So I came across this gem not too long ago (I’ll be duplicating their content here in the event that it ever ‘disappears’ from the source)  Also I’ll be introducing some additional training resources and such which they did not cover or reflect, to make sure you have access to as much Free as possible!

• Interested in becoming a SolarWinds Certified Professional FOR FREE?!?!
• SolarWinds Offering Free Virtual Classroom Training for Current Customers!
• SolarWinds Expands Free Training and Certifications!
• Free Training, Labs, Videos and more from Microsoft, VMware and @TrainSignal!

That covers one bulk of entries which I’ve been meaning to share for awhile, and here are the rest from that other site! by j23evan <3

Free/Reduced Certifications – Free/Reduced Training 2014 Edition

Free Certifications 2014 For Everyone:

• SolarWinds Certified Professional – Network Certification | SolarWinds Certified Professional – SolarWinds – Solarwinds has changed their examination delivery method to online and is giving anyone who registers a free voucher and free training through their thwack community.
• Certiport iCritical Thinking – https://www.certiport.com/Portal/des…king-5free.htm – Certiport is offering 5 free exam vouchers for their iCritical Thinking Exam for your institution.
• International Scrum Foundation Certification –Scrum Association – The Scrum Association is offering free training and certification. Wow. (Thanks N2IT)
• QualysGuard Certified Specialists – https://community.qualys.com/community/training – Pretty amazing website that offers free online and in person security training classes with a free certification exam after. The training sessions tend to last 8 hours and word on the street is the exams are no cakewalk. (Thanks CyberGuyPR)
• ADTRAN Sales and Associate Level Certifications – http://www.adtran.com/web/page/porta…ations_landing – ADTRAN provides free self paced training as well as free exams for their Sales and Associate level Certifications. (Thanks santaowns)
• Bing Ads Accredited Professional – About Accreditation – Microsoft is offering free training and accreditation, as an added bonus it is a Microsoft Partner competency requirement.
• Certiport Beta Exams – http://www.certiport.com/Portal/desk…plication.html – You can sign up to be notified when Certiport is running a beta exam, and all beta exams through them are free. (HP ATA, MTA, MOS, AutoCAD, CompTIA Strata, Adobe, Quickbooks)
• Backup Academy Certified Professional – Backup Academy – VM Backup and Recovery Training class & certification course for IT professionals – Veeam has free training and certification through their Backup Academy.
• Saylor University Free Online Degree – Computer Science « Saylor.org – Free Online Courses Built by Professors – Saylor University offers several online free degrees. These aren’t simple just sign up and everyone gets one, they have electives, general ed requirements, and credit aligned classes that can be transferred to traditional schools. (thanks Stryder144)
• Hurricane Electric IPv6 Certification – https://ipv6.he.net/certification/ – Hurricane Electric is offering free training and hands on modules for their free IPv6 Certification.
• Rackspace Cloud U Certification – Cloud Computing University and Certification by Rackspace – Rackspace offers free training and a free certification.
• Six Sigma White Belt – Free Six Sigma Certification – Six Sigma White Belt – Aveta Business School offers a free online certification with the study guides to go along with it. (Thanks veritas_libertas)
• Cambridge Certified Career Certifications – Free Career Global Online Certification – Get your certificate immediately upon successful assessment -15 Free IT Online Certifications running the gamut of IT specializations.(Thanks tprice5/JayTheCracker)
• ZyXEL ZCNP – ZyXEL Education Center – ZyXEL offers free training and free certifications for their networking solutions. (Thanks craig88)
• Brocade Certified Ethernet Fabric Professional – BCEFP Exam Preparation – Brocade Community Promo Code: CEF250EthFabric – Brocade has a promotion for a free Ethernet Fabric Certification with the above promo code. They also provide free training, pdf’s, and study guides. (Thanks muneebkalathil)

For IT Professionals:

• VMware VSP & VTSP – Secure Customer Login – VMware offers fantastic training and certifications for partners with their VMware Sales Professional and VMware Technical Sales Professional Certifications.
• F5 University for Partners – https://university.f5.com/ – F5 offers several sales and technical accreditations for partner company employees.
• Citrix Partner Central – https://www.citrix.com/partnercentral/home.html – Citrix offers free training on their products as well as the CCSP 2013 for partner company employees.

Inexpensive Certifications

• Brocade Accreditations – $20 – Accreditation Exam Information – Brocade has 11 web based Accreditation’s that are only $20. They also offer Free training PDF’s for each course.
• HP Specialty Certifications – $10-45 – https://www.myexpertone.com – HP has a series of web based Certifications (HP2-HP5 Prefix) of inexpensive exams.
• Apple Associate Exams – $65 – Training and Certification – Thankfully Apple is moving away from their Authorized Training Centers (aka Robber Barons) to Pearson, and are offering their Associate level Exams online from the comfort of your home for $65 and free training PDF’s/iBookstore books.
• Google Apps Education Qualification / YouTube Digital Citizen Certification – $15 – Google Apps Education Training Center – Google has 5 Exams that are $15 a piece that once all are completed earn you the Google Apps Education Qualification. The exams are web based and all training material is provided for free.
• M.I.T. XSeries Certification in Computer Science – https://www.edx.org/xseries – Massachusetts Institute of Technology is offering an inexpensive certificate to those who attend and pass their courses. Absolutely brilliant, they follow a traditional semester mold and would look fantastic on a resume. They have a supply chain certificate as well. (thanks Stryder144)
• OSHA 10-Hour General Industry Certification – $25 –http://campus.careersafeonline.com/p…chString&#x3d; – Yes I know it’s not an IT Certification. Proving that you have attended and passed the 10 Hour OSHA training course will give you a leg up over other applicants in certain industries. They also have a Cyber Safety Awareness program.

Reduced Certifications

• Microsoft Exams through Prometric (070, 071, MTA) – Retake Microsoft Certification Exam for Free | Microsoft – Microsoft’s Second Shot is back! Now through May 31st, 2014 you can obtain a voucher to have a free retake on almost all of their technical exams. Dynamics is sadly excluded.
• Microsoft Exam Pack Discount – http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en…xam-packs.aspx – Microsoft is offering a 15% off discount for purchasing all 3 exams towards an MCSA, MCSD, and MCSE. Now through May 31st, 2014 you will also receive a free second shot with the discount.
• Microsoft Virtualization Certification – Microsoft Virtual Academy – Microsoft is offering a 50% discount for anyone who signs up and attends their free online jump start training. The exam is 74-409: Virtualization with Hyper-V and System Center. They are also introducing a free MVA course for it as well and you can watch it on demand on Expires June 30^th, 2014.(Thanks SweenMachine)
• Check Point – Training and Certifications – Check Point is offering 50% off all examination retakes and provides free training.
• Juniper Fast Track – https://learningportal.juniper.net/j…rack_home.aspx – Juniper is offering a 50% discount on 4 of their exams by taking and passing a free pre-assessment. Best of all they offer free elearning as well! (Thanks Zartanasaurus)
• Stanley Community College – VCP-DCV VMware Course – VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage – Definately the best education deal for VMware, though unfortunately you need to go on a waiting list. For $200 you get the full online VMware Academy course as well as a 70% off Exam voucher. The labs are great and the instructors are great.
• Oracle Beta Exams – Beta Info – Oracle offers beta exams for $50 instead of $150-$245. You can see what the release date is for each and when to expect a score report. As far as training goes… Oracle isnt the most benevolent of companies to starving IT professionals.
• Get Certified 4 Less – http://www.getcertified4less.com/Sea…ts.asp?Cat=129 – Get Certified 4 Less runs short sale specials discounting specific exam vouchers that must be taken rather soon. In addition to that they tend to sell exam vouchers $10-20 less than directly from the vendor. (Thanks Kriscamaro68 and shyguyIT)

For IT Professionals:

• Brocade CNE – Education – Promo Code: CNE250BCNEPromo – Brocade is offering a Free BCNE exam voucher for current CCNA holders with purchase of the $100 CNE 250 training.
• Microsoft Partner Network/Prometric 40% Discount – https://www.prometric.com/en-us/clie…age/index.html – Prometric is running a special where Microsoft Partners can purchase 5 Exam vouchers for 35% off, or 20 vouchers for 40% off. With a free second shot. Offer Valid through May 31st, 2014 and exams must be taken by December 31st, 2014.

For Students:

• CA Technology 60% off – http://www.ca.com/us/education/accre…ation-faq.aspx – If you are a full-time college student in good academic standing, please contact certification@ca.com and attach a JPEG image of your current student id card. They will email you a voucher which will enable you to receive a 60% discount. Limited to one voucher per 12-month period.

Free Training

• CNWP –CWNP | My Account Home – CWNP is giving away a voucher for a free lifelong practice exam engine for the certification of your choice by signing up.
• LPI – Practice Questions and Self-Study Materials | Linux Professional Institute (LPI) – LPI Provides free training material for all of their Exams.
• VMware Hands On Labs– VMware – NEE – VMware has a large collection of hands on labs that have tasks associated with them running the gamut of all of their offerings. A great resource to test new technologies, or brush up on material. Oh and it’s free.
• Google Digital Analytics Fundamentals – https://analyticsacademy.withgoogle.com/preview – Google is offering free training with hands on labs for their analytics platform.
• Scrum Training – Scrum Training Series: Free Scrum Master Training – To Quote: "Free Online Scrum Master Training: The fun way to learn about Agile/Scrum, prepare for Scrum Master certification / Agile certification, and debunk popular misconceptions. (Thanks N2IT)
• Microsoft Virtual Academy – http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/ – Microsoft has a very in-depth training website covering almost all of their products and offerings.
• IT Masters CISSP Short Course – Free Short Course: CISSP Security Certification | IT Masters – IT Masters in conjunction with Charles Sturt University is offering a free short course training in CISSP. (thanks Stryder144)
• Degreed – Degreed – The Digital Lifelong Diploma – Degreed is an interesting site that is all about free online classes, aggregating them, and tracking credit for what you have done in them, tradition school, and other training sources to provide a new millennium "degree" program highlighting your knowledge and skills. Microsoft Virtual Academy classes transfer over.

For IT Professionals

• Microsoft Partner Network – https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/us/Pages/index.asp – A fantastic training site that explores in most Microsoft products and has assessments. Most assessments can be linked to specific partner competencies, and the best part is the completed courses are tied to you. If you change companies and associate your Microsoft Professional account with them they will get all the benefits of what you have accomplished.
• EMC Powerlink – http://powerlink.emc.com/ – EMC Powerlink is for employees of Partner Organizations to learn and take assessments validating Sales and Engineering for both EMC Solutions and RSA Security.
• Meraki – Cisco Meraki Webinars – Free Meraki 802.11n cloud managed AP for attending a webinar. IT professionals only, you must register with your company email.

Reduced Training

• Western Governors University – Online University | Online Degree Programs | The University of You – As many of you are aware, WGU is one of the best deals in post-secondary education. Think of it as the public version of Phoenix University. It’s Online, Accredited, Accelerated, and Inexpensive. For my broke IT professionals you can get student loans via fafsa (Yes its debt, but think of it as a down payment for a better future). The majority of their IT classes revolve around obtaining a certification, and they give you all the training you need. You can actually structure and accelerate your classes to where your term is cheaper than it would be to get the certs separately, and you earn college credit.
• University of the people – http://www.uopeople.org/ – Is a non-profit, US accredited, tuition free online university that targets itself to everyone in the world. It offers both 2 and 4 year degrees in Business Administration and Computer Science. The caveat is while they do not charge tuition, you must pay $100 for each final exam. Wikipedia has some interesting info on them http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UoPeople(thanks cknapp78)

Associations & Membership Perks For Everyone

• Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) – FREE – CSTA – Individual Membership – The CSTA is focused on IT Education, and unlike the title says is not just for educators, but anyone interested. From time to time Microsoft offers free MTA exam vouchers to member, and other vendors provide perks, as well as being given a full ACM Membership.
• Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) – $19/$99 – Membership &mdash; Association for Computing Machinery – ACM is an incredible value for students at $19 a year, or IT professionals at $99 a year. (That is if you aren’t interested in education and opt for the CSTA membership). Member perks include Free access to Safari, books24x7, and skillsoft. Email forwarding and filtering through postini with an @acm.org email, access to their digital library and tri-weekly news emails keeping you up to date. Additional perks as a Student member include Microsoft Dreamspark/Dreamspark Premium (Yay free software! And typically a free MS Voucher yearly) , and CA Academic Initiative.
• Microsoft DreamSpark/DreamSpark Premium – Free, Students only –https://www.dreamspark.com/Student/Default.aspx – Microsoft has a decent program for students that give them access to free software in the Programming/Server fields. If your school is awesome they will have access to DreamSpark Premium which gives you a plethora of keycodes and software that rivals the midrange MSDN account. WGU and Stanly CC are both Premium members. Both offer VMware software and keycodes, as well as VMware voucher and training discounts.
• Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) – $25+/$165+ – Join ISACA – IT Professional – IT Student – IT Educator – Memberships | ISACA – ISACA is for the big boys and cool kids. Those that are certified are typically more tenured higher level IT professionals. You are required to pay your local chapter dues in additional to the association dues, but $25 is fantastic for students. You get access to networking events, continuing education, COBiT access and data, and discounts on their certifications. Even the professional level at $165 pays for itself after 1 exam.
• Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) – $30/$95 – https://www.issa.org/?page=MembershipTypes – ISSA is a great resource for people looking to network or break into the InfoSec world. While not as many tangible benefits as ISACA, at $30 for students and $95 for professionals it is a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of chief information security officer challenges.
• Project Management Institute (PMI) – $32/$129 – Types of PMI Memberships | Project Management Institute – PMI is still the gold standard in project management, and the benefits of membership enable you to discounts on their certifications, a free digital edition of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), discounts on training and resources, and great networking opportunities. If you are pursuing the PMP or Associate of PMP $32 for students and $129 for professionals is a great deal.
• The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) – $250 – Become a CompTIA Member – CompTIA membership is different from being CompTIA certified. Membership is primarily aimed at companies, but what IT professional isn’t a consultant on the side? This year they had a $100 discount on membership for people who signed up to go to their free conference. Not if you actually went, just signed up. At $250 for an individual I am not sure it is as good of a deal, but the perks are Free CompTIA Executive Certifications and training, 80% discount on your first voucher purchase, 15% off every following voucher purchase. (80% off casp+ for $150 and 15% off every other voucher sold me)
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) – $32/$187 – IEEE – Join IEEE – The IEEE is probably the most important association in the IT industry. Student members get another DreamSpark Premium Account. All members get access to publications, standards, networking, googleapps@IEEE (An IEEE.org email, advertisement free gmail, 30GB of shared storage Google Drive/Gmail), and a tremendous amount of other benefits.
• VMware User Group (VMUG) – Free/$200 – http://www.vmug.com/l/pw/rs – VMUG is a great resource for VMware enthusiasts. Membership is free, and includes free access to local conferences, meetups with local chapters, and discounts on elearning books. For $200 you can become an Advantage member which will give you 35% off VMware Lab Connect, 20% off VMware-Delivered Classes, 20% off VMware Certifications, $100 Discount to VMworld, and 50% off VMware Fusion and Workstation Licenses. In the spring and summer to generate memberships they like to include a free VMware voucher (Which makes it a no brainer).
• Help Desk Institute (HDI) – $35/$165 – http://www.thinkhdi.com/membership.aspx – HDI membership offers discounts on their certifications and training, as well as access to white papers and networking events. At $35 for students you will immediately recoup the membership on the first exam you take.
• ASIS International – $25/$215 – https://www.asisonline.org/Membershi…s/default.aspx – ASIS International is another specialized higher end security education and certification firm. Membership benefits include discounts on exams and education materials.
• Microsoft Partner Network – https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/us/Pages/index.aspx – For seasoned IT professionals, or those who do side consulting/run a SOHO, one great perk is joining the Microsoft Partner Network. It is free to sign up for, even if you are already associated as a Microsoft Professional to your Primary Employer you can create one for your side business. After taking a short assessment you can purchase an Action Pack subscription for $475 which entitles you to internal use licenses to run your business. Office, Windows, Windows Server, Exchange, RDS CALS, SharePoint and System Center are all included.

Third Party Transferable Certifications

• CIW Security Specialist & Professional – http://www.ciwcertified.com/_resourc…ity_series.pdf – CIW gives credit to MCTS, CCNA, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, Security+ certification holders who have passed the entry level CIW Security exam the second and third level designation.
• Linux+ Certification 5-in-1 Piñata – CompTIA Partnership | Linux Professional Institute (LPI) – Originally called 3in1, then 4in1, now 5in1: If you pass Linux+ 101 and 102 from CompTIA to earn the Linux+ designation, you are eligible to receive LPIC-1, Novell CLA, Novell Suse 11 Technical Specialist, and Novell Data Center Technical Specialist.
• Cloud Certification Council – Grandfather Program for Cloud Experts – The CCC is a newly created vendor agnostic certification council made up by a conglomerate of several vendors to offer a higher level credential. Now until June 2014 you can submit your resume and certifications (along with a fee) to be grandfathered in to the program.
• Alcatel-Lucent – http://www3.alcatel-lucent.com/wps/p…h2VAQAKBjLlw!! – Alcatel-Lucent accepts current Cisco & Juniper certification holders to satisfy their entry level Network Routing Specialist I and II exams.
• HP Fast Track Program – Fast track program | HP ExpertOne – HP Officers fast track certifications and recognition of Cisco, NetApp, and EMC credentials in lieu of their courses/exams. (Also includes ATA with Certiport)

As you can see this is a metric training ton of information and training! Use it. Be better for it. Share it. Visit the source and thank j23evan for producing this awesomeness! Enjoy!

Here we are with only 19 days until I leave to get there, leaving you approximately three weeks to get ready! Let’s make sure you’re ready! I’m sure by now you’ve already read in-depth The OMG ridiculous single point of awesome for attending VMworld 2014 San Francisco!!! and all of the citing references in past posts, right?! So let’s focus on what is most important at this point!

Are you REGISTERED for VMworld?!?

This has been covered at length, and some more length in my previous posts on the subject, but have you visited the VMworld Registration page and signed up / paid and all that jazz?! If not, your time is certainly coming close! :) There is STILL time to win a free pass from @vDestination’s “Win a free trip to VMworld” contest! (Today is the LAST day!)

Do you have somewhere to sleep?!

At this point the hotel situation is likely a bit ridiculous… I just checked what properties are available on AirBNB and there are still a fair number of good options which are affordable available, so you may want to consider that!

Have you informed your favorite vendors that you’ll be at VMworld?!

We all know that VMworld is about two things on the whole. The community and more specifically the individuals who make up the community.  While contrary to that, the Partners and Vendors tend to think that VMworld is actually about them. It isn’t. It is about YOU. NOT THEM. But with that being the case your partners and vendors likely WILL be there.  They often want to pitch you on some new thing, or show you something else, or just continue growing their network with them. Let them. Get to know them better, in an outside the office context. They will often host or sponsor parties, so a few key points to make sure you address when it comes to them…

• Contact your Sales Reps / Sales Engineers / Technical Consultant, etc… And make sure they know that YOU will be attending VMworld!
• Contact these partners and vendors especially if there is some technology or business case you’re looking to learn more about at the show
• Find out if they have any parties they’re throwing or sponsoring and be all like, “Where’s my invite?!”
• :)

Are you signed up or planning to attend various important events?!

You are the most important part of the VMworld conference and there are special events that you ought to attend!

• Dodgeball Charity Tournament #v0dgeball – Get your Virtualization spirit on and attend #v0dgeball!
• Software Defined Warm-Up Party as a Service through the virtual powers of the VMunderground! They throw an awesome party each year!
• #vRelax a regular event I do every year whereby we get foot reflexology in Chinatown. It’s awesome, it’ll change your life and your feet will thank you!
• VMworld 2014 Gatherings, Tweetups, Parties and Activities – Your source for *everything* going on after hours!

There are obviously so many other things you need to focus and spend your attention on, but just to hit the key points from this and past posts…

1. Book your attendance / Pass
2. Book your hotel or place to stay
3. Inform your vendors and partners
4. Make sure you are bringing comfortable shoes!!!
5. Sign up for / Register for events that apply to you

If you have each of these points covered, ready the other blog posts and guides, you will be ready to go! Good luck, love you all and see you in San Francisco!

Well hello there fellow VMworldians!  It’s about that time again! For those veterans of #vRelax it will be happening again.  For those who aren’t familiar, here is the low down. :)

VMworld and well the World in general are hardcore busy places where we are on our feet all of the time and taking a regular beating.   This is where #vRelax comes into focus!   I discovered this little Foot Reflexology place in San Francisco Chinatown a little over 10 years ago, and I’ve been going ever since.  In fact for the past 4-5 VMworlds we’ve been attending religiously!

Why should I do it? I don’t like others to touch my feet, more stupid excuses!

Yea that’s what I would hear from people, from fears of people touching their feet, or ‘I don’t see the point of it’ or you name it.  This place is hardcore. It will have you leaving there with your feet feeling refreshed and awesome. Oh and it likely will HURT when they rub your feet, why? Because if your feet are all jacked up, there’s gotta be some repair to do it.  You will LEAVE feeling great, but during the time, you may cry. I’ve seen 6’6” big burly men cry. ;)

Where is it?

So, this place (as there are many, but this place is the BEST) is the Foot Reflexology Center

662 Jackson St
San Francisco, CA 94133 (Between Beckett St & Wentworth Pl in Chinatown)

Oh and for those wondering the price is relatively affordable.

When will others be going?!

It will really vary and be kind of random at times, keep an eye on the #vRelax hash tag throughout the week of VMworld (And some days leading up to VMworld :))  You’ll find some of your favorite Virtual denizens from bloggers, authors, podcasters and the like who will take a trip to Chinatown for this!

So keep an eye on my twitter feed, or if you happen to run into a group of us on the show floor or wherever we may do an impromptu, “Let’s go to Chinatown!” It happens. We’re very welcoming of others. This is about you and your feeling better. <3

So there you are logging into one of your vCenter’s and then WHOA WHAT IS GOING ON, WHY IS THERE A YELLOW TRIANGLE ON MY SERVER

Then you click on your server, go to the “Summary” tab and notice it has some ERRORS! Oh my! But you might say to yourself… “Yea, I enabled remote ssh and local shell, so why is it warning me about this?!”

Well, now you don’t need to be annoyed by non-essential ‘warning’ messages which detract from REAL and ACTUAL error messages!

This is easily enough fixed by simply going to EACH of your servers, clicking “Configuration” then going to the “Advanced Settings” under Software, drilling down to “UserVars” finding “UserVars.SuppressShellWarning” and changing the value from “0” to “1”

But I don’t wanna do it manually!

Yea. Me neither. I’d rather execute this VERY simply using a single PowerCLI script.  I’ve found some really useful scripts out there which do this in 5-7 lines! That’s awesome…. I hate mult-line scripts unless I SPECIFICALLY need to do multi-line.  So here it is all in one-line!

Disclaimer: The assumption is that you’re using Connect-VIServer in order to connect to your one or multiple vCenters.

Set-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration –VMHost * –Name UserVars.SuppressShellWarning –Value 1

Poof! That is it, and it’ll go through one by one talking to each of your vCenters and enumerating out each of the underlying hosts and change this value!  It literally cannot get any easier than that! <3

Hey there, I’m sure you found this because you’re looking for an awesome guide to make your first or millionth VMworld an awesome experience.  Well you’ve come to the right place, and if that doesn’t work out for you look at the bottom and find the tips/tricks and more from past years to help you prepare!  Only the most essential information will be repeated, everything else I definitely encourage you to refer to past posts which cover the details!

45 DAYS UNTIL VMWORLD!!!

That’s right, we are only 45 days away, which for some of you is eons away, and others of you is essentially around the corner. So let’s start with some of the most basics when it comes to attending VMworld…

Attending for free?!?!

Every now and then some individuals or organizations get together and offer a Free Pass to VMworld! I’m not tracking too many of those at this time, but I am tracking one…

The awesome rockstars at Infinio makers of a NFS accelerator like no other are offering a Free Attendee Pass to VMworld, including passes to the VMUnderground Party! Awesome, right? Registration for this ends 21st JUL 2014 so be sure to get signed up stat!

Register now and you’ll be entered to win:

• One full-conference pass to VMworld 2014 in San Francisco
  (the conference pass includes access to the VMworld party and Hall Crawl events)
• Access to the VMunderground party
• Cool Infinio swag
• Other great stuff!

Cool stuff right?! As other free pass / free ride options appear I’ll be sure to update this post to reflect them!

Our good friends at Simplivity are having a giveaway too! VMworld pass and Travel Stipend, awesome right?!

Contest details:

• Limited to one entry per person.

• One winner is randomly selected each week (7/18/14 and 7/25/14).

• Each prize is valued at $3995.

• Each prize consists of one (1) VMworld 2014 pass (to either US or Barcelona) and one (1) travel stipend of $2000

• Limited to United States and Canada (excluding Québec)

See here for the full Contest Rules and be sure to register here!

FINALLY! vDestination.com’s Free Trip to VMworld by Greg Stuart / @vDestination ! ! !

Check out details here, and the contest runs until August 1st SO ACT NOW!!!!

 http://vdestination.com/2014/07/28/go-to-vmworld-2014-for-free/

Registration and Discounts

If you are paying full price to attend VMworld … Well, there are ways you may NOT have to pay the highest fee(s) available!

Be sure to take advantage of things like VMUG Advantage, VCP and Alumni discount, and if your Vendor has a special discount code (Like EMC, NetApp, Dell, etc) definitely find out and roll with it!   Whatever it takes to get you there, paid for, and enjoying the show!

Also you can use your PSO Credits to purchase your registration for the event so that’s positive for you PSO Organizations on there! If you’re attending the TAM Day (If you are a VMware TAM Services customer) check out the “Registering for TAM Day” link for more information on how to handle that during registration!

And if you happen to be stuck in the position of, “My employer won’t send me because they don’t value education” you may want to check this helpful guide to help CONVINCE your employer. :)

Packing for the big event!

Must Have Items to Pack and Consider:

• Comfortable Shoes:   I cannot stress this enough (I feel like I’ve said it before, and I have, and I’ll say it again, Oh and again.) BRING COMFORTABLE SHOES!.  Whether you’re sticking ENTIRELY to the show floor or you walk outside anywhere (a lot of the events are OFF-Site at times) you’ll find yourself walking.   Not only walking streets, but hills and environments the likes of which Cable Cars were designed for! So bring your comfortable shoes; You can thank me later!
• Bring Business Cards: I know who you are, I met you, you’re the guy who has a QR code! You’re all SCAN MY QR CODE TO GUARANTEE WE’LL NEVER TALK EVVVEEEEEEEERRRRRR!!!! It’s true, it’s serious. People don’t exchange QR codes and remember each other.  You don’t enter that random contest to win an iPad or a Nexus 7 by giving them your QR code in a bowl.   You exchange Business Cards. Deal with it. Oh and PACK SOME BUSINESS CARDS!
• Laptop:   If you don’t need your laptop because you’re not going to be working while at the show, leave it at home.   If you bring your laptop because you need to work (like me) and you want to accomplish anything of relevance, LEAVE IT IN YOUR ROOM.  The last thing you need to do is worry about where your laptop is, especially because once you bring it, you will NEVER take it out of it’s case when you hit the show floor, less than 3% of people do. (Exceptions: Blogger, Analyst and other folks who specifically are demoing and using the laptop at set intervals) Save yourself grief though and leave it in the Hotel room, or leave it at home.
• Clothing:    If you’re a suit guy, bring suits.  If you’re a T-shirt and Jeans guy, bring that.   This is a conference like any conference so you’ll likely end up with random T-Shirts, random this and that’s.  (Oh if you’re job hunting here… Dress above your station, Seriously, no SERIOUSLY DO IT. ;))    Pack appropriately don’t over-pack, per se, but be sure to pack adequately.   If you can survive with Carry-On only (My Preferred way to live) you will WIN!   If you find yourself needing to buy things once you hit the ground it’s not a major problem, but consider San Francisco’s Sales Tax is 9.5%….
• Cell Phone:   I added this at the last minute.   If you find your ATT Phone doesn’t work to save your life for Data. I heartily welcome to you San Francisco.   … Mobile will be a challenge in every case, if it’s improved you are a lucky beast! If it doesn’t work, just operate on that expectation!

Getting there

Getting to VMworld will likely involve you taking an airplane unless you live in the Nor-Cal area, and even then you’ll want to stay locally; Believe me – The details covered under Transportation speak to it rather well the reasoning, justification and even a little ROI/TCO on why staying within 3 miles of Moscone is so important.    For those of you who still have yet to book your transportation and as the day quickly comes upon us I advise you to check out ITASoftware’s Matrix as a means to find the ‘cheapest’ air fare and go from there.  It’s a great tool which will help you search and see what the cheapest is; and it does update as tickets disappear and only more expensive fares are left.   I’ve also interestingly been using Orbitz to book flights in the recent past on my returns home from Afghanistan, it is interesting but helps split the difference of some airline costs!  Oh, and if you can carpool from the Airport, doooo it!

Staying there

If you read my blog post in March of this year encouraging you to BOOK YOUR HOTELS NOW, then you should be taken care of! But for those of you who didn’t book your hotel at that time (I didn’t… but I wanted you to get ahead of it! ;)) Here are some alternatives which can help take the sting out of the $400 a night hotels which are currently available (Alright, seriously, Yea, the cheap-ass hotels are coming in at >$400 due to the fact that San Francisco is a hotel wasteland.)   VMworld’s own website goes on to claim that Hotels are priced between $219 to $389 a day but that is both delusional and really only applies if you booked your hotel at the dawn of time. :)  There are ‘discounts to be had’ but also be wary of WHERE the hotels are in relation to the convention center because that burden of a commute can drain you pretty quickly.   If you’re new to the game, you should check out Airbnb which is basically a service where people rent out their apartments, houses, rooms in their homes, etc.   There are a lot of options, as an example I booked 7 days at a really nice studio all to myself for ~$1300; Which to say the least is not bad considering $400 a night hotels are ridiculous.   So if the opportunity presents itself, find a nice place to stay with a reasonable price – that’s a far better alternative to staying at the Marriott SFO at over an hours travel away!

Eating there

The events of VMworld should be feeding you at most every opportunity, whether breakfast, lunch, or some partner sponsored dinner-type event.   This isn’t like the days gone past where food was high quality and flowing at every opportunity.   So keep your wits about you and take the opportunities for food as they come along.   There are a lot of food opportunities all about which you can also take advantage of, which won’t require you to break the bank.

Getting to the Convention Center and Events daily

This differs a little bit from the “Getting there” above, as this is focused on how you will actually be getting around.   If you’re within a mile of the convention center it is fair to say you will be WALKING. There is a theoretical (but unpublished) bus schedule which will commute from some hotels to the convention center, but by the time you wait for a bus to arrive and deliver you to Moscone in the very walkable city of San Francisco, you could have walked there.   If you find yourself considerably farther out taking some form of public transportation isn’t the worst, though from a ROI perspective taking a Taxi and just GETTING there is probably the best use of your time and money.  Then when it comes to attending the events which will occur either on-site or off-site use your better judgement. Walk in groups (will go into more details on that later) especially it’s a good way to meet and greet with others you may not know (yet). If you use twitter (Of course you use twitter!) start chatting and getting to know OTHER attendees you’ve never met in person so you can walk with them!   If you do find yourself staying a little farther outside the norm take this analysis into consideration.

• Taking BART:   A lot of you say “Yea, I’m gonna take BART and I’ll be all good”   Don’t get me wrong. BART is a great idea.  If you have time to burn, I highly encourage it.    Whoa, Whoa, hold on a minute, are you openly bashing public transportation?   Yea, kind of, but not exactly.    Allow me to explain :)
  • If you are within 1 Mile of Moscone staying at the JW Marriott, Renaissance, Marriott Marquis, Serrano, Inter-Continental and so forth?  WALK. ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER.    Yea, You should be walking, it’s not a difficult task.   If you have a lot of stuff to carry, or there’s a bunch of you staying a mile away and you’re lazy (What?! Lazy people in IT? WHERE?!) Then hop in a cab, it’s semi-efficient.   But otherwise, WALK.    But wait, what about hotels farther away?!
  • If you like a lot of very sad folks are staying at the SFO Marriott (~15 miles away) Get a car and car-pool, it’ll be cheaper.    Consider the following calculation.    Taking BART from the SFO Marriott only costs $5 One-Way! However it entails a 60 minute one-way trip, including walking 1.5 Miles all-in.    If I’m in San Francisco on my own dime and I have time to burn this is a great idea.   However, I like you are here for a fixed amount of time, and the burden taking public transportation losing a minimum of 2hrs a day in transport with walking 3 miles a day guaranteed is no way to spend your extremely valuable time.
• Renting a Car:  WTF? WHO RENTS A CAR IN SAN FRANCISCO!??! No one.  Unless you’re staying at the SFO Marriott, and I suggest ONE of you rents for every 4-5 people you have in a group or party. (Or find some friends! :))  FYI, the time/distance by car is ~30 minutes.   Which means you lose an hour of your day traveling, but at least it is on YOUR terms.   There is no “Last car of the day” and Parking in/around Moscone seems fairly reasonable
• Taking a Taxi (~1-2M):   If you’re within ~1-2 miles of Moscone, sure, take a taxi if it’s fitting… Sometimes we all have deadlines we need to support, I respect and understand that!
• Taking a Taxi (~15M):    If you’re staying at the SFO Marriott for example and you take a Taxi, That is a $45 one way trip.  If you have that kind of money to burn, I have a bridge to sell you (and potentially some licensing… HAH!) But seriously, That CAN work out if you load that car up with 4-5 of you and group together, but do not do it solo.

The Top 5 MUSTs for VMworld 2014

1. Bring and WEAR Comfortable Shoes
   1. To quote a good friend who once was working a tech conference show floor when a marketing head came over to him and said, “I’m sorry, you need to change your shoes”, this to a highly technical mind who is going to be standing on the show floor talking to customers for >10hrs a day.  His cordial response was, “I’m here to help revolutionize our customers datacenters, I’m not here to fracking sell shoes”.  Alright, maybe I slightly censored things a bit… But you get the point; and if not, I’ll hit it home!   Hey, you’re a customer, a partner, someone who is spending their hard earned money to BE there and learn about awesome and excellent technologies and network and meet with other people.  This isn’t Milan or the Club (in the club, club, club…) Be comfortable, be yourself and well, be comfortable… You’re going to be doing a lot of walking and standing, and it’s going to hurt!
2. Carry only what you need in your wallet and on your person
   1. Remember that time your wallet got stolen in San Francisco and it ruined your whole week? Yea, it didn’t happen and it won’t.  The same can be said for your Android, iPad, Laptop, Bag, or some other ridiculous thing.   Hey, I get it… You’re going to be taking notes while you’re there, so you need your laptop… Wait, sorry I can’t say that with a straight face…, I mean… ;)  Just be responsible and reasonable.  There are a lot of good people here at the conference (I’ve found the owners of a number of Blackberries, iPhones, missing Laptops, you name it) but on the same token I’ve also met a lot of sad people who turned their head for a second and were without their precious (my precious…)  Please don’t let that be you.
3. Contact your vendor / Sales / SE and let them know you’ll BE at VMworld!
   1. Did you know that your SEs not only want to meet, greet and see you at VMworld… they also want and need justification to get sent there themselves?  Imagine how grateful they’d be to you for giving their management justification to send THEM!  I’m sure their expense wallets will open like a waterfall for just kind of awesomeness! Oh, and of course they’ll want to talk to you about their tech or whatever.   But seriously, Vendors throw parties and it’s nice for them to know when their customers will be there so they can invite you, or get you in front of their Execs and Leadership for your feedback and all that jazz.   It’s a great opportunity to forge those partnerships even stronger, so take advantage of it!
4. Bring Business Cards
   1. I say this every year and I’ll continue to say it.  Smaller vendors will have contests which ask for business cards, oh and people like to exchange business cards! Every now and then someone will say BUT I HAS A QR CODE. Yea, no one wants your stupid QR code.   There, I said it. Your QR code is stupid. Get a damn business card and exchange your information, I mean what’s the alternative? #5?
5. Get an account on Twitter (now) and start following the who, what, where of goings on leading up to and AT VMworld!
   1. Yea. Get yourself a twitter account, it’s not difficult, and there’s a client for every mobile device.   Interesting fact, the live-tweet coverage of the Keynotes quite frankly usually blows away the ACTUAL Keynote. :)   We also use Twitter as a means of keeping everyone abreast of what is going on at the Conference, Where the Parties are, who is attending various parties, and after parties as well!   If you’re not on Twitter, the only one missing out is you.   Some hashtags to follow before/during VMworld are
      1. #VMworld – Various event notes and VERY Spammy during the show, but good data
      2. #vExpert – The vExpert Community is a strong one and they tend to be in the know!
      3. #CXIDinner – I do nightly dinners, get togethers, networking, all that jazz at various locations AFTER all the parties are over
      4. #CXIParty – … I still haven’t decided if I’ll throw a party again, but if I do… you’ll be able to get details about it here!

Don’t be an idiot!

This gets its own section because this DOES come up at every conference. It’s sad that it does, but it sadly DOES. So to quote from last year.

• Seriously. Don’t be a misogynist or an otherwise stupid idiot, in public or private
  • I know it’s a conference, and you are outside of your element, but that doesn’t grant you the right to be a douche bag, a drunken idiot, or a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen.   @drjmetz summed it up pretty nicely in his Technical Conferences and (In)Appropriate Behavior  So, please don’t be that guy (or girl)

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