Alright, let me get it out of the way – This isn’t the first time I’ve written about VMworld and how to prepare for it, and I’m pretty sure it won’t be the last!  Feel free to check out the Appendix section at the bottom of this post and you’ll see all of the previous postings on the subject.  And I do encourage you to read those entries as this will take bits and pieces from them but they still stand on their own as an excellent source whether this is your first VMworld or your 10th.      And with that said…

Happy 10th VMworld Anniversary!

This is the 10th Anniversary for VMworld and with that, I want to make sure you’re getting the BEST and MOST out of this experience, so I’ll break things down into a few key areas.   Areas such as Packing, Transportation, Networking, Security and Safety are covered in DEPTH in last years Definitive Guide.

This year I’ll be covering a few other areas which are often overlooked and some may perceive as CONTROVERSIAL! Ooh… Imagine that! ;)

BUDGET! BUDGET! BUDGET!!!

Have you ever been to San Francisco? It’s like New York, with out all the… oh hell, it’s fricking San Francisco, a city with like 4 hotels and 25,000 people attending a conference the same weekend as the America’s Cup, which is a kind way of saying “If it wasn’t already ridiculously expensive, it just got even MORE SO”   So, hopefully some of the following tips will help you save a little money and make this trip affordable or even, possible.

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.   Oh, and if you can carpool from the Airport, doooo it!

Staying there

If you read my blog post in January 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 America’s Cup, VMworld and the fact that San Francisco is a hotel wasteland.)   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 $1001; 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.

Attending there

Okay, maybe you haven’t gotten your ticket yet – If it’s still before June 10th, you can get the $1695 Early Bird Discount! Either way, 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!

Bringing your Spouse?!

I almost forgot to add this, since I’m sure you can tell this CLEARLY wasn’t written in a serial fashion with me jumping around and editing!

Crystal Lowe, supporter of the Virtualization Community, Past sponsor of #CXIParty and all around awesome person runs this thing called Spousetivities which provides activities for spouses attending the conference to get together, network, do non-conference things, things to do so you’re not holed up in a hotel the whole time!   This is her 5th year of offering these kinds of activities, and this year is bound to be as epic as every year!  Definitely check it out!

The Top 5 MUSTs for VMworld 2013

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!

Things NOT to do at VMworld 2013

Here comes some focus which I’ll catch a lot of flak for, but I think it’s important to be honest with you and unveil the secrets of decades of conferences.

• Do not do any VMware Labs, or at best do a minimum amount of labs
• WTF MAN? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? BUT IN LABS LABS LABS!!!  FROM 2012 YOU SAID TO DO LABS!?!?!!!
• Yea, I said it. Don’t do labs. Thanks to Project Nee the VMware Hands On Labs are virtualized and in “Teh Clouds”, so don’t waste your time standing in line, or trying out a lab.   I mean sure if you want to see something after having just attended a session which you want to see live and in person, go spend the time to get to know it, But the days of spending your whole week in the lab are so totally over.   There are so many better areas to focus your attention.   Disclaimer; If a VENDOR has a set of ‘labs’ in their booth, AND you can win prizes like iPads or some crap, by all means go check out THEIR Labs.   Now I know the Lab Proctors will get all hate on me for telling you not to lab, but I can’t lie to you and tell you to avoid the cloud and project nee and more!   Your time is FAR too valuable for that.
• Do not eat lunch onsite at #VMworld and at the Moscone Center
• Okay now, you’re really starting to seriously piss me off! IT’S FREE FOOD, AND IT’S RIGHT THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE EVENT!
• Alright, a little disclaimer on that. It’s okay if you EAT there so long as you’re eating with people you don’t know or at least engaging in conversations which are advancing your purpose for being at the show.   It’s cute and all to eat with your friends and talk about the latest Lolcats or the trite marketecture session you attended with no real technical merit… But taking a step away, meeting up with a group of people you don’t know and eating and exploring the wonder that is San Francisco.  Well, it’s worth it.   I’ll be honest, this won’t be my first nor last VMworld, and I’m currently in the warzone in Afghanistan with some of the quite possibly worst food in the world.  And even with all that, I still would rather not eat the VMworld ‘lunch’ food. ;)
• Do not spend a lot of time with your co-workers / colleagues
• Awesome, now this is something I can get behind! Wait… Why not?!
• Your colleagues are great, I’m sure they’re the best folks in the world, now it’s time to pawn them off on someone else and get to know someone else and network.  Get outside of your comfort zone, otherwise this won’t be a conference, it’ll be a fricking bake sale.  Yea, I totally get that the analogy doesn’t work, which is even further reason to ditch your workmates!   Get out there, meet someone new, head to lunch with them! SEE WHAT i DID THERE?! ;)  But seriously, if you’re shy, or afraid or whatever, Find me, and I’ll introduce you to some new friends, it’s what I do.   Any other of my fellow friends will do the same.   So get out there, and network.
• If at all possible, do NOT pay for anything
• Sweet! That’s another one I can get behind! So what does it mean?!?!
• There are a lot of vendors here. Know your vendors you do a lot of business with, they have expense accounts.  I’ve been the vendor a number of times, they’ll buy you drinks, they’ll buy you dinner, they’ll do even crazier than that.   But let me stress.  Don’t be a dick about it. You know that douche bag who is all WELL MY VENDOR MUST TAKE CARE OF ME. Yea, You, Guy, No. Get away. But the rest of you, know that pretty much all food/drinks during all reasonable hours should be taken care of by someone else.   When it comes to chilling with some new found friends to not expect one of them to pick up the tab, if they do that is just so much more awesome.
• 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)
• And last but not least… Don’t be afraid to do something you normally wouldn’t do.  Whether it’s talking to that famous celebrity (virtual celeb?!), check out that vendor you’ve always had your eye on, attend a session which isn’t EXACTLY in your role to see what it’s like outside of that, or even to put on a cat ears – This is pretty much no holds barred! Enjoy yourself, but do it responsibly, this is San Francisco after all…

Summary

I know what you’re thinking, “Wow, this is one of the shortest VMworld Guides I’ve read yet!” Damn skippy it is! I don’t see a whole lot of sense in copying/pasting what the previous posts in the appendix below cover.  I said it there and it still applies, so definitely check it out.   This conference is all about you and it is all FOR you, don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.   VMware, it’s Technology, the Community, this whole Industry wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for you, the Admins, the Practitioners, the Customer, all of you; the Partners and Vendors know this even if they sometimes may not let on that they do.   Get what you want and need out of this conference, and respectively… get value out of this which will benefit you and your organization.    If you disagree with any of the points made, let me know! I love your comments and you only make this content stronger and better.    Walk away from this experience better for it, and bettering the encounters you have with everyone else you meet.  No one will argue that merit as a matter of point!

Enjoy the show and I’ll see you there for my first time back in the US after over 200 days in Afghanistan! Follow my continued updates on Twitter @cxi leading up to, and during the show!  And don’t hesitate to come up and say hi! :)

Appendix

• A VMworld Public Service Announcement from your favorite #vExpert! ;) (Book your hotel NOW)
• The Definitive Guide to Prepare for VMworld 2012 in San Francisco (+#CXIDinner Details)
• Recruiting Virtual Talent: Tips and Tricks to hire and get hired at #VMworld
• With #VMworld mere days away, what to expect from #CXIParty
• VMworld Tips, Tricks and Prize winning #vmworld

From 2001 until 2006 I would regularly do presentations on OMG THERE’S FREE TRAINING OUT THERE WHY AREN’T YOU USING IT. Which even culminated in the release of a Technical Offerings training deck as noted in this blog post I published in 2006 (Yes, Seriously, in 2006) Well, guess what. A lot of that data is STILL highly relevant even today! So… Let’s get started! :)

Training Videos

Microsoft

Kicking off the realm of training videos I’d like to highlight our good friends at Microsoft with their release of the Microsoft Virtual Academy!

The MVA has a LOAD and I mean a serious LOAD of information, from Training Videos, Courses, Tutorials, Walkthroughs, even Tests and points and contests to increase not only the ‘fun factor’ but provide additional context in your education.   For those of you VMwarriors out there who will discard this and say BLAH, SHOW ME THE VMware STUFF.   I even did a little search for VMware in the “Quick Search” button and lo and behold lookie at the results!

So whether you are a rockstar, a seasoned professional or someone looking to get started and want to know where to get some good and valuable information without spending hours and $$$ in a classroom, this is definitely an excellent way to get started, so jump on in!

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE FROM MICROSOFT?!?!

I know some of you are fighting the constant battle of “Damnit, can I attend Microsoft TechEd or not…” And with TechEd 2013 going to be in New Orleans I cannot blame you in the LEAST! But for those of you who just truly cannot find the time, the ability and are able to get away… something you should know.

ALL MICROSOFT TECHED CONTENT IS AVAILABLE FREE WHETHER YOU ATTEND OR NOT.

Yea. Seriously. It is.  It actually has been for like the last… Oh I don’t know… since 2004 I believe? And all of that past-content since they started posting and making it available online has been posted online.   For some reason I’m only able to find the 2012 content and the 2011 Archive but who really needs access to material on product versions which may not even exist or are supported anymore, if you truly need that let me know and I’ll find the link!

TrainSignal

A lot of you are familiar with TrainSignal and the loads of great content they create, produce and respectively sell out there (You can get access to their paid training video series and content on their website, Trainsignal.com)  But when I reached out to their President asking, “Hey, you have any freeeeeee stuff!?!?!?” He pointed me over by here!  So here is a whole bunch of videos freeeeeeeeeeeee of charge!  And of course, don’t hesitate to check out the amazing content produced by the likes of Scott Lowe and David Davis and others!

Ya know… as an example here! :)

That should get you going on quite a load of stuff from Microsoft, to VMware, to Citrix and Cisco and beyond!   But let’s drill down a bit into VMware now…

VMware

When it comes to VMware there are loads and loads (and loads) of information in the world, and often we never really know where to start… Well, here is a place to start and it’s home is in YouTube!

Yea, that’s lame right? I mean on YouTube there’s like a dozen channels?!?! Well, there are. Just go and use them. BAM, and BOOYAH.

VMworld Presentations are FREE TOO LIKE TECHED?!?!?

Well, no. Not exactly. Sorry!   Although this last year VMUG Advantage did have a brief offer for free access to the VMworld content if you signed up for that…  I’m unable to find any data on it at the moment, so that may have expired, but it’s still worth checking out!

SHOW ME THE LABS BABY!

You asked for Labs and here they are! More labs than you can shake a stick at!

Err, okay, maybe that was a little too literal!   Let’s get on with our labs though!

FREE Hands On Labs from Microsoft!

The thing about Microsoft is… for 8+ years they’ve had FREE access to all of their products in a Try-Before-You-Buy model where you can DOWNLOAD any Product and play with it (okay, seriously that’s been around for going on 20 years) but they also instituted the Hands On Labs where the lab environments would BUILD themselves, provide you with a Lab guide to follow (or ignore) and learn and play with it that way.   Not to mention all of the content they’d have in the Hands on Labs at TechEd would be POSTED and made available for you to go in and learn, explore and beyond!

This isn’t something new, it’s been around FOREVER, Here are links to where you can access it (as it’s actually available in several places).

Disclaimer: When I wanted to test something out, I’d spin up a lab which was designed to ‘best practice’ and go in and do whatever I wanted, I mean it was a lab environment available in minutes. Why not? 

Interesting Fact, some of the types of labs and solutions available out there which you can play and learn from:

• How to setup a product from scratch, like Sharepoint, Microsoft Exchange, SQL
• How to MIGRATE a product from one version to another (like those products mentioned above and more)
• How to Develop in a language like C#, Visual Studio, Azure, PowerShell and more
• How to do other advanced types of things
• Alllllllllllll the labs that were available at TechEd, so you know what that means… and if not, check it out!
• You can find TechEd Labs in the Additional Content section here with this flask icon next to it!
• Here at the MSEvents site there are a number of Virtual Labs on the “Virtual Labs” tab to choose and play from!
• At the TechNet Virtual Labs site you can dive a little deeper on more Microsoft Technologies…
• Looking to dive even deeper, the MSDN Virtual Labs site will take you there.

So if for a minute you thought this was going to be easy, or a single click site with all the answers. HAH.

FREE HANDS ON LABS FROM VMware?!??!

Well, not exactly.. I mean, sort of, kind of… but, well, let me explain.   VMware recently announced “Project Nee” my dear friend Simon Seagrave talks about about it here at his blog.  But ultimately, what Project Nee is intended to be is… VMware Hands On Labs publicly available online.  However it is still in Beta at the moment.   You can follow details of the VMware Hands On Labs by going here to the VMware Hands On Labs community!

Some additional places not even mentioned but you should check out, and all of the cited links for easy access and consumption:

• Technical Offerings Blog Post I wrote in 2006
• Microsoft Virtual Academy
• Microsoft TechEd 2012 Content
• Microsoft TechEd 2011 Archive
• TrainSignal YouTube Channel
• VMware YouTube Channel(s)
• Microsoft Hands On Labs
• TechEd Labs
• MSEvent Labs
• TechNet Labs
• MSDN Labs
• VMware Hands On Labs community
• Not Mentioned but you should check out:
• Microsoft TechNet Edge (I still wear Edge t-shirts :))
• Microsoft Channel 9 (Loads of content and updated regularly)
• Microsoft TechNet Video (A lot of cross-posting but still relevant)

So hopefully those of you out there who are looking to stay relevant, continue educating yourselves, maybe even heading down the certification track and whatnot will find this of benefit.   I won’t lie to you, I’ve used these resources countless times over the years and I encourage others to.   If you have any other sites to suggest, toss em into the comment section… This is an epic resources to reference from here until well.. until I write another one ;)

Educate and Enjoy!

Well, the fateful day has arrived, and that day is good! Welcome one and all of the #EMCElect ! ! !

I guess we start off a bit in reference to the title of this blog post, oh my! You may be sitting here wondering what this MVP/vExpert-like program is about!

What exactly IS EMC Elect?

I find this can be readily answered by looking at the EMC Elect Charter – which I know all of you will immediately click and find out all about it! And… because you won’t, here is the straight scoop on it!

The team at EMC has designed a program to span the gap between brand loyalty and brand advocacy.

EMC Elect is a community-driven recognition designed to award investment and engagement of individual contributors with the EMC brand. The resulting status symbol will be held with high regard as an industry standard representing thought leadership in the fields of data center management, cloud computing and big data.

Members will be determined by peer nomination for their holistic social engagement for the previous calendar year.

Rewards for participating EMC Elect will receive unprecedented connection into product teams through dedicated liaisons.

EMC Business Units, by participating, receive a low-latency, trusted connection into the highest value influencers in our social ecosystem.

Alright, so that says a whole bunch of stuff, but what does it really mean?  These are like the brand champions, the evangelists… Often times, honestly… the same people you often ASSOCIATE with EMC whether they work there or not.   Take @mrdenny Denny Cherry, He is a rockstar in his own right and when I think of SQL and SQL books I think of him, but he also knows a boatload about EMC Products and isn’t shy about keeping it honest when it comes to the good, the bad and the respective ugly.    And you think about @sixfootdad Damian Karlson, while he works for EMC Consulting he is holistically focused on the whole of the Virtualization and Cloud communities, yet he doesn’t have the wool over his eyes when it comes to knowing the value-add and the EMC Portfolio, and he exemplifies that in his writing, his community and otherwise involvement… So these are just a few examples of the many!

Who exactly ARE the EMC Elect?!?!

It was announced just last night, this handy link which takes you to the 75 members who are now the EMC Elect 2013!

For those of you active in Storage, Cloud, Virtualization, EMC Specific technologies, and the like… You’re bound to recognize quite a number of those names; Off the top of my head and just glancing at the list the likes of…

Matthew Yeager, Erin Banks, Jase McCarty, Mark Twomey, Matt Cowger, Jason Nash, Simon Seagrave, Preston De Guise, and Rob Markovic are a few which just happen to jump out.   In all actuality I recognize most of the people on the list (yay me, right?)  Yes I am also on the list, but I digresssssssss! :)

What matters by exactly who they are will really shine forth in this little diatribe I like to call…

Err, so this is the EMC Elect, huh? HUH?!  So… Why should I CARE?!?

That’s right.  Why should you care? Great question, great point indeed!

If you do happen to know and recognize one or more of those names and you’re involved in this industry something rather common will start to shine through for those individuals… They tend to be very active, vocal and share with the community.  You’ve probably read a blog of theirs, seen a video, read a whitepaper they wrote, watched one of their presentations, been to one of their parties! ;)   Thus whether you realize it or not, they’ve had some kind of impact on your life, directly or indirectly and this takes it up a notch.     In this first year of kicking off the EMC Elect there were a total of 270 Nominations, 124 finalists and in the end… the directory shows 75 total members of this first year of EMC Elect.   I did some rough math on comments that it looked like a lot of EMC People are on the list, and I show around 8% of the total list are EMC Employees (my math may be wrong, as it’s just on spec and names I recognize, but not too horrible, considering how many of these people go above and beyond in their personal lives as well as professional!)

So in the end… why you really should care is… you’re bound to start to hear even more, useful, fruitful and quite amazing material and content coming from some of these gems of industry, and not just from the standard internal only folks… If this program is everything we can hope and dream it to be… we might find out about things, oh.. I don’t know, maybe BEFORE Chris Mellor from the register announces it to us a week before it comes out or something :)

Good luck, Good blogging, and OMFG have an AWESOME 2013! I know I will! :)

What exactly is this whole VMware vExpert Program and what does it mean to me?! I know that’s what you are asking, because you probably did a search of “VMware vExpert” and turned up this VMware vExpert FAQ Page, or some of these great details outlined in the vExpert Directory.

But if you haven’t read those pages, or you want a little context on exactly what the VMware vExpert Program is all about, it is extremely similar to the acclaimed Microsoft MVP Program, the EMC Elect Program, and even the rarely heard of Citrix Technology Professionals Program!  Essentially, this is an award based upon your contributions to society, community, industry.   Going above and beyond simply ‘doing your job’.    That about sums it up!

What makes the VMware vExpert Program so special

The VMware vExpert Community is very much just that, a community of likeminded professionals who come together for the betterment of society as a whole.   It may all sound sort of altruistic but there is no more accurate depiction of the truth than that.    The community is filled with people who work tirelessly to help others, who are seen as and sought after as the experts in the industry, many of which feel they don’t deserve the accolade and others who work so diligently to ensure that their impact on those around them eclipses any benefits that may be derived from the mention.    The vExperts are the authors, bloggers, podcasters, troubleshooters, helpers, friends and family which makes VMware and Virtualization such a prevalent thread it has been transforming the industry ever since its inception.

A few of the benefits ‘granted’ to the members of the vExpert community are

• Public recognition of the vExpert award with a certificate, gift, permission to display a logo, and inclusion in any public vExpert listing
• Access to a private vExpert community of your peers
• Free subscription to conference session materials on VMworld.com
• Access to exclusive events, beta programs, software licenses, and other exclusive opportunities to participate in activities with VMware. vExperts do not represent VMware and are not required to participate in any activities

But those are just the *published* benefits, here are some of the unpublished yet fully realized by members of the vExpert Community

• Priority Access to Private Betas
• Blogger Early Access Programs (Including Deep Dive Webinars with Product Teams)
• Influencer Day and Product Launch Briefings (Be on the inside track with the analysts and product launch embargoes)
• Focus Groups with SMB and Partners
• Special Opportunities presented by Partners such as Tintri, Symantec, EMC, Trainsignal, Tech Field Day, and more!
• And a particular favorite of many, private vExpert only CTO Party and Briefings with the Office of the CTO and Steve Herrod at VMworld

But it doesn’t stop there.   Some of the extra benefits realized not by all, but by many as the form of opportunities tend to be

• Special Access to Guest Blogging spots on VMTN and other blogportunities
• Community Roundtable Podcast speaking opportunities and special guest access
• VMware Press opportunities to be a Tech Reviewer or Author (They’re always looking for talent, and check the vExpert pool often)
• Other Press sources opportunities to write and review (Sybex, Video training houses, tech blogs, Windows IT Pro, Speaking Gigs, etc)
• … The opportunities are seemingly endless!

What exactly are the paths to being a vExpert

Since this is the non-definitive guide after all I can only go on what we know from the 2012 Calendar year which could possibly change.   But instituted as part of this cycle was a growth of the vExpert selection criteria to differing paths of Experts; Evangelist, Customer, Partner.

Evangelist

The Evangelist Path includes book authors, bloggers, tool builders, public speakers, and other IT professionals who share their knowledge and passion with others with the leverage of a personal public platform to reach many people. Employees of VMware can also apply via the Evangelist path.

Customer

The Customer Path is for internal evangelists and community leaders from VMware customer organizations. They have contributed to success stories, customer references, or public interviews and talks, or were active community contributors, such as VMUG leaders.

Partner (VMware Partner Network)

The VPN Path is for employees of our partner companies who lead with passion and by example, who are committed to continuous learning and to making their technical knowledge and expertise available to many. This can take shape of event participation, video, IP generation, as well as public speaking engagements.

What about the selection criteria for the vExpert Program

First let me start out by displaying what are a few caveats and considerations before I get too deeply into selection criteria.

• The vExpert award is based on contributions during the past calendar year. Activities earlier than the past calendar year are not considered in the awards and should not be entered on the application form.
• You can use the application form to apply for yourself, and an invitation form to invite others to apply. Everyone is strongly encouraged to apply.
• The vExpert designation is not a popularity contest. Multiple invitations or recommendations are not considered as a criteria for the award, so please do not ask multiple people to fill in the invitation form for you.
• The vExpert designation is given to an individual, not to a company. Your contributions could have been a part of your corporate activities, but your individual contribution should be clear and noted in your application.
• Designation duration is for one year. Existing vExperts are not guaranteed a renewal and are evaluated each year along with other nominees.
  A committee of VMware employees chooses the recipients of the vExpert designation.
• You must be 18 years old to be eligible for the award.

Now that we have that out of the way, here are some of the types of things they’d look for on the application in years gone past (for what would be the Evangelist path, As details of Customer/Partner and other evolutions for 2013 come about, I’ll be sure to discuss that as it comes…)

Contributions and Activities to materials such as:

• Blogs (Blog posts you’ve written re:VMware/Virtualization, and contributions you’ve made to other blogs)
• Other Writing (Newsletters, Books, Whitepapers, Articles, KB Articles, Tutorials, Guides, etc)
• Multimedia (Podcasts, Videos, Interviews…)
• Events and Speaking (Organized events, spoke at them, involvement, etc)
• Online Communities (IT Forums you’ve contributed, participated in and been involved in)
• Tools and Resources (Tools you’ve created, collected, contributed to, resources and guides you’ve created, collections, etc)
• VMware Programs (Councils, Partnerships, Betas and other kinds of contributions)
• Actions and activities having gone above and beyond (self explanatory)

For a little more context and details about what each of these lines might be asking for (this is dated) refer to this link for the 2011 Application

The vExpert Program seems amazing and I work in Virtualization but I’ll wait until next year

This is for all of you out there who have said that, or some similar version of events.   I know who you are, I’ve spoken with you a number of times.   You contribute greatly within the community, internally at a customer, or extensively through the Partner organization.   You’re familiar with the vExpert program but you say ‘eh, I’ll deal with that next year’.   If this were like a certification deciding to take action NEXT month or NEXT quarter wouldn’t be such a big deal, but this isn’t a Certification.    The VMware vExpert Program is a year-long designation based upon your actions for a calendar year.    So what does that mean?   By not being nominated or choosing to self-nominate yourself when the window of nomination opens, you are costing yourself on the opportunity for an additional 365 days.    It’s not to say that ALL those who submit are accepted because they are not, but if you’ve got what it takes and you’re a super star in your own right I cannot for the life of me justify you NOT applying.

Some people like to equate the VMware vExpert to a Certification and will often say “Eh, I’m not changing jobs any time soon, so I don’t see why I should do this”.    Yes, certainly like getting a VCP won’t make much of a different to an admin for life but an active Administrator who becomes a vExpert can gain that insight, that knowledge (and getting license keys for testing and all the worlds access never hurts!)

So if I leave you with nothing, I’d like you to take to heart a few tidbits and action items and I’ll share my own experience here

• It doesn’t hurt to apply or self-nominate into the program.   If you’re unknown to the populace at large sometimes the first person to knock on that door and shine a light on your accomplishments has to be you, this isn’t about ego (Especially if you’ve accomplished all of the things you share in your contributions)
• This is first and foremost a community, not a ‘corporate charter designated by a policy driven figurehead with stringent metrics to follow’ So what I mean there is, if things don’t go as fast as you want them to be, it is not as though this is an SLA you are paying for;  But we’re all in this together so lending a helping hand is never discouraged
• Get involved.   Even if you’re objective is not to one day earn the designation of VMware vExpert.    Our community is only as strong as its weakest link and as we all grow and become educated we continue to prosper together
• Even if you sit silent on the sidelines, get to  know the vExpert’s in the community and more precisely YOUR community.   These people didn’t become vExperts for nothing, they’re glad to help, spread the tech love and cherish and grow those around them

A few words from a silent cat

I’ve been a vExpert for as long as there has been a program and every single year I sit back and look at the nomination form which asks countless questions about what your contributions were for the previous calendar year. (Submissions are usually a few months into the year, so remembering back to December let alone the previous January can be a chore!)   Every single year I look back and say, “Well, crap I don’t think I did anything, how can I justify or deserve being a vExpert for this year” and then it all starts to settle in.   In past years there’d be a request for your TOP blog posts or TOP cited reference points (limited to 2 or 3) and at first I thought ‘how am I going to find even 1 let alone 3!’ which then turns into “Ooops…. I did 20-30 things in the previous year, how am I going to pare THAT down!”   This is surprisingly a common problem within the vExpert Community of Evangelists.    Before the VMware vExpert program came to be, and long before it had broken out the Evangelist designation….  We were all evangelists in our own right.   It wasn’t our job to do this, we didn’t do this because we were trying to achieve or accomplish some targeted ‘goal’, We saw problems in the world which either needed to be solved or we solved and wanted to share our experiences.   We saw great things happening and wanted to make sure everyone around us was able to benefit.    We don’t do it because we have to, We even don’t exactly do it because we WANT to.   We do it because we are vExperts.   We are Evangelists.    We are community.     I think nothing speaks more truer to that than the VMware vExpert program having doubled year over year of number of members accepted into its ranks, and I know we look forward to that number continuing to grow with other passionate and dedicated individuals like ourselves to make Technology, this Community and the World a better place.

If you’ve ever read any of my exposed series, well… Look for a fairly unbiased approach to things.   Oh and hopefully the Education team doesn’t come back screaming at me. ;)   And as always, in the best of my ability I bring you the… Disclaimer!

Disclaimer:  The following information is not under NDA, is not one persons opinion but rather that collected from others through interviews, emails, discussions under which none of us are sharing any proprietary data about the Class or the Exam.    I tread the line closely so read on!

Okay, I normally only Post-Mortem or expose an Exam, or a Class, but not too often do I get the liberty to expose the two together! With that being the case I want to start by educating you a little bit about this designation, certification and beyond so you don’t feel the need to go to multiple sources to learn it!

Okay this little chart stripped from the Brochure basically tells you:

• To prepare for the E20-001 exam you should take the Information Storage and Management 5 day course # MR-1CP-STF
• To prepare for the E20-018 exam you should take the Virtualized Data Center and Cloud Infrastructure 5 day course: MR-1CP-NPVICE

At this point I’d like to give you a little color on these particular courses and the respective requirements around them, etc.     First of all, unlike the VCP or other similar type exams, these courses are NOT required in order to sit the exam.   I wanted to make sure you understand that you CAN sit the exam cold.

(Yes I did sit the E20-001 Exam cold and passed – Industry experience has its advantages)

There is an AMAZING book which covers the content of the E20-001 course and exam – the ISM Book I’m not sure if I have a copy at all but I’ve heard from those who have used it is an excellent learning and educational aid!  So if you’re a self-studier this is definitely an EXCELLENT tool for you to use.

Because the E20-001 is a pre-requisite to sit/pass the E20-018 exam I wanted to ensure it got a little coverage, which I think is sufficient at this point :)   For what it is worth, if you have been in the industry a fair amount of time working with SANs, NASs, and other Information Storage Management stuff you should do fine, but ensure you are prepared, E20-001 is the cost of ENTRY beyond that comes the BIG GUNS!!!

Tell us about the Virtualized Data Center and Cloud Infrastructure course

Okay, okay guys I will.   Here it goes, the full in depth analysis of the VDC and Cloud course.    (Education folks, watch out this isn’t all from me either;))

I want to start by telling you very clearly and concisely that there is some GREAT content in the books, material, and other information provided both in the written as well as the lecturer (Your results may vary depending upon instructor)  Though irrespective of who your instructor is, the content in the book will stay the same and will be relevant to the Class, Cloud, VDCs and the Exam.   With that said, I need to differentiate a few things with the course pre-reqs

• According to the course materials we strongly recommend you have the following Certifications or knowledge/experience:
• Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA) – I bet CCNA would apply as well but I think that’s focused in the other exam/course
• VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
• Certified Information Systems Security Practitioner (CISSP)
• The EMCISM is required for the EMCCA Certification – I mentioned that above, so that’s not a surprise.
• Oh, and ITIL/PMP is NOT mentioned but those of you who are will find yourself wondering why not ;) (Not for content, but for presentation)

With THIS particular data points expressed I’d like to break you down into two groups:

Generalist/Novice/Acolyte:

If you fall into this area, maybe you have one or more of the certifications above or work in various cross-disciplines.  The courseware will VERY much apply to you.  You will want to pay attention, take rigorous notes; really get the best out of the networking, the instructors, the homework, read, read again, even do some labs to ensure you not only UNDERSTAND it, but you are fully committed to the material you are learning.   For what that is worth, the information is VERY general to the industry, Best Practices with a ‘little’ emphasis on some specific EMC technologies, but otherwise 70%+ of the material on the exam is of a VERY general nature.  The book should be your best friend and will be the answer to your success when it comes time to sit the exam and in life! :)

Guru/Expert/Ninja/Buddha/#IWroteTheExam:

Hey guys, how are you doing.   You know who you are.   You hold all of the certifications above or really have the information down solid.  Heck, you might have taken those exams 10 or more years ago; or even written some of the exam material in those times.   You also happen to be the same kind of folks who have helped write and spec the standards for where we are today; Chances are I know each of you personally. (grin).    Yea…  You won’t last in the class.  I’m sorry.   I’m totally supportive of you, completely in fact (You probably wrote your own internal cloud strategy for your business which is inline with the exam, or for your consultancy)  Definitely not going to survive in the class room.  You’ll say “Err, this is just lecture, I can read the book myself… err, I can write this book while I’m at it!)   I’m not being negative, I see your kind every day…. leave the class because you’re bored, not learning anything and at this point just want to ensure that you have what is REQUIRED to sit and pass the exam.    Good luck guys, you will DEFINITELY want to read the Exam section because that’ll make the difference of success and WTF?!?   

Whoa! Wait a minute! Isn’t that a massive generalization? Either you’re a student or a teacher? … No not really.   Seriously.    If you find yourself arguing with the teacher that they’re wrong and you cite evidence often referring to a presentation you’ve given at a conference? Yea… You’ll do fine :)

Now, I’d like to segue way a moment to some of the directly shared thoughts from an attendee of the course.  We’ll call him B (Not like B from Gossip Girl!)

B’s take on the Virtualized Data Center and Cloud Infrastructure Course

“B” is a Technical Manager in mid-size enterprise.   Experienced in implementing VMware over the years with EMC Storage, HP Servers, Cisco Networking.   Longtime expired member of the CCNA/CCDA club and recent VCP and EMCISM credential holder.   With the stated pre-reqs B felt it might be a stretch from his qualification but not too much of a concern  (If this sounds like you, you’re in good company!)

• Class started with going over pre-reqs, with CISSP added to the list; was surprised ITIL wasn’t there as discussed earlier
• Two classes were merged so each section was alternated between two instructors.   As the course is 95% lecture didn’t feel that mattered.
• The volume of content for the class is 2” thick of slides which unfortunately restricts discussion time available over 5 days.
• Module 1 leads you into an Introduction to Cloud Computing  – If you instructor reads this module to you verbatim – STOP THEM!!!
• Module 2 covers the VCP, ISM ad CCDA related material – Very much a review of the Pre-reqs – should be consolidated to focus on goals
• Module 3 kicked off VDC Design – This is where the meat of the course is, requires proper time to digest and discuss properly
• Module 4 focused on Governance, Risk and Compliance (Interesting Chapter) but due to time was rushed as was Managing Virtual Environments
• Module 5 focused on Cloud Services and Summary modules (Had to leave early so missed it)
• There is nothing earth-shattered in the course but there is a lot of GOOD Material!
• The labs are too vague leaving you spending more time trying to figure out what you’re supposed to do instead of discussing solutions

B’s Summary of the course

In summary, it’s a good course to show EMC’s "journey to the cloud".  I’d prefer less focus on the pieces (modules 1-2) and more focus on how to put the pieces together (modules 3-6).  The labs need refined to give more guidance so we can spend more time applying the knowledge rather than wondering what the designers of the course had in mind.  Given that this was the first class (I believe), I’d love to see how it changes over the next few sessions.

Well guys, what do you think of B’s take on the course?   I think his assessment was fairly accurately representation of what was going on, and equally what you might expect out of the class in its early stages.   To tell you the truth it can ONLY get better from this point.   I only briefly paraphrased what B had to say to preserve the original message but also not to call him directly unless he wants to be named :)  

Curious what the course looks like on the other side of the fence?   Here is the summary and breakdown from “Jerome” who’s been doing this for awhile!

Jerome’s take on the Virtualized Data Center and Cloud Infrastructure Course

I had the chance to attend the "Virtualized Data Center and Cloud Infrastructure" course put on by EMC this week.  Below are my thoughts.

Certification Track

This course is part of the EMC Cloud Architect track – EMCCA.  This course specifically is designed to prepare for the E20-018 certification test, which is a Specialist level certification.  The Expert level material and test have not yet been released, and are expected later this year.

Focus

The EMC Cloud Architect Track is designed to help enable customers adopt a cloud maturity model.  This consists of a move from physical data centers to Virtual Data Centers (VDCs), from VDCs to full Operationalization of virtualization, and from there to IT as a Service.  This course was specifically focused on the physical to VDC phase of the transition. 

Material and Presentation

This course is a lecture only course.  There was no hands on material or lab time.  What labs were included in the course were small group discussions only.  EMC has tried to make this a "generic" cloud course that is "open" to all technologies, but it is heavily slanted towards their view of the world.  The course uses the following outline, I have added the EMC translation in parenthesis:

• Virtualized Data Center and Cloud Introduction (Private Clouds and ITaaS model)
• VDC Architecture (V+C+E products, convergence)
• Designing for Virtualized and Cloud Environments (Best Practices for Virtualization – VCP stuff)
• Governance Risk and Compliance (RSA and Archer)
• Managing Virtualized Environments (IONIX)
• Cloud Services (Service Provider models)

Exam

The exam is a 60 question test, with 63% required for passing (38 correct answers).  The practice exam on the EMC Education website is decent, and a good barometer of your chance to pass the exam, though the practice was about 20% easier than the real exam.  I would say that the real exam questions were written fairly poorly, and were often difficult to understand.  They would describe a scenario, but then it seemed they would give up half way through and ask only a tangentially related question.  I think that it was a result of attempting to keep the exam mostly generic, rather than focused on EMC technologies.

Recommendation

In general, I found the course to be very much in alignment with our message and focus, and as a result I felt it was a very easy set of material.  The only new sections to me were a few of the VDC maturity definitions and the GRC models.  Because of that, I felt the instructors moved much too slow.  I also found that the instructors were professional trainers, not SMEs on cloud computing, so they offered little value other than moderating the course.  I ended up leaving mid-way through the second day, and just reviewing the course material on my own, and was able to pass the test on Thursday, even though the course runs through Friday.  If you feel you need a little more preparation, I would recommend the VILT, rather than the full course. 

Okay, no his real name is not Jerome I decided I would use that name as a tribute to Jerome from Flight of the Conchords, especially how Jerome was being so constructive with his feedback So what this is providing you is two assessments of the course; FWIW.. I agree with both, grin :)

CXIs take WTF?!?

Yea, I think I made it fairly clear in the earlier points.    But if I had a few things I want you to do and know; KNOW the material, if you’re confused read it again, understand it, deep.    Focus on your weaknesses in the areas which are defined in the class and be true and honest to yourself, because albeit Rihanna and Eminem may love the way you lie… well the Exam will NOT be so nice.  . . . Speaking of which!

Tell us about E20-018 Virtualized Infrastructure Specialist Exam for Cloud Architects!

Okay, Okay, you begged enough!   Firstly, let me tell you I cannot tell you what is ON the Exam, what is IN the exam or anything ABOUT the exam. We cool? ;)    Yea, but just because I cannot provide you those specifics and by now I think you know a few things about me…. here is what I can tell you.

Remember what I said above about PREPARING.  KNOWING the content from the Class, Books or material LISTED as being on the exam?  Yea, I wasn’t messing around.  Seriously! DO THAT. KNOW THAT. DO IT ALL!   But what would this matter or mean if you didn’t take a few sliding comments from those of us who have taken the exam.    I talked to Jerome after he took the exam to see how he felt about it; his take?

Jerome: The test was very hard, but that was only due to the language of the questions and the structure.

Me: Hated that test.

Whoa Whoa Whoa! Christopher! That isn’t very constructive! What about being constructive with your feedback?!?! Yea, hi, I’m still here.. I’m still WRITING THIS! ;)     I don’t remember if I’m supposed to say this or not but since the exam is already out, published and I’ve taken it… I’ll go out on a limb thinking I can talk about it.   Yea, I’ve seen SOME of the content before the exam came out.  I reviewed the questions for validity, truth, honesty, integrity… The kind of standard I started to see so wonderfully come out of Microsoft (I know the entire Microsoft Learning Team, so I know the commitment they have to Exam Integrity THESE days instead of days gone past where questions were insane)   I’d like to say that this exam took the PAGES upon PAGES of comments I’d have on a few word question to heart when it came time to publish the exam to stand behind as backing for the questions.   Yea, I thought that for OTHER exams I would EXTENSIVELY provide EXTREMELY constructive feedback on. [I’m not shy about telling you what is wrong, why it is wrong, how others will perceive it, and what steps you can take in order to correct….]   Also sometimes there are release schedules… or my voice isn’t LOUD enough, or I didn’t cover enough of a user base of questioning to make an impact outside of my SME area I was initially focused on reviewing.    None the less, to Jerome’s point of the language of the questions and the structure; how things were poorly worded, or to quote me “I hated that test”  

I’m VERY good at taking tests (I teach classes on how to take exams ;)).  I’ve passed more exams than most will in their lives, and respectively I’ve probably failed more exams than most people will take including their entire academic career ;)     I can wholeheartedly say that you better STUDY for this exam.   KNOW your material and know how to cut through the treacle which is going to be offered up as questions.   The answers are right, the questions are a little confusing and the ones which are not can be VERY specific.    I prepared for the exam by using the Practice Test – I was getting 100% consecutively and I felt confident.   Yea, once that exam started up that melted away!    Definitely study, study, study! Prepare! 

Summary on Class and Exam!

For the first Industry Certification focused on Cloud with an Exam AND a course; that is a major undertaking to start with, and honestly to tell you the truth I think EMC did a great job of it.   Obviously you may take some of my comments above as extremely critical (Hey, I’m extremely critical!) but it’s because I care.     They’re definitely taking things to new levels, I’m not even sure what other organization in the industry could assault such an undertaking other than Microsoft (And that would be HEAVILY MS biased, Hey I love you but it’s true) and most “independent” third parties, well we all know that their Exam would come out looking like absolute trash and they wouldn’t really have the vehicle or mechanism to go about delivering and driving it successfully.   No definitely considering all of that and what we expect so heavily from ourselves, and our industry, EMC has done an absolute bang up amazing job!   

Hopefully I haven’t scared you away from taking this course and the exam.   If you know your stuff, you better prep, if you are new to the whole game you’re going to learn A LOT OF MATERIAL.   In a way the course will take you through a compressed CCNA/CCDA/VCP/CISSP/EMCISM courseware all compressed into a few days of time and then you need to assimilate that into your head and go take a test!    If anything you should have an honest reflection of what to expect (I highly encourage your feedback if you agree, disagree or WTF on anything I’ve said)   Together we move mountains, so let’s not make mountains out of molehills, that’s how the Cloud works.   Together. :)   Oh and Good Luck, I don’t say this often on exams, but you will NEED it. *love* :)