Thursday, June 12, 2014

VMUG Leadership and me

I have the honor of being a newly inducted VMUG leader!  Now before you start throwing gifts my way, let me tell you what VMUG means.  This is a user group (UG) of VMware folks or people who enjoy using the products that VMware have. From the highest level of Enterprise support down to the free products that they offer to lowly ole me.  But what is VMUG?  Here is a brief description from their website.  http://www.vmug.com/

Officially launched in August of 2010, the VMware User Group (VMUG) is an independent, global, customer-led organization, created to maximize members’ use of VMware and partner solutions through knowledge sharing, training, collaboration, and events. With over 90,000 members worldwide, we are the largest organization for virtualization users.


So, what do I do as a leader? We are responsible for getting information out to the rest of our group.  For the most part that includes all of Arizona.  Part of this responsibility is connecting and networking with those around me who use these products.  My "trial by fire" last year, was speaking in front of a group of about 55 people, no one got up and left during my presentation that I co-presented with another leader.  I've had a chance to meet most of the regulars that come to the meetings, but we don't wear name tags and there's no way people would remember me.  (Actually, I think that day we did)  Part of our quarterly process is lining up speakers and companies to come and speak to our group. There are people out there that do this for a living, so hopefully I can do that for this group.  I suppose I should close with talking about giving back to the community.

It is true, I'm very grateful for this opportunity.  So often I meet people who "play" with VMware or vSphere or ESX or whatever term they use.  The main thing is to help this group grow and to include those that want to learn more to be able to get the information they're looking for and in a timely manner.  More than twice I've had discussions about a lack of help or documentation in a particular field within this realm.  Hopefully, I can assist those people.


Let's do this!