VeeamON is a new availability conference arranged by Veeam. This year it is in Las Vegas (USA) from October 6-8. There are however also events on both October 5th and 9th.
To make sure you do not miss anything here is a breakdown of what is happening when:
| Sunday, October 5th | Registration opens Veeam Partner reception |
| Monday, October 6th First Conference Day |
Registration is open all day Pre-Conference Partner Day Veeam User Group Meetings Expo Lounge Open |
| Tuesday, October 7th Second Conference Day Please note: First day of VMCE training! |
Registration is open all day General sessions Keynotes Breakout sessions VMCE Training Happy hour – Expo lounge VeeamON 2014 Party |
| Wednesday, October 8th Third (and last) Conference Day Please note: Second day of VMCE training! |
Breakout sessionsKeynoteVMCE Training |
| Thursday, October 9th Conference is closed Please note: Third (last) day of VMCE training! |
VMCE Training |
Now that you have a quick overview of each days content let us dig, further into the topics:
| Veeam Partner Reception | Obviously, this only makes sense to attend if you are a Veeam ProPartner.Personally, I will attend this since I work for a Veeam Value-Added Distributor and look forward to talking to Veeam partners. |
| Pre-Conference Partner Day | As of 2014-07-23, contents of this day is not yet fully available. Once this goes public, I will update this post. This is what I have been able to find so far from this link (this also includes detailed session abstracts).
I have marked the session I have deemed MUST attend for myself in bold. |
| Veeam User Group Meetings | I am a big fan of users groups! I would heavily suggest you attend not this during the conference but also afterwards. You can always find an up to date schedule on when the next meetings will take place here. A typical Veeam User Group meeting will cover subjects such as:
|
| Keynotes | As of 2014-07-23, keynote information has not been made public yet. Once this goes public, I will update this post. |
| Sessions (Business) | Please note this information was up to date as of 2014-07-23. However, Session names and topics may change.
Since it looks like I will be helping Veeam as a co-teacher for the VMCE training session, it seems I will unfortunately not be able to attend any of these sessions. I have however marked the sessions in bold that I would have deemed MUST attend if I could have attended. |
| Sessions (Technical) | Please note this information was up to date as of 2014-07-23. However, Session names and topics may change.
Since it looks like I will be helping Veeam as a co-teacher for the VMCE training session, it seems I will unfortunately not be able to attend any of these sessions. I have however marked the sessions in bold that I would have deemed MUST attend if I could have attended. |
| VMCE Training |
What is this VMCE Training you might ask?VMCE stands for Veeam Certified Engineer and is the first Veeam Certification available.The requirements, here in Europe where I reside, are attending a 3-day instructor led training and then passing an exam in a Pearson Vue test center.Let’s take a deeper look at some VMCE facts:As already mentioned the course is 3 days long. It contains an approximate mix of 50/50 between lecture and practical labs.During the course you will cover the following modules:Day one 01 Introduction 02 Overview of Veeam Products 03 Veeam ONE Features and Functionality 04 Deployment 05 Initial Configuration 06 ProtectDay two 07 Verification 08 Disaster Recovery 09 Restore Objects Day three
The normal price for attending the VMCE training is approximately $3000. By attending the VeeamON conference you are getting the conference pass for $599 USD AND VMCE training for the bargain price of only $650! (total of $1249 USD) After the training, I would suggest you study the textbook and practice labs book closely. Anything on the exam will be from these two books. The exam asks you 50 questions in the above mentioned 12 modules (I would not expect questions from module 01 or 12 though). You will have 60 minutes to pass the exam if you are a native English speaker. If you are not a native English speaker, you will have an additional 30 minutes. A few people have asked me if the exam is available in other languages than English and the answer is no. Veeam currently has no plans of translating it to any other languages. |
OK! Reviewing information so far, you know there is no way you can skip attending this event J
So what is this going to cost you?
| Conference pass | In my opinion you only have one option J This is the Conference pass, which includes VMCE training: $599 + $650 USD (total $1249 USD).However maybe you already attended the VMCE training JThere is also the second option of purchasing the Conference pass without VMCE training: $599 USD.Just in case, you did not notice: You are only paying an additional $650 USD to attend the VMCE training – remember the regular/normal price for VMCE training is $3000 USD! |
| Travel to conference location | Difficult to estimate.For me for example I will be flying from Denmark, Europe.The price for my plane ticket is ~$1200 USD with Lufthansa/United.If you are living in the US already I am sure this will be much cheaper. |
| Hotel | Veeam has arranged a special deal to stay at The Cosmopolitan hotel where the conference is also hosted.You can book your room at the special rate here.For me this deal was $209 per night (plus 12% hotel room tax) in a Terrace Studio room.Afraid to book the hotel now because something could get in the way?No issue! The Cosmopolitan offers a full refund if you cancel the room at least 72 hours prior to your arrival date. |
| Food / Meals | Your conference ticket includes meals at the event.Sunday: Reception followed by regional dinners (Partners only) Monday: Breakfast, lunch, full dinner & drinks at the reception (Partners only) Tuesday: Breakfast, lunch, cocktail hour, VeeamON Party (full dinner, drinks) Wednesday: Breakfast, lunch. For VMCE students offsite dinner is also included. Thursday: Breakfast and lunch (VMCE students only) |
But hey wait up! Why are you attending Rasmus?
Glad you asked!
While I am lucky to have a great boss who trusts me when I say attending a specific conference such as VeeamON is a good idea, I always prepare some arguments “just in case” J
For VeeamON these arguments could be shortened down to:
- Attend first possible teaching of Veeam Certified Engineer (VMCE) version 8 training.
- Learn all I possibly could about Veeam Cloud Connect.
- Learn more about the new NetApp and EMC integration.
- Learn more about competitive marketing.
Wait Rasmus, this is (most likely) not your boss reading… is this really why you are attending?
Okay okay!
When I attend VeeamON conference my personal priorities are:
#1 is always networking with other people.
#2 Attend/Co-teach VMCE v8 training (yes really – I am heavily looking forward to this and you should be too!)
What about prizes? I expect Veeam has something huge in mind?
Yes of course! I almost forgot to mention Lab Warz!
Veeam will offer a hands-on labs contest where you cann show off your skills!
The Lab Warz competition is based on your knowledge of Veeam technologies and best practices!
The take Veeam Lab Warz challenge and you could win USD $10,000!
I know this is something I can simply not pass on – I love hands-on labs!
You want to register now, but you need to convince your boss first?
No problem, Veeam has you covered with this pre-written letter.
Just fill out a few blanks here and there and you are good to go (I would recommend removing the part about early bird since this is too late).
Ready to register!
If you are ready to register for the conference now you can do so right here: http://go.veeam.com/join-veeamon#register
In case you are not ready yet, you can also sign up for updates, which might change your mind.
If you want to have a chance to decide how VeeamON is shaped please make sure you fill out this survey.
Hold on, don’t I get a discount or something for reading this very long blog post?
Actually now that you mention it you have a chance to get a $100 USD discount off the conference pass price (normal price $599 USD).
If you use this link you get the discount – but hurry up, it is only for the first 100 people to use it!
What only $100 USD discount?
You are a tough guy eh! Alright, use promo code VEEAMONSAD14 and you will receive $200 USD discount!
Better? 🙂 Just remember the discount is only valid until August 1st, 2014.
Nice discount, but what about a chance to win a FREE conference pass?
No problem, Veeam has you backed up! Register here before September 1st and you could win either a regular conference pass OR a VIP pass that includes conference access, VMCE training, VMCE exam voucher AND 5 day accommodations!
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