Vmug

Many of you read my previous post about leaders being removed from VMUG for working for vendors that compete with VMware. My call to action was to get a response from VMUG about what was actually happening. I recently received a phone call from VMUG CEO Brad Tompkins to discuss what was actually happening and I’d like to pass on some information to clear the air. VMUG Leader Status To get started, yes some leaders were removed from leadership roles in their respective VMUG. And yes, some people will not be allowed to become a VMUG leader based on which company is their employer. What I would like to make clear is that this decision was not made to single out Nutanix. Most of the comments that I saw on twitter were focused on Nutanix employees who had been removed from their local VMUGs. While it’s true that Nutanix is one of these companies, they are not the only one so I want to make it clear that this was not directed solely at Nutanix. This was a decision focused on companies that compete directly with VMware’s products and comes down to a decision about business and competition. ...

VMware Users Group (VMUG) has been an important part of my career and an institution that has been close to my heart for many years. I’ve written about my experiences before and served as a leader for several years here in Chicago. Thats why there was some concern when I saw this tweet from Anton Zhbankov last week. Now, at first this didn’t surprise me too much because there has been a rule that each VMUG chapter is supposed to comprise of more customers than partners as leaders. So, naturally I assumed that this was just fixing an imbalanced VMUG chapter. But as I asked more questions found out that it really was because Anton worked for Nutanix and working at this specific company excludes you from being a VMUG leader. Fellow blogger Matt Crape also wrote a post about this on his site. So now this tweet that had me concerned, has just simply made me sad. ...

The Chicago chapter of VMware Users Group had it’s annual conference at the Rosemont Convention Center on Thursday of last week and it was again a success thanks in no small part to the VMUG corporate team. Over six hundred people walked through the doors to experience sponsored sessions, community sessions, keynotes from Kit Colbert and Phoummala Schmidt, as well as plenty of other fun things. This was the fourth official Chicago VMUG Conference that I’ve attended as a member of the leadership team. This was also my final event as a leader. Typically I use this blog as a place to post technical information but in this case I felt that it is important to reflect on the importance of what this group meant to me. ...

Join me on July 20th in Indianapolis Indiana for a day of fun and learning at the annual Indianapolis VMware Users Group Conference! For those of you not familiar with VMUG, its an independent customer-led organization created to maximize members’ use of VMware and partner solutions through knowledge sharing, training, collaboration and events. VMUG is the largest organization worldwide focused on virtualization users. Don’t worry if you just want the day off from work, that’s just one of the benefits, but BE SURE TO REGISTER FOR FREE HERE: https://www.vmug.com/p/cm/ld/fid=13570 ...

I was recently approached to present the Keynote session for a few VMUG conferences and wanted to provide a perspective about the experience. Public Speaking is clearly not one of my top 10 things I’d like to spend my time doing. Being a Systems Engineer, I don’t mind explaining things to a small group of people, but for the most part am a pretty quiet and reserved person who would prefer to stay in the shadows. Don’t get me wrong, if asked to weigh in, I have had no problem providing feedback or participate in a conversation, especially if it’s something I’m knowledgeable about, but for the most part, I’m pretty shy. ...

I signed up for the VMware Users Group last year at VMworld. I don’t remember, why I decided to do it but I assume that it had something to do with a free T-shirt. Since then, I’ve been to several meetings, all at my local Chicago VMUG chapter www.chicagovmug.com . At first I was pretty skeptical, but it turns out it’s been one of the best things I’ve done for my career. ...