It seems only fitting that VMworld, a conference dedicated to all things cloud and virtualization, was virtual this year. If you missed our sessions and activities, or you’d like to relive the excitement, this blog post breaks down the highlights.
Forward Thinking
The virtual format made it a VMworld like no other, and that gave the Cohesity team the chance to be even more innovative than usual. Ahead of the conference, we announced a VMware-certified solution to back up and protect VMware Cloud Foundation and published a blog detailing plans at VMworld. We also sent out our vExpert recognition and gifts ahead of the event and generated some social media buzz around it.
The day before VMWorld, we announced Cohesity SiteContinuity and published another blog with all the details. We were all set for opening day.
A Virtual Book Club with a CEO Special Guest
“This session was one of the best I’ve attended so far. Plain talk, a CEO giving real-life lessons freely with NO PRODUCT pitch. This was fantastic.”–CEO Book Club Attendee
More than 5,100 live attendees tuned in to The CEO Book Club: Essential Reading for a Leader’s Mindset session led by Mohit Aron, founder, and CEO of Cohesity, and me. Mohit shared the books, blogs, and podcasts that inspired his entrepreneurial journey and discusses the benefits of audiobooks in particular. This conversation is full of hidden gems about leadership, discipline, selling, and living with purpose.
Most live book clubs meet regularly at a set time, and seats are limited because they’re held in bookstores, libraries or someone’s home. If you miss one, it’s gone forever. But, not this one. In fact, you can watch it on-demand right here.
Not-so-spoiler alert: What’s at the top of Mohit’s reading list? Miracle Morning, Nonviolent Communication, Loving What Is, The Culture Code, and Leadership and Self-Deception.
Taken Away and Held for Ransomware Session
As companies have ramped up their digital presence, ransomware is as much a threat as it ever was. In the Your First, Last, and Only Line of Defense Against Ransomware session, Michael Letschin, Director, TAG and Principal Technologist at Cohesity, and I explored a holistic approach that includes people, processes and technology to thwart ransomware attacks.
Watch the on-demand video here to understand why one of the more than 300 attendees described the session as “best presentation here.”
The attendee also said: “Excellent content and real-life descriptions, which I have been looking for to present to our company and employees as every video is just what it is not ‘what it really does.’”
Getting in the Zone, Dominating Discord, and Going VMUnderground. Cohesity, Special Olympics, and Pure Storage Fun: Everyone Sing-Along
In the Cohesity Demo Zone, over 500 attendees interacted with us to check out our new solution, SiteContinuity, along with our customer success eBook and the SiteContinuity solution brief. Over 1200 bloggers, influencers, and community members joined us on Community Discord Channel to talk about a range of topics. The VMUnderground Opening Acts we sponsored featured another Cohesity Principal Technologist, Theresa Miller. You can watch her talk on public speaking here.
Cohesity, Special Olympics, and Pure Storage Fun: Everyone Sing-Along
The Reality of a Virtual VMworld
Tens of thousands of attendees saw an engaging video about Cohesity, which debuted right before the John Legend Concert. But another Cohesity crowd favorite involved two different performers and families—our virtual sing-along with Jonathan Groff and JD McCrary, co-sponsored with Pure Storage and the Special Olympics of North America.
A video is not available, but our Twitter fans captured the essence:
The Reality of a Virtual VMworld
To sum it up, for Cohesity, the virtual VMworld was a success. Although we missed walking around exhibits and talking to people live, we’re glad that our sessions were well attended and that we were still able to show our fun side. We’re looking forward to VMworld 2021—whether live or virtual, we know it’ll be great.
