All our hard work seems to have paid off.  Based on the conversations and survey results we’ve received I think everything went very well. 

Labs

The labs were a huge success and for the most part went off without a hitch.  There were some issues with the SRM labs that lead me to believe that SRM doesn’t much like having many different people connected to it at one time.  Generally this won’t be a problem as SRM will be managed by a few people who will be doing very little outside of setup and actual tests/failovers.

Architecting Sessions

The architecting sessions were probably the most challenging sessions.  The Architecting vSphere session was very heavily attended, which led to some noise issues from side conversations, and spread people out far enough that it was difficult for them to hear.  Capping the attendance for these sessions would definitely pay off in the future.

Due to a major snowstorm in Denver, the VMware security specialist was unable to attend.  This left a major gap in the session I was promoting the heaviest.  I deeply apologize to those who came out specifically for that session.  We made do with who we had on hand, and I hope they were able to provide something valuable.  I’m happy to report that we are already actively working on scheduling him to come out for a future VMUG meeting.

The Architecting View session was surprisingly the least attended of the three architecting sessions.  Based on what I’ve heard, it sounds like there were a lot of people who were simply interested in learning about View.

A general piece of feedback we received was that these sessions should have been more structured and maybe a bit more specific with the topics.  I have discussed a few ideas with the VMUG leaders on how to continue this format in different ways, so keep an eye open for more information.

Presentations

The presentations seemed to be well attended, though I admit to not having spent any time listening to them due to supporting the labs and architecting sessions.  Survey results varied, but I attribute these variations to potentially different expectations and skill levels.  Hopefully everyone found the content somewhat useful and relevant.

Data Center Tours

I’m happy to report that the data center tours went over well and were way more popular than I expected.  I think CoSentry gained a lot from this offering as it seems that many people in attendance did not know about CoSentry before the meeting.

Food, facilities, etc.

I felt the food was excellent and well presented.  Better availability of drinks would be my only request.  Other than that, I didn’t hear any complaints.

The facility, I thought, was perfect.  The open space didn’t provide the ideal acoustics, but I think that was more than balanced out by the feeling of being in a nice open area (no claustrophobia).  Registration was a bit long, but was a necessary evil.  I’m glad people showed up plenty early to sign in.

Overall, I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and found something worthwhile.  Based on the survey results we received (about 1/3 of attendees) everyone did find the event worthwhile and particularly enjoyed the labs and the networking aspect.  This is encouraging, since the labs took the most effort to develop and networking is one of the primary goals of the VMUG.

If you have any specific feedback, please feel free to post it on the Omaha-Area VMUG Forum or send it to me directly here.

Thank you all for coming out!