Sydney vForum 2016

For those of us not lucky enough to attend VMworld (yep, me).  The smaller vForum has to be the next best thing, particular for those of us in the ANZ region of the world.  vForum is seen as almost a mini VMworld in OZ spread out over two days and getting somewhere around 3 to 4 thousand people throughout the event.  I must have been scanned about a 100 times walking into the main pavilion so hopefully that gets taken into account 🙂  Having barely recovered from an intense three days at PAX AUS the weekend before.  I was still psyched and ready to go.

Day 0 – VMDownUnderGround (Tuesday)

My Tuesday before vForum started with a Work From Home half day.  I was able to put in a solid morning of work before heading to Melbourne Airport.  One of the benefits of where I live is the short 15-minute drive to the airport.  Boarding my flight, I literally bumped into Chew from VMware while trying to fight my way to my seat (Sorry again Chew).

We landed in Sydney at 3:30 PM, disembarked, and I followed the signs to the domestic terminal train station.  I purchased an Opal card and boarded a train that took me to Central Station.  This was my first Sydney Airport to City train trip and I must say I was really impressed with what Sydney have done. I can’t believe Melbourne haven’t done the same yet!

I checked in at the Cambridge Hotel which was a short walk from Central.  I took a few minutes to rest the feet then made my way into the city.  I still had a few hours before VMDownUnderGround at 6 PM, so I took a little stroll up to Circular Quay.

VMDownUnderGround, organised by Sydney VMUG and sponsored by Veeam, was held at King Street Brewhouse.  A microbrew pub overlooking Darling Harbour.  The turnout was a little smaller than I expected but still a great turnout of people, from Queensland to Tassie to New Zealand.  I had the opportunity to meet a number of VMware staff from the Sydney office.  Finally met in person some Brisbane and Sydney VMUG guys.  There was Brett and Alistair representing vBrownBag plus many more.  I could have chatted all night with everyone but us final few called it a night around 10:30 PM in preparation for vForum the next day.

Day 1 – vForum Techday (Wednesday)

My day began with a call from the boss!  He had taken the train to central station and swung past my hotel so we could walk down together to The Royal Hall of Industries @ Moore Park.  On entry, I instantly regretted bring my backpack as VMware provided one to All Access Pass guests.  Being the Techday I spent much of the day focusing on going to sessions.  NSX, DevOps, Containers, just to name a few.  While there were many people I wanted to catch-up with, I decided to leave that till Thursday’s General Access day.  Between sessions I ran into a few fellow Optus co-workers where we decided to focus our efforts together on visiting vendors and of course collecting awesome swag.  Moving between vendor stalls I found myself constantly bumping into people I knew.

That evening I caught up with a few more fellow work colleagues for dinner.  I particularly wanted to catch up with a recently departed team mate.  We made our way into the CBD and found a nice little Thai restaurant just off George Street, where I succumbed to peer pressure and ordered way toooo spicy food.

Day 2 – vForum General Access (Thursday)

Once again my day started with meeting up with my boss outside my hotel and walking down to Moore Park.  This time even before walking into the hall I ran into many more Sydney co-workers.  Many whom I was meeting in person for the first time.

I only had two sessions that I really wanted to attend on Thursday.  The Keynote at 10 AM with Pat Gelsinger and the Technical Keynote at 1:30 PM with Kit Colbert.  Outside those two keynote sessions I spent the day visiting the remaining vendors I had not spoken to yet and catching up with fellow colleagues and friends.   As well as heading over and saying hello to the vBrownBag and the VMUG guys.

A fellow team mate introduced me to former work colleague and friend Frank Yoo now working at Rubrik.  While at the Rubrik stand, I entered their raffle draw.  Now if you know me, you know that I’m one of the unluckiest people when it comes to competitions.  So it was a complete surprise punch in the face, when I won the coffee maker prize.  Thanks heaps, Frank and Rubrik.  The Rubrik branding on the actually coffee maker was a nice touch!

The day ended with the vForum After Party featuring the band Rouge Traders.  I’ve been a huge fan of them for years so I was pretty excited to have them here playing.  The band played in the main pavilion where the keynotes were held.  But before we were allowed in they herded us into the small foyer for 45 minute or so.  Presumably they needed more time to setup either the band or the food and drinks in the pavilion.  So while it was a little uncomfortably cramped to begin with, once the doors opened and we got inside all was forgiven.

Before calling it a night and making the solo trip back to my hotel I had one last catch-up with Ryan McBride from the Sydney VMUG crew.  Ryan’s an awesomely funny guy who I’m looking forward to catching up with next week back in Melbourne.

Day 3 – The Day after vForum Summary

While many people flew out and went back to work for Friday.  I decided to mix it up a little and spend a day in Sydney.  I couldn’t come to Sydney and not spend at least a day doing all the touristy things.

I had an awesome time during vForum.  VMware have as always put on an excellent event.  VMDownUnderGround was also a great opener to vForum.  While I would have preferred more deep-dive sessions.  I did manage to take away a little from each session I went to which I see as a success.  And yes, I’m constantly told not to focus on sessions but rather use the time building networking connections.  But I felt that there was room to achieve both during vForum which I think I achieved.