This year, it was the very first time I got an opportunity to be part of VMworld Europe, Barcelona & I thought it would be good to share my experience with you. I am sure you will enjoy reading it.

1] My experience as Tech-talk Speaker

I had couple of tech-talks as part of VMworld vBrownBag. This was the very first time I got an opportunity to deliver tech-talks outside India & that too at biggest conference to unknown audience (Customers, partners etc). Personally, it was really a thrilling & exciting experience for me. More exciting was, tech-talks were arranged in open VMVillage community area (I was assuming that they would be in closed hall/room) & tech-talks were being live streamed/recorded as well. Based on the interest and feedback received, I could say both talks were really well received.

Below are the youtube links to my tech talks. Please take a look and please provide your feedback if any

i) VMware Log Tuner (aka vLog Tuner or VLT):
(Project contributors: @chiragarora, @durgakarri & @vThinkBeyondVM (myself))

Youtube link:

ii) DRS Cluster Rules Manager:
(Project contributors: @durgakarri, Gururja Hegdal & Vikas Shitole)

Youtube link :

Take a look at all vBrownBag tech-talks

2] Here are some of the VMworld highlights:

As usual, general sessions by our leaders were awesome. It was truly amazing to be part of such huge community & buzz. Apart from general sessions, as per me, below are the highlights.
i) VMware cloud on AWS (VMC or VMW on AWS): As expected, VMC had a lot of coverage across quick talks and breakout sessions. For me, the most insightful breakout session on VMC was by Solution Architect from Amazon and Technical marketing director from VMware i.e. “Business value of VMware Cloud on AWS”. In addition to these sessions, I attended some more insightful breakout sessions on VMC as well as other VMware products.

Here are some of top sessions from VMworld Europe

Here are some of top sessions from VMworld US

William Lam has compiled very nice list of all breakout sessions available on youtube

ii). Hands on Labs: After attending couple of sessions on VMC, I was very much interested in how this works for customer in action. This is where VMC on AWS HOL helped. It was truly great experience playing with very slick HTML5 based VMC interface & configuring various VMC components.

Here are more learning resources on VMware cloud on AWS

For learning VMware products, please look at Hands on lab

iii) Solution Exchange: This is the place where all of our partner ecosystem display their solutions. I visited 6-7 booths out of many others. It was heartening to see how VMware partner ecosystem has developed solutions around VMware products.

iv) Meeting with people: After communicating with many VMware & vExperts community members over email, blogs & twitter for last 3-4 years, it was exciting to meet some of VMware as well as vExperts community personally.

v) Things I missed: There are couple of things I missed as my tech-talks were scheduled on back-to-back days. However, as VMworld schedule is such huge, multiple tracks at the same time, we cannot catch everything as well. Having said that, I think, I missed to be part of VMworld Hackthon organized by our very own champs “William Lam”(@lamw) & “Alan Renouf”(@alanrenouf). I heard it was really cool (However, I did personally meet both of them on the way & visited VMware {code } booth to know all the programs they run). Another thing I missed is getting signed copy of this great & most sought book “VMware vSphere 6.5 Host Resources Deep Dive” by “Frank Denneman (@FrankDenneman) & Niels Hagoort (@NHagoort)”. Of course, I missed some of live breakout sessions but I can listen to recorded ones.

Here is blog post by William on VMworld Hackathon

Know more about VMware {code }

vi) Exploring Barcelona: Since BCN vs IST difference is just 3+ hrs, jet lag was not an issue & even temperature was similar what we have now in BLR. I explored BCN on the way back from VMworld Venue to hotel (5.5 KM) by walk, it was very pleasant experience. Yes, food was the issue but fortunately, I got “Indian Bollywood restaurant” walk-able distance from my hotel. In addition, being in Barcelona, I could feel the craze about football (During Barcelona vs Juventus match), how people worship players like Messi (Similar to Cricket in India). I would have liked visiting some places there but could not manage during my short trip.

vi) Parties/goodies & VMware store: There was exclusive vExpert party arranged by our digital marketing team. Our own vSphere team has awarded all vExpert a Swag Bag containing “Power Bank, Book, Pen, bottle & some cool stickers”. In addition, many partners were giving away lot of goodies such as T-shirts, stickers, hat, bags etc. As I visited some of booths, I did get some of them & who does not like goodies? In addition, I enjoyed looking into VMware related books & official merchandise at VMware store. It was heartening to see the book that I reviewed as technical reviewer i.e. vSphere Design essentials.

vii) Other interesting booths: There were some more exciting booths/lounge such as “meet the experts” & “vmware educational services”.

Overall, I had a great trip, met many people, and learned a few things. Clearly, VMworld is a great platform to interact with VMware people, customers & vExperts