Sunday at VMworld is filled with events and parties. While these are held in cool venues, usually with plenty to eat and drink, the real benefit of attending these events are the conversations you can have with people who care about virtualization and cloud.

One conversation thread that I’ve had with several people is how the shift in storage infrastructure along with how developers are writing applications. Infrastructure is moving to flash and cloud (IaaS/PaaS/SaaS), and developers are learning to write to maximize their apps for these new platforms. What does this mean if developers have less and less knowledge (or even control) over how applications write to disk?

There are other connections too, introducing people you know to others who should be connected to them. Sometimes catching up with people you used to work with, or visiting your competitor’s booths to say hi to the folks who play in your space. The opening of the Solutions Expo last night was a great place for that.

What’s happening today?

First of all, Keynotes! They are actually going on right now (I’m writing this in the blogger’s lounge as I watch them). Lots of cloud and even SaaS talk today! which is pretty amazing. Do your best to get to the keynotes. You can go to the hang space and sit on a couch, grab some coffee, and have some great conversations as you watch them.

Visit the Solutions Expo. It was crazy yesterday during the opening, and I’ll admit I stuck to the EMC, Dell, and Dell Software booths. There are so many I want to visit today, so this is my first stop once they open at 10.

Go to a presentation. To get into the popular ones, you need to sign up on the session scheduler.

Go to vendor sessions. I’m going to a VCE presentation (supporting the EMC Elect program). If you’re a customer, go to your favorite vendor’s booth and ask if they have special presentations. I’m sure they’ll hook you up with the info and an invite!

Parties: There are so many parties again tonight. Pace yourself, because breakfast is at 7:30 and general sessions start at 9 on Tuesday morning. O

Pro Tip of the Day

Be sure to eat! This is probably going to mean that you will miss something, but you have to eat. We’re doing a lot of walking, and talking and thinking. All of that requires fuel! So take breaks to eat!

Tweets/Pics from yesterday

Next panel up! @mjbrender @timmycarr @joshcoen #OpeningActs #vmworld pic.twitter.com/Z1Vy5QINxj

— Nigel Hickey (@vCenterNerd) August 28, 2016

Next panel up! @mjbrender @timmycarr @joshcoen #OpeningActs #vmworld pic.twitter.com/Z1Vy5QINxj

— Nigel Hickey (@vCenterNerd) August 28, 2016

Awesome #vmunderground party tonight thanks to all the sponsors. #VMworld pic.twitter.com/vhwQY1hVRt

— Tony Foster (@wonder_nerd) August 29, 2016

Thanks for the #vFit run this morning @CTOAdvisor @gminks. pic.twitter.com/jgmVD07Djq

— Julian Wood (@julian_wood) August 28, 2016