Key Highlights from Explore 2024: Vegas and Barcelona

It was my pleasure to present at Explore events this year, both in Las Vegas and Barcelona. These are a few of my thoughts on the experiences.

The event in Las Vegas included being a “booth babe.” I worked representing Professional Services during about half the show. Meeting with colleagues and customers is always the highlight of Explore, and this was no exception. I was sharing duty in the booth with Kacy Reed; getting to know him better was a true positive experience. We covered for each other as each of us had presentations to give which took time away from the booth duty.

Probably the highlight for me was sharing the stage with Chris McCain discussing the virtues of the vDefend Distributed Security offerings. He nearly knocked me to the floor when he showed up as “vGandalf-Jr.” with his beard and wig.

I was also privileged to co-present with Joel West (Mr. Full Stack) in the community theater a couple times. We broke the mold with that one — no slides, just q & a. It was a lot of fun. We worked with Julia Klaus and Noell Grier to set the stage and just had a blast. Of course, being part of the Communities Theater meant we got to catch up with Corey Romero and the vExpert team along with the vMUG partners. Great catching up with everyone and meeting Mrs. Corey on the path back to the room one evening! Win-win!

Barcelona

It is a long flight to Europe, but I was joined in my row by none other than the Executive Director of vMUG, Brad Tompkins. I probably shouldn’t say we slept together, but really, what else do you do on a transatlantic overnight flight? We visited a little upon boarding and some after landing, and it was very encouraging start for the upcoming event.

If Vegas was somewhat “subdued,” my impression of the event in Barcelona was “warm.” Not the weather, but the atmosphere at the venue. The weather wasn’t very cooperative at first. Many folks had flights delayed coming in on Sunday night or Monday morning, but once we were all on site, the warmth began. Thank goodness, too, as Monday morning I weathered the weather to get from the hotel to the venue in a downpour which soaked me to the bone. I wore my vGandalf hat to cover my head and it was drenched to the base threads! I checked it with the coat check, since my “People’s Choice” presentation with Chris McCain was mid-afternoon, and when I retrieved my gear, it was still soaked through. Hand dryers in the restroom were dual purpose this day; doubling as hat dryers!

The warmth I alluded to above was provided by the greeting I received by a large number of the attendees. Selfies were the order of the day and my colleague Brian Watrous (of vvork fame), wandered the halls with me and was witness to multiple occurrences of “can I get a selfie” as we walked, stopped, visited throughout the venue. He also honored me by allowing myself to “co-present” in the {code} theater for a couple sessions. Mutual respect goes a long way. Franky Barragan was instrumental in organizing our time on stage and was VERY helpful and generous in allowing our time to go as smoothly as any we’ve experienced. The {code} theater was in the Communities area, so Corey, Julia, and Jean Williams of vMUG fame were there to keep the network alive.

Two additional highlights for me were auxiliary events; a vExpert/vMUG reception on Sunday night where I caught up with many “partners-in-crime” from over the years — you know who you are! Got a selfie with the CEO that’s too funny for words…

Open venue, windy night! Another event with many fond memories is the VCI dinner hosted by Go.Courses. Even though an illness kept the sponsor from attending, Jacob Biddle and Shaun-Leigh Mackolisky kept the food and wine coming and coming and coming! Turns out Mr Biddle hales from about 30 miles from my home in Texas. By the way, in Texas that means we’re neighbors. He is quite the connoisseur of food and beverages! Extremely enjoyable variety of both with his organizing touch! Again a great opportunity to catch up with multiple VCIs and some I hadn’t yet met, but will now consider friends.

I was also invited to join in a customer meeting and was privileged to meet Ross Wynne, the Irish architect hanging out inside (mostly) in Dubai. The knowledge he shared with the customer in 15 minutes added a year to my understanding of VCF! It was also a privilege to conduct a couple Meet-the-Expert round tables about securing a VCF (and vSphere) deployment. Selfies and very cool conversations surrounding customer deployments made this an enjoyable couple of hours. Jayne coordinates the tables, and it was very nice catching up with her as well.

There are so many more memories from these two events, but, like vacation pictures, just enough is too much. Great times, and as always, networking is what makes the events as as special as the old VMworlds!