VMworld 2012 Day 1 Recap

VMworld 2012 Day 1 for me I knew was going to be the busiest day by far of all the days.  I had three speaking sessions along with the general hallway madness of drive by conversations.  Prior to VMworld Day 1 I made sure to take in a little time for myself just because I knew it was going to get crazy.

Most who know me or follow me know I don’t usually work out in the morning, but for the week of VMworld I knew this had to change so up at 6:00 and in the gym to get in my full Body Beast workout.  It was actually good to get going early so I knew I would not have to jam it in later.  I met Thomas Kraus down there and then it was time to head out to the General Session.

I hooked up with Rawlinson Rivera to head over to the VMworld General session and take in the announcement by Paul, Pat, and Steve. It was great to finally get some of this stuff out there as knowing it myself before hand is great but you cannot get the excitement of the real announcements.  As Paul handed off the reigns by giving himself “The Hook” on-screen I was a bit sad.  I actually wished we could have done more for that hand off to really thank Paul for all he has done.  As an employee here he has done great things for us and I can only hope that level of commitment to the customers and employees continues.

Then it was off to the first Session of the Day for VMworld VSP1168 with Duncan Epping, Rawlinson Rivera, and Aidan Dalgleish.  The session was great it was PACKED with over 800 people, standing room only.  A great way to start off the day and the week for all of us.  We took it right to the end of the time available, so we got all the information in and the twitter stream on the session seemed well received.

I had a break for lunch with good friend Vic Camacho under the food tent, then I needed to get a couple of things done back at the hotel before I headed to my Expert 1:1 sessions.  These are great, small groups on a couch talking about vCloud ideas.  I actually got a few take aways for me to ask Product Management about so that was very valuable to get that feedback from customers.

After that I had my Group Discussion with 50 people where we talked more about vCloud Service Levels, architecture, implementation, and anything else we could think of.  These are also great as thy are small groups of people talking to EACH OTHER, not just me presenting to them.  I am just the facilitator in these sessions for the participants.

Once that ended it was off to the VMworld Expert Reception, and finally we ended the night with Virtacore at their wine tasting.  The last stop was for a turkey sandwich at Mel’s Drive-in where we ran into Duncan and Frank one last time for the day and off to bed before Day 2 which will also be crazy…..just not as crazy.

About Chris Colotti

Chris is active on the VMUG and event speaking circuit and is available for many events if you want to reach out and ask. Previously to this he spent close to a decade working for VMware as a Principal Architect. Previous to his nine plus years at VMware, Chris was a System Administrator that evolved his career into a data center architect. Chris spends a lot of time mentoring co-workers and friends on the benefits of personal growth and professional development. Chris is also amongst the first VMware Certified Design Experts (VCDX#37), and author of multiple white papers. In his spare time he helps his wife Julie run her promotional products as the accountant, book keeper, and IT Support. Chris also believes in both a healthy body and healthy mind, and has become heavily involved with fitness as a Diamond Team Beachbody Coach using P90X and other Beachbody Programs. Although Technology is his day job, Chris is passionate about fitness after losing 60 pounds himself in the last few years.

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