And here we are, at the end of October. Before I get in to it, I signed up for Blogtober a few weeks ago, and this is shamefully my first post for Blogtober, and I’m writing this on the 25th of the month. Let’s see if I can get 5 posts out by the end of the month!
Anyhow, it’s that time of the year again and vForum Australia 2017 is just around the corner. In fact, it’s next Thursday the 2nd of November. If you live in Sydney or have the luxury of jumping on a plane for a day or two, I’d highly recommend heading along to vForum.
For the last few years, vForum has done the rounds at Luna Park, Star Casino and Moore Park. This year it is being held at the International Convention Centre at Darling Harbour.
Those of you that are familiar with vForum might notice that this year it is a one day event rather than the traditional two day event. I won’t be attending, but I’ll be interested to hear feedback on the change from those attending when compared to the format of the previous events.
For $605, you can still register for a “TechDay@vFORUM” pass which will get you the following benefits:
- All General Admission sessions
- Exclusive TechDay@vFORUM breakout sessions with deep dive technical content
- vFORUM Marketplace access
- Lunch and refreshments
- Admission to the vFORUM party
Those of you who are “Alumni” (attended 2+ vForum events as a paid attendee) can benefit from a 10% discount. If the paid pass isn’t in your budget, you can register for a general admission pass for free.
Interestingly, there also appear to be some “side” events on the same day as vForum. Namely Empower Digital Workspace and Transform Security. The pricing is the same as the vforum Techday pass, but I’m not sure if a vForum Techday pass will get you in to these events, which are also being held at the International Convention Centre. From what I can tell on the site, they are separate events and access is purchased separately to vForum.
VMware executives Sanjay Poonen, Bruce Davie and Alister Dias will be taking charge with the Keynote. On top of that there will of course be the Solutions Exchange with vendors and partners showing off their latest and greatest (along with a bit of swag and some prizes!) and there are the breakout sessions where experts will take you through a particular technology or product. My tip - Make the most of the exposure to the VMware team and the partners that are there on the day to build your networks up.
And of course, PLEASE don’t forget about VMDownUndergorund, or if you didn’t know about it, now you do! Go and grab a ticket. VMDownUnderground is held on the evening before vForum and this year is being sponsored by DellEMC. This is a small event where industry superstars get together, catch up, sink some beers and food and meet some new people. Last year I went to the event alone, and I really have a hard time jumping in to conversations with people I don’t know, but that night I met a lot of great people who I’m regularly in contact with these days. I underrated the networking you can do at an event like this.
So, are you heading to vForum next week? Have you got any goals or plans, or just going to take the day as it comes? If you are a first time go-er, I wrote about my experience last year in this post.