WHAT: The Opening Acts is a series of panel sessions on the Sunday before VMworld US.

WHY: We feel that subject matter experts having open discussions about technology and community provides a great learning opportunity, and an opportunity for professional networking.

WHERE: Tabletop Tap House
175 4th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

WHO: VMworld attendees such as yourself!

WHEN: August 25th, 2019, Time 1pm PDT

HOW: In person or (hopefully) live streamed on YouTube

REGISTER: https://vsquaredb.ticketleap.com/opening-acts-2019/

As always, we strive to find just the right combination of snark, wit, and smarts in each and every one of our panelists and moderators. The only missing ingredient is your winning personality and friendly smile.

1pm: Where are our careers going?
Future IT trends from the perspective of industry technology leaders and the end users who will need to adapt. What technologies should we be prepared for? What skills and attributes will successful teams have? How do we properly use our time to get ahead of IT trends that will impact our business and career?

• Moderator: Tim Antonowitz @timantz
• Panelists
  • Tracee Edgmon
  • Stu Miniman @stu
  • John White @johna_white
  • Steve Kaplan @stvkpln
  • Mandy Botsko-Wilson @virtualMBW
  • Scott Lowe @scott_lowe

2pm: Should I stay or should I go?
Career choices: moving between customer/partner/vendor, staying for a long term career vs others who jump frequently, optimizing work-life balance, dealing with people for good or bad.

• Moderator: Gina Rosenthal @gminks
• Panelists
  • Lindy Collier @indylindy22
  • Cody Bunch @cody_bunch
  • Emad Younis @emad_younis
  • Theresa Miller @24x7itconnect
  • Phil Sellers @pbsellers
  • Jim Jones

3pm: Financial matters in IT careers
Open and transparent discussion of compensation plans: Basics of salary, financial incentives (options), negotiating salary, stock terminology, (limited to “this is how I approached it”), retirement savings, general money smarts.

• Moderator: Mike Letschin @mletschin
• Panelists
  • Jeramiah Dooley @jdooley_clt
  • Jeff Polczynski
  • Ron Singler @rsingler_
  • Jody Tyrus @jtyrus
  • John Marrone @jjmarrone
  • Josh Atwell @josh_atwell
  • Josh de Jong @eurobrew