Tag Archives: nerdherd

Come see me at EMC World!

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5729684319_8614b56cd3_bOk, for starters, this is not a desperate cry for attention.  This is a information page for my schedule at EMC World.  I’m going to be all over the place at the show, and I’d love to meet readers of my blog.  So where will I be?  Well to start things off Sunday night, you’ll be able to find me at the Pool party and the Venetian resort.  If you don’t see me by the pool, I may have wondered into the Tao Day club area like last year.

 

During the day, you’ll find me all over the show floor.  I expect to spend a good amount of time hanging out in the bloggers lounge and meeting fellow bloggers.  If I’m not there I’m probably hanging out at the EMC Online booth, walking the show floor, or taking in a break out session or BUZZ Talk.

 

Speaking of Buzz sessions, I’ll be participating in one live on stage on Wednesday Morning @ 10:30 AM PST.  For those of you attending the show, please join me and my fellow support forum legends in the BUZZ area near the entrance to the show.  For those of you playing the home game, do not worry.  A live video  will be available as well as an interactive chat so you can ask us questions.  To add this event to your calendar, click here!

 

If after all this you still can’t find me, try sending me a tweet.  I’ll do my best to keep my phone up and running, but cellular data is spotty at best, so there may be a delay.  I look forward to seeing everyone at the show!

EMC World 2011 #nerdherd: Lights, Camera, Action!

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So EMC World 2011 has come and gone.  Now is the time that we can look back and remember.  For those of you who were unable to make it live (or watch the webcast), a video of our #nerdherd has been posted on the EMC Community Network website.  I want to thank Alan Zenreich for filming and posting the video.  If you are one of the many people who prefer a more static image, EMC’s own David Elmes did most of the photography (including the photos of our meetup you see below).  To see the rest of his work and other’s, check out the EMC World 2011 flickr stream.  Once again, thanks to everyone that made this happen and enjoy the pictures and video.

EMC World 2011: Day 3 and Final Thoughts

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First off, my apologies for not having this final EMC World post out sooner. Traveling and lack of sleep has pretty much kept me away from writing until now. Day 3 was the last full day of EMC World and it was just as packed as before.

Today was EMC Proven day at EMC World. Attendees that had received a proven certification were given an orange shirt and asked to wear it to show their support. After hearing news that Matt took 3 different exams yesterday, I decided it would be a good idea to take one as well. Being that it has been over a year since I started in NAS support, I should have retained enough knowledge to pass the NAS Specialist exam. Apparently I wasn’t the only one to have this idea because the line to register was out the door and it took over a half hour to get signed up for my exam. This also meant that all the timeslots were taken and it was standby only. The people at the proven center were well aware of this surge to pass exams, so a second testing room was opened up and my wait time was only a few minutes. This whole experience was well worth it as I passed my NAS Specialist exam.

We also had our #nerdherd today and it was a great experience. While several people joined us on camera, even more joined to watch, or participated via twitter and the live chat. All sorts of topics were discussed like the keynotes at EMC World, the vLabs, the VNXe, local #nerdherd meetings, and many other things. One of the comments that were brought up was the notion that “EMC eats its own dog food”. Taken out of context, this sounds like it has a negative connotation, but it really doesn’t. What was meant by this statement was that we use internally the same thing we are trying to sell to customers. We have a very large VDI deployment that works very well.

The day closed out with the final keynote, Chad’s World Live. Hopefully most of you already know the Chad’s World videos, but if you don’t, you should check them out. The venue was full of beer and laughs and it was a great time. The tech demos on stage were great.  They powered on 100 Wyse thin clients only to reveal that it was powered by the new Iomega PX6 (I want one of these). My only concern with this was the time. The performance was right after the sessions and show floor ended, so people were being pumped full of beer on an empty stomach. This did cause a lot of noise to be coming from the back of the room.

Las Vegas is a great place for a conference. Everything is within walking distance and there are plenty of things to do when you’re not on the show floor. You can take in an after party, a club, some great food, or a performance. When you are ready to unwind, the view can be incredible. I had an incredible time at EMC World. Len Devanna made a great place for a blogger like myself to get work done while at the show.  Thanks to everyone who made this an event to remember and I can’t wait to go to EMC World next year.

EMC World 2011: Day 2

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So another day has wrapped up here at EMC World. Once again there are more keynotes, breakout sessions, and vendor booths to explore. The vLabs were in full swing and just about all of the kinks had been worked out. These are a great way to experience the products if you can’t make it to the break out sessions. If you attended multiple vLab sessions, you were able to win a special bobble head Chad and possibly get the real Chad to sign it.

The show floor was packed even more than yesterday. Vendors had all sorts of innovative products. One of my favorite products from the show floor was the battle ready VNXe.  We were told that this could withstand a bullet, but they wouldn’t let me live test it, so I’ll just have to take their word for it.

The bloggers lounge and Social City was also packed with great people. I had a nice talk with Chuck Hollis while he was working on a few blog posts. Chad dropped by the social city meet-up area to do a live webcast before rushing off to another customer meeting. If you haven’t seen all that’s going on at social city, you really need to check it out (and possibly win a pass to next year’s show). Don’t forget, tomorrow we are having the #nerdherd, so I expect you all to stop by social city on your way to lunch.

 

 

We’re having a #nerdherd at #emcworld, and you’re invited! [UPDATED]

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So it’s official, Matt Brender, Luigi Danakos, and I will be hosting a #nerdherd as part of Social City on Wednesday, May 11th from 11:45 AM to 12:30 PM. We invite you to gather with your fellow technological enthusiasts and join us in an information discussion around Unified Storage, Social Media Crowdsourcing, and EMC Certifications. Use this time to meet other individuals who are striving in the world of Big Data. I’ll see all of you there!

UPDATE: So what if you can’t be there?  We’ve got you covered.  Social City will be live streaming the meetup (and many others) on the ECN website along with a live Q&A so you can share in the discussion.

Click the calendar icon to add our event to your personal calendar!

For more information on all the events that Social City has to offer, please see the following link: https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-10447

What’s a #nerdherd?

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Warning:  If you were looking for a post that has anything to do with the TV show “Chuck”, you are pleasantly mistaken.  Regardless of this warning, please keep reading.

So if you follow me or many of my friends on twitter, you may see the hashtag #nerdherd being used.  I have been asked by some people just what is this “#nerdherd” that we tweet of? In short, it is a group of technology enthusiasts that come together (usually arranged via twitter) to talk shop and consume a food or beverage.  To give you a more in depth answer, I need to take you back about 6 – 10 months.

The original #nerdherd started with David Graham, Matt Brender, Luigi Danakos, and I.  We 4 former and current EMC employees would meet once or twice a week at the local Dunkin Donuts near the company headquarters since it was close to where we worked and lived.  It didn’t matter that we came from support, install base, or engineering, we always had something to talk about.  Our discussions were fueled by our passion for technology and our willingness to learn, and we would never turn down an opportunity to include another person in the group.

Over the months I have been blessed to be a part of many great tweetups and nerdherds.  They may not include all of the original people, but it’s still a great time.  Just tonight I had a nerdherd with Matt Brender, Scott Lowe, and Ben Dunning, and as luck would have it, I will be attending one of the biggest nerdherds of them all in Las Vegas next month (more on this to come).  So I encourage you to go out there and form your own groups and be passionate about technology.  If your ever in the area, drop me a line on twitter and we’ll get something together.