VMworld Day 0 Wrap Up

I have no idea if this is going to actually work or not but I'm going to attempt a post everyday of VMworld.  Considering my schedule most days starts at 8:00am and lasts until well past midnight, I have my doubts...

I was lucky enough to catch an early flight out Saturday morning.  How lucky was I?  This picture of the board at Raleigh/Durham Airport will give you a clue.  I just happened to be flying Delta and connecting through Atlanta.  That's pretty much the only reason I made it.  Before I go any further, my thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by Hurricane Irene.  There's WAY more too life than VMworld!!

After arrival, I checked into the Venetian (what an incredible place!) and headed over to the VCE booth to check out the progress.  If you ever wanted to see the behind the scenes of the expo floor being built, here ya go:

Lastly, right next to the Expo Floor is the VMworld "Hang Space".  I can say I have seen anything like this.  It is amazing how elaborate it is!  It is part indoor park and playground (basketball courts!) along with the "Big Board" on the back wall and all the social areas and recording studios around the edges.  Simply amazing:

Sunday brought more booth work and then John Troyer's excellent vExpert session.  John spoke a bit about the success of the program of the years, the expectations of a vExpert, and the future of the program.  In addition, we were treated to some great information about both current and future products.  I had to duck out early to get set up for v0dgeball.  Here's a few pics of the vExpert session:

As I was leaving for v0dgeball, the registration line had started to form.  While we know many who weren't able to make it out due to Hurricane Irene, the line was still a couple hundred deep before registration even opened:

After that it was time for the highlight of Sunday, v0dgeball!  The event was a great success and we raised over $12,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project!  I ended up having to leave my team to serve as a referee for the night (buy me a beer sometime and ask me what I thought of that!) but it really was just crazy fun!  Here's some pics:

It was an amazing first day and VMworld hasn't even begun!  It's going to be a great week!