VMworld 2014 Roundup: Day 1

Another satisfyingly exhausting day of VMworld in the bag. TL;DR: Exercise, registration, on with the show, utter madness, and friends both new and old. On to the rundown.

Exercise

The day started with the VMworld 5k Fun Run at Chrissy Field. If I had to guess I’d say nearly a couple hundred turned up to contribute to the sea of white t-shirts. The course has you run from the Sports Basement, up to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge then turn around and ultimately complete a loop back to the store. It’s a great run and a great way to start off the week, however I will admit that my feet and I aren’t on speaking terms at the moment.

If you haven’t run this 5k before or you haven’t run any 5k before, I encourage you to sign up next year. The VMworld 2013 5k was my first metered run and the experience is satisfying, both then and now. If you’re concerned about the running, you can also walk the 5k or do what a lot of people do which is alternate between the two at your discretion. The 5k has actually been an ice breaker a time or two both last year and this, with people recognizing you from the event. So it does have benefits both on and off the field.

Registration

Last year I managed to register on Saturday and it was a very quiet, straight forward affaire. This year I attended the VCDX Bootcamp on Saturday so I registered right after the 5k. Moscone West was a bit of a zoo. There were lines for getting in line to line up. At one point we may have been playing the world’s largest game of snake.

It wasn’t all questionable queueing, however. The express registration, for those who remembered they had a QR code in their email, was painless and fast. A hop and skip after that to get your backpack and you were away. After a brief repose at the hotel I was back at Moscone West to visit the VMUG booth. I was a little ahead of their schedule so offered to pitch in. The VMUG team eagerly put me to work prepping t-shirts. I was quite impressed with the amount of work they put in and their get-er-done attitude. If you get the chance, make sure to stop by the VMUG booth in the Solutions Exchange and thank them for all they do for the community.

On With the Show

New this year, through a collaboration between #VMunderground and #vBrownBag, were the Opening Acts. A series of panel discussions lead by and made up of people from the community. They ran discussions two at a time so you had to choose which to partake in. I took in the Social Media/Careers, Orchestration, Automation and Optimization, and Architecture & Infrastructure panels. They were all, to a panel, excellent. Audience participation has fairly high and the topics very relevant and interesting.

The only criticism I have is that there were far too many empty chairs. This really needs to be brought back next year and see what can be done about putting bums in seats. If you didn’t know about this until now, leave a comment, or let the #vBrownBag or #VMunderground folks know. I’m sure they’d be happy for the feedback. Note that the panels were recorded, and I image that they’ll show up online for your viewing pleasure sooner than later.