VMworld 2012 - Community Day by Day
VMworld ended a couple of weeks ago now and I’m still recovering from the awesome. Numerous people have put out quite a few blog posts about the big announcements, the new tech, and their favorite moments. I tend to fancy myself a community promoter so I figured I’d write up a post about the community awesome from VMworld. I was very fortunate to be a part of most of it in some way or another.
Day -1
Saturday was a pretty quiet day overall for me but it ended with a great event. vBeers VMworld! It took place at the Chieftain and needless to say the VMware community PACKED the house. It was awesome seeing so many old friends and meeting new ones. The only downside to the event was the venue was designed to hold 76 and we were well over 120 strong! This made for some unhappy employees. The other downside was that there were some awesome people there that I didn’t get to see until much later in the week. Regardless it was a great time!
Day 0
Sunday brought some all new awesome with TAM day, v0dgeball, and vmunderground party. If you have a TAM (Technical Account Manager) with VMware and have the opportunity to participate at TAM day at VMworld I HIGHLY recommend going. You get an opportunity to engage with a wide range of top-notch people. While some of the sessions aren’t as great as you’ll get with the rest of the conference, you’ll definitely gain some serious networking value.
V0dgeball happened on Sunday again this year and was another great success. I was one of the co-captains for Cisco’s Team B.A.C.O.N. for EMC’s big charity event for the Wounded Warrior Project. Each team puts up $1,000 for the opportunity for serious bragging rights and a ton of fun for a great cause.
Day 1
This was by far my busiest day at the conference. Today I helped kick off the TechTalks powered by #vBrownBag as well as releasing the vBrownBag VMworld Survival kit! If you’re not familiar with the kit (Announced http://www.vtesseract.com/post/27551528459/vbrownbag-at-vmworld-announcements ) it held some serious survival gear for the conference including one of 1,000 5-Hour Energy drinks we distributed and the USB key of awesomeness. The 4GB key contained tons of material including our VCP5 and VCAP5-DCD series. We distributed these throughout the week.
You can actually download all of that content from ProfessionalVMware.com at this link. The initial take was slow on distribution but we had many of our vBrownBag regulars come out and grab one. It didn’t take long before we had a ton of people on the prowl.
One thing that really stood out to me about the vBrownBags and the TechTalks was how excited everyone was about them. We knew there would be some popularity given the quick pace that the slots filled up. We were all blown away with the content and the participation from everyone. It’s amazing how much it energizes you and makes you want to step up your game! Trust me we have even bigger plans for the future!
Monday evening after my session was the vExpert reception. This room was packed full of people who give so much to the VMware community. The vBrownBag crew was honored with a special recognition for our contributions with the podcast. It was incredibly humbling to be singled out among so many tremendous contributors.
Another event I wanted to make note of was the CloudPhysics event. This project, which you can learn more about at CloudPhysics.org, started out with tremendous community contribution. Sure, there was a prize for submitting the most cards but I watched that site explode by the contributions of so many VMware community folks. Talking with the guys from CloudPhysics I definitely got the impression that they were all sincerely blown away by everyone’s excitement about their new site.
Day 2
Tuesday brought the VMUG Leaders lunch. I have to say that it was great being amongst such a dedicated group of professionals who give a considerable effort for their local communities. It was a telling treat to have the VMware leadership attend the lunch and spend time speaking and answering questions. I find it to be a strong statement that Paul Maritz, Pat Gelsinger, and Steve Herrod take the time to be address the VMUG leaders.
Tuesday was also the date for CiscoDC’s #vBacon Tweetup. Those who were at Cisco Live for the Waffles and Bacon tweetup knew saw a fantastic event, but the #vBacon tweetup was a step up. We had well over 100 folks show up in the first hour and before long we had the space and the bar area packed. Huge kudos to Amy Lewis @commsninja who organized one hell of a fun community event.
Day 3
The highlight of Wednesday had to be the 200th episode of the VMware Community Roundtable Podcast. John Troyer and Alex Maier have worked hard to build a strong VMware community, most notably with this podcast and the vExpert program. I was honored to be asked to participate during the podcast and talk about the week, the vBrownBag crew, and of course I gave the crowd plenty of fodder for some well-earned heckling.
Day 4
By Thursday I was personally wiped out but was excited to see the vExpert Hour, TechTalks, and NotSupported still being well attended. I found Thursday to be a great day for hanging out in the hang space at the bloggers tables. My favorite part of the day was getting some quiet time to chat with people who are strong supporters of the community with their time and knowledge. It almost felt like the post-game chatter
Apologies for this slightly disjointed post. My schedule has left me working on it from time to time but I wanted to share some of the events from VMworld that I find makes the VMware community top shelf. Whether I’m at a VMUG event or a big conference it’s not difficult to find someone who really wants to connect with their peers and share knowledge.
I really hope that you walk away from this post and make a plan to join your fellow VMware/Virtualization peers. Please check out:
