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200 Attendees and 99 Survey respondents’ results have been collected for our panel discussion with Brian Madden! Keep reading to see what we learned…

Updated: Video recording of this session is already online! If you missed it, be sure to watch using this link…

I’ve been attending VMworld for several years now, and have always enjoyed geeking out, learning about cool new technologies, new versions, announcements and features coming from a premier innovator in the industry, VMware. In the last couple years, I’ve even had the honor and privilege to present and participate in panel discussions at the conferences that I love dearly, including VMworld.

Talking with peers and clients about the show this year, it’s obvious that most technical attendees desire less marketing in presentations, and more technical know-how, to help them be successful in their organizations. So much so, that there’s a specific question in the Survey about the overuse of marketing (scale of 1-5): “This session DID NOT include too much commercialization/promotion of company or product”

Several EUC folks I talked to had the same exact comment about a particular “Deep Dive” session that was anything but Deep, and perhaps a Dive (but not in the right way). Time to step up the game and leave the precursory 15+ Marketing 101 overview pages hidden in backup slides of the deck.

One thing we heard loud and clear this week, was that EUC fans are happy to have Brian Madden back in the saddle, doing what he does best, leading a community of followers down the path toward greater technical enlightenment. My co-panelists and I were honored to have him moderate a session on Monday afternoon called #WIN3530PU: EUC Champions Panel: Everything You Were Afraid to Ask About VDI. My favorite part of this discussion was the live Q&A from the audience, hearing from attendees about their challenges and sharing insights about our thoughts on solutions to those challenges. Here are some picture highlights from the panel (click any picture to enlarge):

DlorVCBUYAAKu_-DlobTIcV4AAeM3w Dlob0_WV4AAMBAP Dloehr4VAAATV-_ DlofaXfWsAAiMk6 DloeORIV4AAKGeQ Dlokr7FV4AEXIFK DlorVCBUYAAKu_-

At the bottom of this post, I’ve shared a Google Sheets link for anyone that wants to read the full set of feedback results (don’t worry, there’s nothing confidential in there!). But first, a couple highlights…

Average value? 4.14 (out of 5)

Screenshot 2018-08-29 at 10.02.49 AM

This session DID NOT include too much commercialization/promotion of company or product? 4.48 (out of 5)

Screenshot 2018-08-29 at 10.04.34 AM

Average speaker ratings? All 4.07 or higher (out of 5) for Subject Matter Expertise, Encouraged Engagement, and Presentation Skills. Nice!

Screenshot 2018-08-29 at 10.27.11 AM

Comment highlights:

Give us more sessions with Brian 🙂

Wonderful session, lots of good content for anyone in the VDI/EUC space, provided value to folks new to the space as well as those with considerable knowledge & experience

The panel might not want it, but it could/should be longer. This discussion easily could have been two hours.

Like the open panel discussions over the slide show scripts

I would have liked it to go longer

I think it’s safe to say that the attendees got what they wanted and would like to see more of these style sessions with Brian, I know I would too! Always good to learn from community friends in an interactive and engaging BriForum-like format!  If you’re interested in seeing more of this, please help me and the community spread the word, so Brian can get some budget approved to do more EUC Community events like we had in a very speakeasy style last night.

To everyone who has been engaging with me this week, in person or on social media, thank you! It’s truly been a privilege to attend the show and experience all that VMworld 2018 US has to offer.

Click here to see the Google Sheets results.

Thanks and take care,

Dane Young, MBA
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