Are you coming to VMware Explore? I am hoping that I can find a way to attend it as I’ve not missed the in-person VMworld Europe events for the past decade and have even attended both the US and Europe versions in one of those years as well. While I have attended the virtual events for the past couple of years, I think we can agree that they severely lack the best part of attending VMworld/Explore: Meeting and catching up with all the people from my beloved VMware community.
Regardless of the primary reason for VMworld’s existence, for me, it has always been about that (metaphorically speaking, of course!) yearly pilgrimage towards the mecca of the VMware community where I catch up with all my friends in one place and meet new ones too. The place to be is always the ” VM Village” (or whatever it’s called that year) because all the cool kids gather there in the mornings and in between sessions. That’s also the place where I end my event and am always one of the last attendees to walk out of the venue – after getting some stern looks from the security personnel.
Sometimes, I deliver a session but also get to heckle… I mean support my colleagues while they deliver theirs. Another major activity for me is to go to the Solutions Exchange – as that’s where all the vendors enthusiastically display their current and upcoming products and that’s my chance to get quality time with them (read: grill them) to get a deeper level of information than one can get from sales/marketing collateral.
There are also a few events that I try not to miss: The vRockstar party and VMUnderground events that act as “warm-up” events. On the day, we’ve been having vBreakfast for the past few years and then the VMworld party brings proceedings to an end. There are also many vendor parties in between every night, giving you the chance to chill after a busy day of sessions and visiting/hosting vendor stalls. All of these are your chance to mingle with your kind even more and catch up in a relaxed atmosphere.
The reminiscing and jokes aside, all this is what I treasure most about VMworld. If you wonder why VMware has such a close-knit and helpful community, I credit VMworld and related events for being the main reason. Attendees get to put faces to names and develop deep relationships – even friendships – and that has a major positive impact on one’s career. I know that for a fact because I’ve been a beneficiary myself and have also tried to help as many colleagues as I can over the years. I also see examples of it every day on Twitter, Slack, LinkedIn and other platforms. Everyone has each other’s back and even in tough times like job uncertainties or loss of it – the community bands together to get them back up and running in a new place quickly.
As we know the branding of VMworld has changed to VMware Explore for this year. Everyone from the community I know is hoping that the general format of the event remains the same. For me, all that matters is if everyone and more importantly, the vendors treat it the same way as they have before because if so, VMware Explore should be the same experience as it has been for me and everyone who thinks similarly about this event.
So, if you haven’t made up your mind yet, I would highly recommend you try to attend it if you can – even if this would be your first time. I am confident that the hardcore attendees will try to keep the atmosphere the same – in fact, VMunderground is planning to be there at least for the US event. If you also value all the things I mentioned above, you won’t regret it. Whether or not I will be there, will depend on the powers to be but rest assured, I will try my best to be there too!
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