VMworld 2010 - What's New

Posted on 4 mins read

VMworld 2010 registration is now open.

A few facts and new introductions to this year’s conference

Follow the Experts - New in 2010

This year, VMworld is connecting you directly with subject-matter authorities with our Knowledge Experts Program. These highly respected members of the VMware community - made up of industry-leading customers, bloggers and VMware employees - will be conducting and participating in Breakout sessions and Birds of a Feather discussion groups. Plus, they’ll also be available for one-on-one meetings and more casual discussions as they circulate throughout the conference.

One-on-One Meetings

You can schedule one-on-one meetings with up to 3 Knowledge Experts during the conference. Use these 15-minute sessions to delve into topics that relate specifically to your organization.

Birds of a Feather Discussion Groups

In addition to traditional Breakout Sessions, we’re introducing Birds of a Feather Discussion Groups led by one of the Knowledge Experts. These informative and interactive discussion groups are a great opportunity for you to gain insight from like-minded colleagues in similar industries. Attendance is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Self-Paced Labs - More Options

In 2010, all VMworld Labs will be held in a self-paced environment - allowing us to maximize the number of labs offered and giving you more opportunities to explore how virtualization can make a powerful impact on your organization. Unlike traditional instructor-led labs, self-paced labs create a more interactive and educational environment - one that lets you see, first hand, how the latest in VMware software can help you energize your business.
VMworld will stage more than 18,000 lab seats and conduct up to 400 simultaneous lab sessions during the 4-day event. Plus, we have committed 200,000+ man-hours in lab creation and development to produce over 20 self-paced lab topics - covering everything from SRM to DRS. With over 100 VMware Specialists on hand to answer questions and explore options, you’ll get one-on-one attention when you need it - and still have the flexibility to move at your own pace. Forget pre-registration. With over 40 hours of available lab time throughout the conference, you’re free to experience the latest in VMware offerings when it best fits your schedule.

Breakout Sessions - More Freedom. Less Formality.

This year, we’ve eliminated the need to pre-register for sessions - giving you more freedom and greater control over your conference experience. Forget trying to plan your daily agenda around events you picked weeks ago -use Schedule Builder to view a complete listing of available sessions and then just show up to sessions that work best for you when you’re at the conference. Plus, we’ll be repeating most sessions at least once, so you have ample opportunity to attend your top choices.

Now a few things here caught my eye.

  1. The huge amount of Labs and hours invested in this event is absolutely amazing!!
  2. The Breakout sessions. From what I remember there was a lot of noise from the public because VMware bounced several people out of sessions. Now here we see that VMware have decided that there will be no need to register for sessions in advance just walk in to what you want. Forgive me if this sounds naive - but do you not think that even if you repeat most of the sessions at least once - that you will have certain sessions that will be completely packed - to the brim - and then some..
  3. It would be interesting to hear who the Experts are that will be available for these sessions.
  4. The one-on-one sessions - is a great idea! I actually attended a similar idea in a TechNet conference with some of the Windows Server and Hyper-V Team - it was a great opportunity to get to actually speak to the Product team and people that are the leading experts on certain products. Kudos for the initiative.

So what do you all think about the changes? The discussion has already begun.