Opening Acts 2016
Plans are starting to come together, and we’re tired of sitting on some of this fun information, so here’s our first dump of official details.
As we revealed last week in our Planning Your VMworld 2016 Trip post, Opening Acts is on. We’ve had two good years of success running two panel stages concurrently to provide 3 hours with 6 sessions. One common complaint we’ve received: “Why do you make me choose between all these great panels?!” So, given this request and venue limitations in Las Vegas, we decided to play with the formula a bit this year.
For 2016, we’re going to run 4 panel sessions sequentially: Show up for the entire time and you’ll catch all the panely-goodness. This meant moving Opening Acts forward by an hour to noon, which put us into lunchtime. If there’s one thing we know will get conference-goers riled up, it’s food! As fate would have it, about the time we made this decision another great community group (who we’ve wanted to find a way to work with anyways) approached us about sponsoring lunch during Opening Acts.
Please join me in welcoming vBrisket to the Opening Acts family!!
That’s right! Opening Acts now offers you technical knowledge AND BBQ!
So here’s the schedule for Opening Acts on Sunday, August 28, 2016:
- 10:45am – The doors open
- 11:00am – Panel Session 1
- 12:00pm – Panel Session 2
- 1:00pm – BBQ lunch by vBrisket
- 2:00pm – Panel Session 3
- 3:00pm – Panel Session 4
- 4:00pm – Fin.
The panel sessions are still not defined yet. You still have time (assuming you’re reading this before May 31, 2016) to help us decide on topics (and possibly offer yourself up as a panelist). Just go fill out this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1MtGcD3C4k2vGjvTPthgiyjONWrO1zx5gFrautroj6AA/viewform
Finally, if BBQ is your thing, the vBrisket team has an AWESOME opportunity available to both fill your mouth with meat (yeah, I know…) and help you get to Vegas right on time for Opening Acts. You should definitely check it out, especially if you live in Chicago, Kansas City, or Denver (or any points along that route). See all the details here: http://www.vbrisket.com/vbrisket-bus-tour-to-vmworld-2016/.
Planning your VMworld 2016 trip
If you haven’t noticed, VMware has opened the registration for VMworld 2016 US; they’ve also opened the public session voting for breakout sessions. That means it’s also time to figure out your travel plans if you’re headed to Sin City…
The #vBrownBag and VMunderground teams were given a big challenge when VMware announced the change in venues from San Francisco to Las Vegas for 2016: we had a great, nearby location at the Metreon for our 8th and 9th VMunderground Party, plus two awesome years of increasing attendance and community interest and support for OpeningActs.
So: what to do, what to do…
I hope everyone is as excited as I am that we can officially announce that OpeningActs and VMunderground are GO for 2016. We had to make some adjustments to our previous model of using the same space for both the panel sessions and the party, while still staying in close proximity to the VMworld venue (ie, south end of the strip, near the airport), but we feel pretty happy with what we’ve got planned.
And yes, we’re a community of communities, so some additional shenanigans are in the works with other event teams (more details as we get closer!).
While exact schedules for VMworld are still under wraps—the Schedule Builder won’t go online until mid-July—we can confirm that our activities will occur on Sunday, August 28th. OpeningActs will run in the early afternoon (first panel should start around 11am) and the party will be later in the evening.
As usual, we’re going to be stingy with the final details until we get closer to the end of August, but we wanted to get these critical bits out to the world so that prospective attendees have the opportunity to plan accordingly.
I’m not quite ready to count down the days…
…oh hell. It’s [click here] days away.
Before You Go, 2015 Edition
Here we go: the home stretch before VMworld 2015 US opens in San Francisco, CA— and that means it’s also the kick-off for Opening Acts II and VMunderground. In the short few days before, we thought we’d pass along a few items of note…
Where we’ll be
City View at the Metreon
Top Floor
135 Fourth Street, San Francisco
You can enter from either the Fourth Street or Yerba Buena Park entrances. Take the elevators or escalators up to the top floor.
Opening Acts
We have three sets of two, hour-long sessions running simultaneously and starting at 1pm; doors open at 12:30pm.
You are welcome to move between spaces, but please be mindful of those around you. We’ll be recording and (hopefully) streaming the content, so disturbing those around you will also have…lasting repercussions…
Panel sessions will expect give-and-take from the attendees. Plan to participate.
VMunderground
This is an adults-only party. We will be serving alcohol, and whether you plan to consume or not, it’s the law of the land that attendees have aged 21 years. You will need to provide proof of your age with a government-issued photo ID; driver’s license or passport are acceptable examples.
Wear your name tag! It’s a great way to reconnect with friends old and new.
Doors open at 8pm. Those holding VIP passes will be admitted at 7:30pm, but if we reach capacity after the doors open, your pass won’t guarantee admittance. Fire Marshall’s rules won’t be bent, period.
Final Thoughts
Don’t forget our sponsors! Not only will they be present during the events, but they’ll be around all week at the conference. Let them know how much you enjoyed the events of the day: the more positive feedback they receive, the more likely they’ll be willing to continue supporting us.
See you on Sunday!!!
Opening Acts 2015 — Panelists and Moderators
With just over a week to go, the members of our panel sessions are being finalized; here’s who we’ve got on board…
- Storage (SDS & traditional) (1pm)
- Renée Lawrence, HDS (@reneehlawrence) moderator
Jase McCarty, VMware (@jasemccarty)
Gabriel Chapman, SolidFire (@bacon_is_king)
Stephen Foskett, Tech Field Day (@sfoskett)
Phoummala Schmitt, Blogger & cohost of Current Status podcast (@exchangegoddess)
Matt Cowger, EMC (@mcowger)
Calvin Zito, HP (@calvinzito)
- Infrastructure (1pm)
- Keith Norbie, SolidFire (@keithnorbie) moderator
J Metz, Cisco (@drjmetz)
Leah Schoeb, Intel (@vleahschoeb)
James Bowling, General Datatech (@vsential)
Eric Wright, VMturbo (@discoposse)
Stu Miniman, Wikibon (@stu)
Rick Scherer, EMC (@rick_scherer)
- Networking (SDN & traditional) (2pm)
- Lauren Malhoit, Cisco (@malhoit) moderator
Tom Hollingsworth, Tech Field Day (@networkingnerd)
Lisa Caywood, Brocade (@realLisaC)
Ryan Hughes, Presidio (@angryjesters)
Scott Lowe, VMware (@scott_lowe)
Josh Coen, Sirius (@joshcoen)
- Automation (2pm)
- Tim Jabaut, BB&T (@vmcutlip) moderator
Al Renouf, VMware (@alanrenouf)
Josh Atwell, SolidFire (@josh_atwell)
Luc Dekens, Eurocontrol (@lucd22)
Jon Hildebrand, LightEdge Solutions (@snoopj123)
Smiti Sharma, EMC (@smiti_sharma)
- Careers (3pm)
- Damian Karlson, EMC (@sixfootdad) moderator
John Troyer, TechReckoning (@jtroyer)
Kat Troyer, Jigsaw Staffing Solutions (@dailykat)
Emad Younis, Tintri (@emad_younis)
Lauren Cooney, Cisco (@lcooney)
Keith Neighbors, Neighbors & Associates (@datastoragejobs)
Dom Delfino, VMware (@domdelfino)
- Data Protection (3pm)
- Jim Millard, OneNeck IT Solutions (@millardjk) moderator
Chris Wahl, Rubrik (@chriswahl)
Gina Minks, Spanning (@gminks)
GS Khalsa, VMware (@gurusimran)
Tim Antonowicz, #vDB (@timantz)
Nick Howell, Cohesity (@datacenterdude)
Shannon Snowden, Zerto (@shannonsnowden)
The Bettering of VMunderground
Every year, we try to put together something new to improve the VMunderground experience. In the past, it’s mostly been based around increasing the number of people we can accommodate, which has required ticketing and venue changes over the years. Last year, we feel we found the proper venue to enable us to bring in the right number of people, with room to still grow. To that end, we were able to eliminate the need for tickets this year.
Last year, we worked with the vBrownBag crew to add an educational component to what we provide. Already having a large venue we simply added additional hours to the venue rental and were able to introduce Opening Acts. This proved to be such a huge success that I ended the event realizing that we couldn’t NOT bring Opening Acts back. Fortunately, the level of success didn’t necessitate too much improvement, so you’ll see some minor tweaks, but they’ll be minor.
A common criticism of the traditional conference circuit is the overemphasis on alcohol consumption. While most of the VMunderground crew are perfectly happy to network over a variety of alcoholic beverages, by no means is that a requirement for any of us. I have great conversations all week at VMworld over coffee, soda and even water, so I am by no means pushing off the fun conversations for when the beer flows. To provide better options to those who prefer (or simply cannot) partake in the “adult beverages” we have added a full smoothie bar to the menu at VMunderground.
This year, we also wanted to improve the ability for community events at both VMworld conferences to obtain sponsors, so we gathered with the teams that put on vBrownBag TechTalks, Spousetivities and vRockStar to put together a series of packages to make it easy for vendors to sponsor multiple of these events in one shot. The feedback (and signup rate) have been very positive. I’m proud to announce the following sponsors have chosen to take advantage of these packages and will be the first to take advantage of this opportunity:
We’d like to give special thanks to these companies for truly getting and appreciating our little community. VMworld simply would not be the same without companies like these. Give them (and all our sponsors) a special thank you before VMworld, then stop into their booths during the show to let them scan your badge and give your appreciation in person!
The UNticketing…
After years of intense development, we’d like to announce that we’ve fully automated the WUPaaS. You now have access to an on-demand community networking event in a frictionless manner.
Translation:
From its lowly origins in 2007, the VMunderground party has grown from a handful of like-minded members of the community to one of the largest community events of the week. In the course of our growth, we struggled to find venues that had the right capacity and location for the crush of attendees while staying fiscally responsible to our generous sponsor cadre. Ticketing was used as a means to provide some control, and each year, while trying to be as fair as possible, we still received negative feedback again and again…
We learned in 2014 that we finally found our perfect venue: it was close, it had plenty of room, it was “in budget.”
So in 2015, we’re going to try something old, going back to our roots…
Ticketing will not be required. The doors open to everyone at 8pm. As long as we stay below the Fire Marshall’s limit for the venue—and venue security handles that, not us—you will be admitted; we’re planning on over 1000 people, and we’ll serve food and drink as long as supplies last. When the last beer or cheesecake lollipop is gone, it’s gone…
VIP guests will still require a “backstage pass” to be admitted at 7:30. These passes are available from our sponsors; if you’re not interested in queuing up at 8pm, reach out to them to get special access.
You will still need to prove that you are 21 years old and are part of the VMworld community: Bring government-issue photo ID (e.g., driver’s license or passport) for proof of age. And seriously: it’s a VMworld social event. Wear your badge; it helps put names & faces back together after 1 or more years for many of us.
If you’re from San Francisco or surrounding “local” cities, you must have a VMworld badge so we know you’re not simply crashing the party…
See you on the 30th!!!
Opening Acts is BACK!
Opening Acts is returning for its second year at VMworld US 2015. You can find us at the Metreon’s City View (the same place as last year) starting at 1pm on Sunday afternoon, August 30th.
A collaborative venture produced by your friends at #vBrownBag and VMunderground, Opening Acts will host a total of 6 panels with as many smart, funny, and snarky panelists & moderators as we can convince to come out and argue about technology.
Each panel will last an hour, and will run side by side, two at a time. The community voted for their top 3 panels, and here are the results:
1pm: Infrastructure, hyper-convergence, containers & more vs. Storage of all kinds
2pm: Automation & orchestration vs. Networking of all kinds
3pm: Careers, podcasting, smart people saying funny things vs. Data protection of all kinds
We’re still putting the list of panelists & moderators together, but we promise you’ll get your money’s worth. (Well, since it’s free you’ll get what you get and you won’t throw a fit.)
Stay tuned.
READY FOR #UN
We’re at it again: the #VMunderground and #vBrownBag teams are at it again, preparing for the first, best community-driven events of VMworld!
We have our first sponsor announced and are getting ready to seek your input on the topics for the second year of Opening Acts panel sessions.
Let this serve as your “SAVE THE DATE” notice: OpeningActs and the VMunderground party will be held on Sunday, August 30, 2015. OpeningActs will run from 1pm to 4pm; VMunderground runs from 8pm to 11pm. We’ll be at the same venue as 2014—City View at the Metreon—which is just a stone’s throw from the Moscone conference site.
Keep your eye on this site, as well as the @vmunderground twitter feed for more information…
Getting ready for VMworld 2015 US!!!
That’s right! VMware recently opened registration for VMworld 2015 US in San Francisco, and the VMunderground team is gearing up for another great year.
Based on the success of 2014’s inaugural OpeningActs collaboration with our friends over at #vBrownBag, we’ve started planning that event as well.
There isn’t a whole lot we can share yet, but the most important details—WHEN and WHERE—are known:
OpeningActs, the panel sessions, will run during the early afternoon of Sunday, August 30 at the Metreon City View. Yes, this is the same time and venue as last year!
VMunderground, the independent social event, will run after the Welcome Expo on Sunday, August 30, also at City View.
While some things will be the same as last year, we’re also working to improve; feedback we received from attendees and sponsors will shape those changes, and we’ll be reaching out to everyone—again, like last year—in order to make sure we build panel sessions for OpeningActs that will inform, entertain and delight.
Obligatory “Before You Go” Message, 2014 Edition
Well folks, VMworld 2014 US is upon us. The tweets and –god forfend– private Facebook message groups are awash with anticipation for the week.
There have been a number of questions sent to the VMunderground, #vBrownBag and Opening Acts teams; we’ll try and address them in this post…
Q: Looks like Opening Acts is full. Is there any room?
A: Who knows? We won’t turn anyone away as long as we have room. While we have a huge space (we’re using the same venue for both Opening Acts and VMunderground), a significant portion is will be “off-limits” during Opening Acts to allow for the prep & setup for VMunderground. We set the registration limit at 200 to manage the seating, but the spaces we set aside might hold as much as 2x that number. Additionally, there’s bound to be turnover–a bunch of folks might need to high-tail it over to v0dgeball–so don’t be afraid to come for a 2pm or 3pm session even if we’re packed at 1pm.
Q: I missed round X for tickets to VMunderground. How do I get in?
A: As of this writing, there are still nearly 100 tickets available. Hop on over to vmunderground.eventbrite.com and grab one. Keep in mind: if you have a conference badge, tickets are NOT required for entry! Tickets get you first access to the party when the doors open at 8pm, and are required for anyone without a conference badge (this is a VMworld community event, not a San Francisco community event).
Q: I have a ticket/wristband. Do I need to bring my conference badge?
A: Please do! This is a social event, and conference badges do a good job of helping people connect faces and names. Include your Twitter handle on your badge! Lots of people in the community are known by their Twitter handles rather than their IRL names; if your handle isn’t printed on your badge, find someone with a Sharpie or label maker and add it!
Q: Dude. That’s an insane amount of restrictions. What’s up with that?
A: In past years, limited space has made it…challenging…to keep an even, fair opportunity for everyone in the community to get access to the party. Every restriction listed is based on somebody in the community trying to take advantage of the then-stated-rules to get more that what we–the VMunderground team–consider to be a “fair share” of the tickets. Yes, it sucks to have so many rules, but there are some of those among us who consider themselves…”first among equals.” Let’s just leave it at that.
Q: I’m in like Flynn for the party. I love the sponsors and I already have a wristband (awesome, too, btw. I’m going to wear mine all week!). Do I need to bring anything else to the party?
A: Yes. Please, please, PLEASE bring a photo ID from a legitimate government to prove your age if you want to be served alcohol. California–like most of the US–requires anyone being served alcohol to be aged 21 years or more. By default, you should be that age as a participant in VMworld, but as they don’t check and the legal working age in the US is 16… Just do us and yourself a favor and bring your ID.
Q: I know where the Metreon is, but can’t figure out where City View is. A little help, please?
A: CityView is on the fourth floor of the Metreon. It’ll be easiest to access if you enter the Metreon from the Yerba Buena Gardens entrance, as opposed to 4th street. Take the escalator or elevator to the top, and there you go.
Q: I’ve got my backpack with me; will it be safe, or do I need to keep lugging it around with me?
A: Although you’ll need to keep track of it yourself during Opening Acts, we will be providing a coat check/bag drop during VMunderground. However, we won’t be accepting liability for loss/damage whether using the coat check or not, so please use your judgement if you carry a laptop or other personal electronics. A backpack full of expo swag should be just fine…
Q: I live in the city/rented a car and plan to drive. Where is parking?
A: We have no special arrangements for parking. Most attendees will be from out-of-town, and we explicitly chose a location near Moscone to make it more “walkable” than last year. If you do decide to drive, please have a designated driver. We’re also working with Uber to provide some “getting home safe” discounts, so please consider a cab or other ride before choosing to drive; we’ll have more info on that at the party
#VMunderground 