Reflections on attending a tech conference: The Belguim VMUG UserCon
Recently I had the privilege of attending my first ever VMUG UserCon. In this blog post, I will share my experience and insights gained from attending this vibrant gathering of like-minded individuals in the virtualization community.
What is VMUG
VMUG stands for VMware User Group, a global community founded in 2010 that currently counts +150.000 members worldwide. Members are VMware users and enthusiasts who come together to share knowledge and experiences related to VMware’s and related virtualization technologies. Membership can be free or paid, fees that go towards the funding\survival of the global and local VMUG communities. If it’s paid there are certain benefits, such as discounts and licenses you get, which are really valuable if you’re delving in seriously in the virtualization world. You can read more about the VMUG advantage paid membership on their website.
To provide a tangible platform for virtualization fans, VMUGs organize various events, including local and regional meetings, UserCons (User Conferences), webinars, and virtual conferences, where members can network, attend educational sessions, and gain insights into the latest developments in VMware technology and related vendors.
Such an event was the UserCon event organized by the Belguim VMUG community in Brussels, on the 1st of June which serendipitously coincided with my current 5-year work-versary (Yaay me!) .
Learning from the experts
The event day, 1st of June was really action packed with fun and informative opening and closing keynotes. In between, the real struggle was to pick and sacrifice one compelling session over another. There were 36 sessions and most of the time there was an overlap of 2 to 5 going on at the same time, so you definitely could not feel bored.
The sessions that I attended and I would single out as the most attention catching ones were the ones by:
- Maarten Van Driessen & Evert Amssoms’ “Managing your NSX environment with Terraform”
- Valentin Bondzio’s “vSphere Resource Efficiency — Sustainability Now”.
I only wish these could have been recorded so that one could revisit them, as these kinds of information packed sessions always end up as overwhelming and you’re mostly left with positive, but vague memories and the sensation of being mind blown by the delivery and content of the speakers.
Whenever you’d want to chill from the brain melting content, you could chat and network over some pinball action or you could try to be an F1 driver, courtesy of the sponsors of the event.
Engaging Community Atmosphere
The cozy venue (btw nice pick VMUG leaders!) offered a very easy to get around space ,where as I said previously, you could easily transition from consuming information by attending the sessions to chatting and exchanging insights from the day with the people you came with or easily strike up a conversation with someone you had just met.
Usually, some of the tangible spoils of partaking in a tech conference is the branded swag a visitor gets.
Sure, you’re going to score some fun stickers, useful swag and even some awesome prizes(VMUG advantage membership I shall be putting you to good use this summer in my lab!), but what will really stick with you is the experience of the day you shared with fellow technology attendees. The fruits one would bear from the potential opportunities that might arise in the future from your networking are situations you’re not even aware of at the moment or couldn’t even have dreamed.
Such an example from my own experience which I still find surreal that it happened, was being put on the radar of VMware’s community podcast people after the VMware Explore conference last years, which led to an invitation to be a guest on an episode!
Key takeaways
I’m thrilled that I had once again had the opportunity to see and chat with some of the faces of the ones I met at VMware Explore last year and add new ones to memory, which I hope we will cross paths in the future.
For all this, an immense thank you goes to the BE VMUG leaders. Maarten, Jens and Kristof, kudos for organizing this exceptional event! Cheers and to many more successful events in the future!
