#VMUG Presentations @scottishvmug @nwenglandvmug @VirtualG_UK @vBeeGee

For a long while I have been pondering doing some kind of presentation at some VMUGs. They VMUG leaders have cornered me a few times to actually present, so finally I decided to do it and to pick some topics that I thought might be interesting. Since I have decided this year is going to me focusing on my presentation/soft skills, I thought presenting at VMUGs would be a good way to build up on that skill set and to help me along in my toastmasters journey.

If it wasn’t for the community and the people I have met as a result, I wouldn’t be where I am at the moment, as with many things in life it is a team effort.

I took my Cannon SX430 IS camera with me, in the hope we could get some recordings to post online and to just laugh at ourselves. We had mixed results because I forgot the tripod :-p

@NWEnglandVMUG – vSphere Upgrades From Both Sides Of The Fence

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I spoke to Graham Barker ( @VirtualG_UK ) and we both thought a presentation on vSphere Upgrades would be interesting, since it is a topic we have both discussed in depth with each other and it resulted in me losing a #Nandos bet nearly a year ago. I come from the customer side and he comes from the partner side, so we hoped it would be quite interesting!

The venue has changed for this year as the old venue had shut down, I am glad Graham told me as I hadn’t paid attention and would have turned up at the old venue on the day lol

Its a much more intimate venue with good people and good discussions

My section covers the story of these 2 blog posts:

Moving from vSphere 5.5 to vSphere 6.5 Part 1 #Upgrade #Migration #Fresh #vExpert #vSphere #VCSA

Moving from vSphere 5.5 to vSphere 6.5 Part 2 #Upgrade #Migration #Fresh #vExpert #vSphere #VCSA

We managed to get the camera recording, but the camera had a lot of trouble with lighting. So what Graham Barker has done is taken the audio and time matched it to the slide deck, so you can listen as we discuss the various bits as we go through the presentation.

We had a audience vote at the end for who they thought was the better presenter with the loser buying the winner Nandos directly after!

@ScottishVMUG – From Zero To Hero

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I also spoke to Brian Gerrard ( @vBeeGee ) about doing some some kind of certification presentation, as the certification landscape is always changing and a quick discussion on the #VCDX. I mean it is all great that I passed but Brian failed and we thought it would be good to get viewpoints from both sides and have a discussion. Most people don’t talk about their failures and Brian is quite open about it and how the failure has helped him in other areas of his career.

My wife decided to attend my presentation and wondered around the Scottish VMUG a bit. She is used to medical conferences but found the whole experience intriguing and she offered to handle the camera during the presentation (no pressure) ha

@Kev_Johnson looked like a travelling salesman, with his suitcase full of #vSphere goodies!

I had a great time at both VMUGs and its always great to chat to people and see what everyone is up to. Met some cool new people and caught up with some old faces.

If anyone wants a copy of the slide decks for either of these, feel free to reach out and we can share them with you.