Vmug

As many of you know, VMUG is very important to me. So much so, that I immediately stepped up to become a leader when the previous Belgian leader stepped down. Ever since then, I’ve been very active in the community, hosting several succesful UserCons, vBeers, smaller meetings and presenting at VMUG events online and abroad. UserCons Many of you know the big UserCon events and for a lot of people, the UserCon is their sole interaction with VMUG. They’ve been a massive part of the VMUG community all across the globe ever since their first introduction. When I attended my first UserCon, back in 2016, I felt like a kid in the candy store! So many great sessions, inspiring people and just awesome tech and conversations! I knew righ then and there that I wanted to be an active part of this community. Fast forward to 2019, I presented my first talk at the Belgian UserCon. The thought of presenting in front of a crowd made me incredibly nervous, I was afraid people were going to call me out or ask hard questions on purpose, but nothing could be further from the truth! Kristof, who I didn’t know all that well back then, happened to ask the first question and that made me more at ease. ...

WHAT. A. WEEK! I can’t put it any other way. This past week, I was in St. Louis to attend the VMUG Leader Summit and the inaugural VMUG Connect together with my co-VMUG leader, Kristof Asaert. VMUG Leader Summit When the submission form for the leader summit opened late last year, I jumped on it immediately. Kristof had attended the previous one in Lissbon and has been consistently saying how great it was. Naturally, I wanted to experience that first hand. He wasn’t lying… ...

VMware Explore 2024 Las Vegas is in full swing and what a ride it’s been already! I love attending VMware Explore, it’s my favorite event of the year. Having the opportunity to talk to so many amazing people and getting to know them better has been really rewarding. As much as I love attending sessions, there has always been an itch. An itch to get up there myself and share something I’ve done with the rest of the community. ...

As many of you already know, last year Erik Schils decided to step down as a VMUG leader after 15 years. When I saw the announcement, I immediately thought to myself that I don’t want to see this community disappear. I started talking to other folks in the community and quickly we had a bunch of enthusiastic people ready to step up and keep on building this community. I won’t be flying solo, my good friends Jens Herremans (blog - twitter) and Kristof Asaert (blog - twitter will be joining me as VMUG leaders. And we also have Stijn Depril (LinkedIn), Maarten Caus (blog - twitter) and Harold Preyers (blog - twitter) joining in a supporting role. ...

Next week, the 14th of June, it’s time for one of my favorite times of the year, the yearly VMUGBE is upon us! It’s an amazing day filled with great sessions, good conversations, all set in a lovely venue. The Belgian VMUG was the first VMUG I ever attended, 4 years ago already. It’s where I met a lot of people I know in the community and, on a personal level, where I learned to just go up to random people and start talking to them. Something I’m still not very good at but there’s plenty of VMUGs to come! ...