VMworld Europe 2019: Day 1
This year I’ve been lucky enough to get a paid ticket from my employers ComputerWorld Systems ltd to attend VMworld Europe 2019. I’ve never managed to get to VMworld before and this is also my first time in Barcelona so I’ve been really looking forward to it. Over the next few days I’ll try to share my insights and thoughts on this.. quite frankly mind blowing experience.
The day started with an early alarm call at 4am, followed by a bit of last minute packing and a quick dash to Bristol airport to catch my flight. There was even a nice sunrise whilst boarding the plane. A few hours later and I was in Barcelona airport where I met my first challenge – how to get to the hotel. Fortunately for me a quick message to my colleagues gave me the choice of a taxi or the Aerobus. Not wanting to queue I jumped into a taxi which was just under 20 euros. There’s also the option of the L8 underground which would have been cheaper. I managed to check in to my hotel a few hours early which meant I could ditch the bags rather than checking them into to storage at the conference. The I jumped on the L8 underground service and headed to VMworld.
The one piece of advice I did make a note of was to wear comfortable shoes and clothes. It was a warm day and the steps were quickly mounting up so I was glad to be in jeans and trainers. It’s hard to describe how big the Fira Gran Via is until you see it and get inside. Once registered I picked up my pass and first bit of swag – the legendary VMworld rucksack. I then headed for the Partner Lounge and ended up bumping into Ather Beg – which was great as I could put a face to a name finally. I then spent some time networking with other partners and finding out their goals and focus areas for the next few days. This was the best part of the day and one of the most important things to do at a conference such as VMworld.
Towards the end of the day it was time for the Partner General Session and it was great to hear the vision set out from VMware’s CEO Pat Gelsinger on how partners will be the guides to the digital future on the joint customer journey. I’m not very good at writing and listening at the same time but fortunately my colleague Barry Coombs is and has done an amazing doodle on the highlights of the session which you can find here
To wrap up it’s been a long day but totally worth it and I’m very much looking forward to another full on day tomorrow with a couple of good sessions booked in the calendar. I’m also going to hit the vendor hall and a couple of the breakout areas and see who else I can bump into. I’ve clocked up over 15,000 steps today and feel pretty shattered but hopefully a good nights sleep will sort me out (yes that means no partying for me tonight).
