I’m back from VMware’s internal Worldwide Sales Kickoff in Las Vegas! My first Kickoff and it was everything everyone told me it would be. What is Kickoff? It’s VMware’s internal networking conference for VMware staff that are in some way involved in the sales process. It’s to equip them with the tools and knowledge to deliver real solutions to real world business problems (can you tell it’s working??).

The biggest highlight for me was hearing our CEO Pat Gelsinger during his keynote. Incredibly knowledgeable, humble, and genuine. I don’t know what I was expecting but I was blown away.

We had a special guest speaker: Bill McDermott. Talk about charisma! It was incredible hearing him speak and tell his story of the deli he used to own as a teenager, and chasing his first corporate job at Xerox. Very inspiring and I can see why VMware brought him in to share his story. I’m reading his biography at the moment and I’m having difficulty putting it down.

The breakout sessions were great opportunities to network with like-minded VMware colleagues and it was great to be able to go up and speak to Product Managers for some of my favourite products (specifically the vROPs and vCloud Director Product Managers/staff).

The whole week was a great experience and I can’t wait for next year’s!