vBrownBag at Chicago VMUG conference

Yesterday was the Chicago VMUG conference and vBrownBag were there in force. Nick Marshall delivered the morning keynote, all about career progression and a session on VSOM. GS Khalsa delivered an SRM presentation ad then one on VDP 5.8. These guys are both VMware employees so were here as part of the VMware contribution to VMUG.

Josh Atwell and I were there as vBrownBag at the invitation of the Chicago VMUG committee. Our mission was to get the local members involved in creating content and having a voice. Over the day Josh and I captured 40 user voice videos, short videos of real VMUG users talking about issues they have faced in their environments. I’ve always said that everyone attending a VMUG has a story that others can learn from and this was a great demonstration. One particular user was reluctant to do a video as he had no story. After a little chat we found that he has a very interesting ongoing story about backup applications snapshots that corrupt VMs. You can see all of the videos in this YouTube playlist.

In addition to the user voice videos we recorded a few longer TechTalk videos, these are in this playlist. Hopefully the painless user voice process will inspire a few more people to present TechTalks at VMUG.

For me the biggest highlight of VMUG conferences is meeting so many people. Friends from other shows like Shannon Snowden and Scott Lowe. People who have used vBrownbag podcasts to help them get certifications. People who have used AutoLab to help them get certifications. People who have never heard of vBrownBag or AutoLab and immediately want both when they do hear. VMUG should be all about the people, so if you go to VMUG make sure you talk to them, they are all around.

Next week I will be in Los Angeles for the SoCal VMUG user conference making more vBrownBag video before heading home, stop by and say hi.