Two brains are better than one! Welcome to our Everything VMware at #EMC community emc.im/VMspace #VMworld http://t.co/hDVvfADIuV—
EMC Corporation (@EMCcorp) August 25, 2014
VMWorld 2014 in San Francisco was my first VMWorld experience. The following blog is my attempt to describe that experience from my own perspective. I’ll do my best to make sense as much as possible. But if I summarized it in one sentence, then I would say the following. VMWorld was a pleasantly and professionally overwhelming experience.
I have attended many conferences and established many peer to peer personal connections at them. What was a revelation at VMWorld was the ability to understand how deep those connections are. The best summary given of this and phrased better than I ever could is by Hans De Leenher in his blog post entitled “This is Sparta“. I certainly made friends, but also further realized the human element of the social connections I have established.
As well as the connections, I was able to have the VMWorld experience and get a feeling for how this show ran, compared to others I attended. Now this experience was not necessarily better than other conferences I attended, but it was certainly different. I had a lot more conversations with other vendors and other partners than I normally would have.
#vBacon group hug #VMWorld2014 @CommsNinja @NixFred @mjbrender @Josh_Atwell @keithnorbie @DathBrun @sixfootdad http://t.co/pg6MwjCA3Q—
Renée Lawrence (@ReneeHLawrence) August 27, 2014
For the purpose of my professional reasons for being there, it was very successful. For the EMC Ask the Expert Program we successfully executed a great ” EMC Ask the Expert Tweet Chat “on the new RecoverPoint release. It was a well engaged tweet chat and a prelude to the Ask the Expert discussion on the EMC Support Community. So too was the EMC Ask the Expert discussion I ran covering the VMWorld event.
Feeling one of the cool kids hanging with #EMCElect on top of the EMC booth at #VMworld http://t.co/0vQxuD9wTd—
Drew Schlussel (@realdschlussel) August 26, 2014
For the EMC Elect it was a great interactive event. We held a private briefing for the Elect just ahead of the RecoverPoint announcement. There were also a good number of the EMC Elect who spoke at breakout sessions, running hands on Labs and engaging as Social Champions at various breakout sessions. And as ever throughout the conference, we tweeted, met up, had numerous discussions, and good fun that can all be seen on twitter under #EMCElect and the few photos I include here.
My friend, mentor and passionate #emcelect supporter & member, @intheDC @ #vBacon #VMworld http://t.co/AhcruC8CJ6—
Mark Browne (@DathBrun) August 27, 2014
I just found #emcelect legend @vTexan. A gent, a scholar a great mentor and passionate advocate of the Elect program http://t.co/ZDgXSe9yfe—
Mark Browne (@DathBrun) August 27, 2014
Hey it's @rolltidega with me and someone from HP photobombing us. how rude 😉 cc @NerdBlurt #vBacon http://t.co/Zjg1Fy7MPq—
Mark Browne (@DathBrun) August 27, 2014
#EMCElect @sakacc addresses the crowd at the #EMC booth #VMWORLD http://t.co/p1KXBYGhQR—
Mark Browne (@DathBrun) August 27, 2014
The #EMCElect rule #vbacon at #VMworld end of story 😉 cc@NixFred @NerdBlurt @sthulin http://t.co/bN36uLM3vL—
Mark Browne (@DathBrun) August 27, 2014
And its worth mentioning too that the #EMCElect had a team in the #v0dgeball championship. This is an annual event that goes towards a great cause that is the Wounded Warrior Charity. We were knocked out in our first game 🙂 but were delighted to take part in such a noble event for a great charity. Well done to EMC Elect member Fred Nix for spear heading this event, year after year. And well done to my partner in crime on the Ask the Expert Program, Roberto Araujo for stepping up as a referee.
Here's @DathBrun and me in the stands at #v0dgeball #VMworld http://t.co/Urre5AAkSs—
Dave Henry (@davemhenry) August 24, 2014
EMC #v0dgeball 2014 raises over $20,000 for the Wounded Warriors Foundation! #VMworld http://t.co/UGzzfKV4sL—
Alexander Nimmannit (@AlexanderJN) August 24, 2014
In summary, VMWorld US 2014, for me was a very valuable and fulfilling experience. I learned a lot, connected with some fantastic people, took part in a great charity event and had a birthday too 🙂 and in contrast to loosing our first dodge ball game I smashed my planned work goals out of the park !
And one final thank you is reserved for the brilliant EMC’ers, Erica McDonald, Will Quinn & Steve Knight. who did so so much for the EMC events team and for the Elect team particularly.