First of all, I’d like to thank all the persons involved. I never thought that I would be able to organize this event and that we would have it go on smoothly and have so many people joining. We tweeted about the event using the #VMUGCZ hashtag on Twitter. A heartfelt thanks to my VMUG Leader peers (Karel and Tomas), as well as the two other presenters (Tomas Michaeli and Boris Mittelmann). A big huge thank you to our sponsors Veeam and Nutanix who helped make this a reality, as well as the VMUG HQ for their invaluable support (Brandi and Andrea, thanks!).
Impressive attendance for our first event!
It was absolutely amazing to met so many peers in an informal format. We managed to pack 5 presentations into a busy morning schedule.
We started with Tomas Kuba who presented the use case of vRealize Automation in the company he works for and he also delivered us with tips and tricks on what you should pay attention about.
Tomas Kuba speaking about vRealize Automation
Tomas was then followed by yet another Tomas, but this time Tomas Michaeli from VMware, presenting about NSX. Tomas had to replace David Pasek (one of the Czech VCDX) on the last minute as David couldn’t attend for professional reasons, but the presentation was absolutely great. Tomas also gifted us with a demo and NSX overall raised quite a volley of curiosity with many questions from the audience, to which Tomas patiently replied.
Tomas Michaeli on NSX
Right after Tomas came Boris Mittelmann from Veeam, who presented the news of Veeam V9 as well as another demo (many brave presenters today!). A large majority of the audience were also Veeam users therefore there was interest in the novelties presented.
Boris Mittelmann introduced Veeam V9
We had a very fruitful coffee break involving sponsors and attendees, where people mixed up and discussed about many topics.
Discussions during the break
We resumed and went on for the 2nd and last discussion block. Firsthand, Constantin Ivanov from Runecast quickly introduced this Czech startup, their wonderful product and went on to discuss about the vSphere SDK, APIs, PowerCLI and ways of integrating with the vSphere Web Client.
Constantin Ivanov giving a deep-dive on the vSphere SDK
Afterwards, yours truly gave a quick speech about a Nutanix use case I’ve been working on at a global customer, introducing first the technology then discussing about the approach taken. We had the privilege of having Nutanix SE Klaus Peteratzinger with us, with whom it’s always a pleasure to discuss.
Myself in action, presenting Nutanix
To finish in beauty we had a raffle where Nutanix donated a Go-Pro Hero 4, Veeam gifted two external 1 TB hard disks, and we VMUG folks provided the attendees with goodies, stickers, etc… including the famous V-Mug (tea mug, that is).
Boris at the Veeam booth
Klaus at the Nutanix booth
Lucky raffle winner!
The atmosphere was wonderful and friendly, people seemed to have enjoyed the event. We had 3 sessions in English and 2 in Czech. I will look to the questionnaires to see the feedback, meanwhile I’m already thinking about the next edition. Maybe sometime in June? Or in September? In any case, this calls for a follow up and also for a call to papers.
Stay tuned.
And finally, to close this post, a special mention to my wife who’s been supporting me through the preparation (the late nights working, emailing, tuning up the preso instead of helping with the kids). Also for believing this would happen and even for joining us and helping with the logistics. It’s easier to achieve your goal when your partner supports you and believes in you! I don’t like to go sentimental on a blog post but yeah, she’s the love of my life and she has a big heart. Thanks to her.
My wife Mariya, our VMUG Support member!