EMC World - Tuesday

So today was very long and very informative. The evening ended quite late so this will be the shortest of my EMC World blogs but will be full of photos. Following a full day of presentations (including Balaji's awesome Keynote), we were dazzled by the EMC partners in a multitude of meet and greet sessions. I didn't drag my camera to all the parties; suffice it to say that Flatirons, Proficent, and Crown know how to entertain. We thank each of them a great deal for the thoughtfulness that went into each party, a great time was had by all. Major kudos to Proficent for the awesome cigars!

At lunchtime, I had the pleasure of sitting with all of my Fidelity folks and the new Fidelity folks to let them meet each other and talk a little shop.

(Left to right: Mike Dunsing (EMC), Brian Kerr (Fidelity), John Rasku (Fidelity))

Ron Culyer (EPS / Covington - Fidelity)

Randy Miller (FeB / Marlborough)

Mike Evans (Principal Architect - Fidelity - in the middle of a very long day...)

Randy Miller, Lisa Rose (FESCO), David Voelker (EPS - Covington)
Me with a brain full of information and a tummy full of food.
Dan Angolano (EDMS), Ron Culyer (EPS - Covington), Mike Dunsing (EMC)

Can you spot the difference between these 2 photos?

After lunch and a session or two, this ended-up being our view for 30 minutes or so... (hang in there, it'll make sense in the next photo or 2)

Mike Evans (Fidelity) prepares to get a lesson in karma... just watch:
Let this be a lesson to you all. :)


Melissa has finally found her happy place!

EMC World - Monday

Today was a whirlwind of fun and learning. There are over 8,000 people here at EMC World from all over the world.

This morning was kicked-off by my lovely little Embassy Suites coffee maker and a banana. Yum! After getting ready and heading out into the gorgeous Orlando weather, I headed to the Pavillion inside the conference center to hear Mr. Tucci's keynote. (It's no wonder we're such an awesome company!)

The stage looked awesome:

Then of course the gentleman in front of me decided to sit up straight and this was my view for the rest of Tucci's keynote:

So after Mr. Tucci finished, the chairman of our new Information Heritage Initiative stood up to introduce the program and talk about how we are the guardians of information past for those to come. It was moving and nice to be part of a company who supports such endeavours.

In the middle of it all, Randy (Fidelity) and I noticed an odd sound coming from the gentleman beside of him... yes, you guessed it, the dude was fast asleep emitting an annoying nasal snore through most of the Information Heritage presentation - classy! Even better, in the spirit of the Information Heritage Initiative, we've captured the image to ensure our future generations can view it (plus it's hilarious...)

Following a video about the Information Heritage Initiative,

The CTO of SI (Smithsonian Institute) came onstage to speak. You gotta admire this woman - very sweet, on top of her game, and making a mark on the future.

Following the speeches, we broke out into sessions then headed to lunch and the showroom where all of the booths are. I ran into some motley folks while meandering:

(Left to right: Mike Evans (Fidelity) with his eyes closed , me (EMC), Randy Miller (Fidelity), John Rasku (Fidelity), and the insanely brilliant architect / developer / idea guy / SOA guru / comedian / tolerator Mike Mohen (EMC).

I also bumped into these good lookin' folks:

(Left to right: JQ - Jeff Quiggle (EMC), Pat Smith (EMC), me again (EMC), and Mr. Rob Louks (EMC).

And so the day continued with sessions and keynotes. At the end of the day, we headed off to a Martini Mixer at the Peabody then enjoyed the evening with more of the Fidelity team at the Peabody and headed back to the hotel to catch-up on email and work stuff and now I blog.

More tomorrow...

EMC World - Sunday

This evening, Orlando found itself swarmed by intellect with the inception of EMC World at the Orange County Convention Center.

What travel of mine is ever without incident? You guessed it... none. :) The flight was actually nice - met a random PR gal who was on her way to do some schmoozing for a client. She definitely made the flight go quicker and wouldn't you know, she lives in Boston - made a new friend for when I'm back there to go hang out with. We taxied up to the gate after about an hour delay to find that our gate extension wasn't functioning properly. I found myself sitting in 5D waiting as we are towed to another gate that had hopes of functioning surrounded by a general stint that made it clear that not all passengers valued hygiene as much as I do.

I arrive at Embassy on International Drive - nice digs... nice room... I like being a Diamond member - it's actually somewhat comical to see the staff try to execute on their VIP procedures. I call the one member of my client team who arrived today for the festivities to try and see where to go.

The Orange County Convention Center is about as big as my entire neighborhood - gynormous! Great directions Randy - har har... I finally find myself at the South Building (which is really north - those Orlandoians really have a great sense of humor). :)

I get through registration and feel compelled to mention how much fun the registration staff actually was - I really do love working at EMC. So I get registered, get a fabulous phone book size conference handbook and make my way toward the main area.

Very cool stuff around - there's a golf course green area to the left filled with some pretty cool challenge activities - playing golf with a miniature football, polo opportunities while mounted on a life-size plastic horse (which is high-quality entertainment to watch in and of itself) and other random games.

Strewn throughout the middle of the area were tables of food (yummy food might I add), beer / wine counters, and tables piled full with conference attendees and their families. I saw literally no one I knew from EMC - they must have been hiding at some very cool party I hadn't been invited to attend or were skipping this introductory show. :)

I find Randy (from Fidelity) and Brian Hagen (from EMC) and plopped us at a table near the front of the stage. While waiting for Hootie and the Blowfish to take the stage, Randy finds a new friend from the Cirque de Solei type characters meandering around the flocks of people...

So the ceremonies finally begin with a kick off by a VP of EMC: (this guy...)

The Hootie and the Blowfish take the stage and rock us out...

Killer concert... they played new stuff and some classics and a few cover songs. I desperately wanted to mosh but didn't see a whole lot of others who would join in so I just danced around with this nice lady I met from JCPenny and her husband - another loved EMC client.

We grabbed our awesome EMC World backpacks full of some great chatchkies, partied with Hootie and the Blowfish and meandered back to our hotels to get ready for tomorrow.

More tomorrow...