#VMworld is going to be E P I C!

If anyone is overly excited about VMworld it is me. Although my schedule is completely overbooked and I expect to be running around like crazy every single day, I cannot wait for VMworld to start! Here are 10 things why I am excited about VMworld, in no particular order:

• Networking
  No I am not talking about Distributed Switches here… I am talking about meeting various types of people and organizations. I suggest you try sitting down at a table with people you don’t know and start a conversation. I bet you will have a lot of things in common and in some scenarios can benefit from their expertise or the problems that they might have faced and solved. I’ve always enjoyed this and believe this is the most valuable part of the show.
• The Killers
  Yes I know that some of you have never heard of this band before, but this is truly an amazing band. I’ve seen them live multiple times and it has always been well worth it, great performance and great music. It is probably the first time that I actually am looking forward to the VMworld band! If any of the VMworld folks are reading this, VMworld EMEA: Editors or Arctic Monkeys would be nice 🙂
• Experts One on One!
  This is one of those great opportunities to meet up with some of the top knowledge experts within VMware. I am humbled to be part of a session (Experts-08 Wednesday at 11:00 – 12:00) and am joining people like Chris Colotti (vCloud), David Overbeek (vCenter Config Manager) and Venky Deshpande (vSphere Networking). Other sessions feature people like Kit Colbert, Lee Dilworth, Mike DiPetrillo, Massimo Re Ferre and many more. Check these sessions out, great opportunity to ask these guys the questions you always wanted to ask!
• Keynotes
  I don’t know if others enjoy it as much as I do, but I love watching the keynotes. Paul Maritz’s talking about VMware’s strategic direction and his vision on IT/Cloud/Virtualization in the upcoming years are priceless! Last year Steve Herrod’s session was amazing, especially when Steve Herrod and Eddie Dinel were racing across the stage on their scooters. I expect nothing less this year!
• VSP3205 – Technology Overview: vStorage APIs for VM and Application Granular Data Management
  This is one of the reasons I love attending events like VMworld. Satyam Vaghani hosts this session and happens to be one of the key engineers with regards to our low level storage initiatives. He was one of the people who developed VMFS and I can ensure you that a session hosted by Satyam will knock you out of your socks. I know they have a demo planned for this one and I know what you can expect… don’t miss out!
• Solutions Exchange
  I always spent several hours just wandering around at the solutions exchange randomly stopping at booths and just checking out new technology. Every single year I find some new cool tool, new storage device, new hardware platform or just new relationships which were well worth spending the hours walking around. This year I plan on at least meeting up with the Tintri and Nutanix folks, but I definitely plan on stopping at others booths as well. If your kids love flashy / shiny / blinking things, I bet they will love you when you get back home.
• VSP1956 – The VMware ESXi Quiz Show
  Do I need to say more? Will Chad Sakac beat Vaughn Stewart? Is Scott Herold able to slaughter Eric Siebert? Will the VDI Warrior Tom Howarth be able to exterminate Jason vTerminator Boche? We will see what happens, we will see who will take on VMware’s own vRaminators team! Death to Powerpoint, Hail the Quizmaster! Sign up, witness it! (**don’t take this too serious, we’re all friends, it it about having fun**)
• VMUnderground Party
  I love these types of community events. I know the tickets sold out in literally seconds and people are still looking for tickets, if your not planning on attending give them to someone else. Before you give them away, I heavily recommend attending! These are always fun and there’s a high community presence. I know Frank Denneman and I will be there for sure, stop by and say hi! (Yes I know it collides with vOdgeball and that’s a shame indeed)
• VMworld Fun Run / Bike Ride
  I started this tradition in 2009 and we had roughly 200 participants, since then the VMworld team took on the responsibilities of this event and it has returned in 2010 and of course in 2011. I am glad that they also kept it close to the original idea, just a fun event but with a serious touch… donating registration fees to a local charity foundation, this year it is Friends of Red Rock Canyon. Unique Event, be there!
• VMworld Labs
  Most of you read my coverage of the VMworld Labs last year. I’ve not been as closely involved as last year but I know these will be well worth your time. The Labs team have worked really hard to get all Labs ready in time and to get the environment up and running in the vCloud! Last year we had people taking every single lab out there, queues outside at 07:15 well before the labs opened up… be there!

I am confident that VMworld will be epic and I hope all of you are as excited as I am. Once again, if you see me walking around don’t be shy and say hi!

See you at VMworld!