VMworld 2010 Day 1 Recap

August 31, 2010 By mike 1 Comment

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Sessions
The sessions were a little different this year as many have already noted. You didn’t need to register for a session, just show up and get in. After my first session I didn’t stand a chance on getting into my sessions I was hoping for and by that time it was too late to get to the others as well. Personally I would have preferred it like it has been other years – having to register before the event but knowing you will be able to get to the sessions you want. Having been to a VMworld before I wasn’t too disappointed by not getting into the sessions as I realized all the sessions will be available online and the true value of VMworld isn’t in the sessions (more on that later in this post).
Labs
The labs were great, albeit slow. I spent 43 minutes in the morning trying to get the installer to get to the license agreement step for the installer which was like step 2. I ended up leaving and coming back later to finish up. I did 2 labs today (was there 3 times, but had to finish the one I couldn’t my first time) and I think there is definitely value in doing the labs. Since the labs aren’t available post VMworld I think I will be spending more time in there and less time in sessions. These pictures don’t quite do justice to the size of the lab area but hopefully they can give a rough idea:

People
I can’t even begin to describe the people here, I have met some of the best VMware people that are out there and what really struck me is how friendly everyone is. There isn’t anywhere around Moscone you can go and not be able to strike up an impromptu virtualization discussion. I also thought it was funny how many of the MN VMUG people I have met for the first time while in San Francisco. I can’t say enough good things about the networking that is available at VMworld – worth the ticket price alone. As a side note, if you read this and I haven’t met you yet – shoot me an email, leave a comment on the post or preferably send me a tweet on Twitter.