years in it’s still crazy to see some of these booths and feats of marketing departments. (Though, to be fair, I haven’t seen as many of the extravagant two-story booths that used to be more common in years gone by.)
The second thing I love about VMworld are the connections that I get to make with people that there is absolutely no chance that I would run into if not for the conference. I’ve had awesome conversations standing in line at registration, over lunch, walking back from a session, and quite possibly hundreds of other times and places. I’ve swapped stories and information with people from six continents – and become friends with many. I’ve heard some great stories about how people are solving problems at work and been able to offer some advice based on how I am solving issues in my role. I once was able to get some great advice on ways to improve storage performance from a vSphere admin who had the same storage array I did – only he lived in Arizona, and I never would have met him were it not for VMworld.
Those conversations are closely related to my favorite thing about attending VMworld: being face-to-face with the vCommunity. Without question, VMworld is the center of gravity for the virtualization and cloud communities, and I truly love being able to interact with so many passionate technologists. If you’re reading this blog, I’ll assume you know what I’m talking about when I say the vCommunity - but if not check out my post from February 19, 2020. There is no other event on Earth where I can reconnect with so many friends and mentors in such rapid succession. When I was a rookie VMworld attendee a dozen years ago, I was fanatical about getting to as many sessions as possible. Over the years, I realized the real magic of VMworld was spending time in the VMUG Lounge, the Blogger Lounge, or even the hallway - so long as I got to hear what some of the thought-leaders that I look up to are doing to move the craft of IT forward. This is the real magic: being close to people pushing the envelope. You can’t help but have it rub off on you.
Sometimes people stop by the VMUG Lounge… that’s all I’m saying.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again here, the best part about VMUG is everyone in the community constantly growing. Together. And there’s nowhere that this happens more rapidly than at VMworld. While VMworld 2020 is going to be a virtual event, VMUG is committed to going all-in on community. I am especially proud and excited about the VMUG Lounge, which will allow VMUG members (and remember, membership is free) to connect with each other. It’s our attempt at re-creating the “hallway track” that veteran VMworld attendees know is so valuable. We’ll be hosting topical conversations, daily wrap-ups, and of course just time to drop in and see what the buzz in the VMUG community is. It’s going to be the place to be at VMworld 2020.
I actually think VMworld being virtual this year presents an awesome opportunity for IT pros who have never been before. This year, you can attend and see great VMworld sessions for free! No air travel or crazy-expensive San Francisco hotel costs to contend with – all you have to do is register and attend from your own living room to start your VMworld journey. There have never been fewer barriers to entry.
I’m excited for VMworld and I hope you are, too. While VMworld is free this year, VMware is offering a Premier Pass that costs $299.00. It gives you the opportunity to interface one-on-one with VMware experts, attend VMware-staffed birds-of-a-feather conversations, and even gets you into some special, limited-attendance sessions including guided hands-on-labs.
Being VMUG President has a few perks, and one of them is that I have a Premier pass… to give away! I want to make sure this gets in the hands of someone who really wants it and will use it, so I’d like to make as much noise and get the message as wide as possible. Will you help me spread the word that I have one to give away? If so, I’ll give you more chances to win.
Anyone (and everyone) has three opportunities to get this Premier Pass. If you comment below or on LinkedIn with your favorite VMworld memory (or if you’ve never been – what you’re most looking forward to), you’ll get one entry for the pass. If you follow me on Twitter and add your Twitter username in with your comment, you’ll get a second entry. If you help me share it by retweeting my blog post or sharing it on LinkedIn – you’ll get another. Just let me know you did so.
So that’s up to three entries for commenting, following, and sharing. I’ll be updating the post and announcing the winner on this page on September 10th, so you have a little over a week to enter.
I hope you win the Premier Pass. And even if you don’t, I hope to see you at VMworld 2020 – I’ll be spending a lot of time in the VMUG Lounge, so stop by and say hi!
No reflection questions this week. Instead, reflect on how much you want to win a VMworld Premier Pass and get to entering!
