Last Wednesday I made my way to RAI Amsterdam for day two of VMUG Connect 2026 — the first ever European edition of what has quickly become one of the most talked-about events in the VMware community. Here’s what the day was like and why I’m already thinking about the next one.
Arriving at the RAI
Getting to the venue was straightforward. RAI Amsterdam is incredibly well connected — metro, tram, and train all stop nearby, and Schiphol Airport is just a short ride away. Walking into the venue, it was immediately clear this wasn’t a small local meetup. The energy was buzzing with IT professionals from across the Netherlands and well beyond, all there for the same reason: to learn, connect, and talk VMware.
The format: more than just sessions
What struck me first was how much thought had gone into the structure of the day. With over 40 sessions spread across three days and four content tracks, there was genuinely something for everyone. As an attendee you could mix and match based on what mattered most to you — deep technical content, real-world case studies, career development, or hands-on labs.
The four tracks on offer were:
Build Better. Optimize Smarter — technical deep-dives into VCF, infrastructure architecture, and optimization strategies.
Real Stories. Real Impact — practitioners sharing honest case studies and measurable outcomes from their own environments.
Grow. Adapt. Lead — sessions focused on career growth, leadership, and navigating change in the IT industry.
Lab It. Learn It. Live It — hands-on labs with the option to sit certification exams on-site, supported directly by Broadcom.
I bounced between the technical track and the real-world stories track for most of the day, and both delivered. The community-submitted sessions in particular stood out — there’s something refreshing about hearing from people who are living with these challenges day to day, rather than presenting a polished vendor narrative.
What everyone was talking about
No surprise: VMware Cloud Foundation was the dominant topic. With the Broadcom acquisition still reshaping how organizations plan their VMware investments, there was a real appetite for honest conversation about VCF 9, migration paths, and what the road ahead looks like. The sessions I attended didn’t shy away from the hard questions, which I appreciated.
Automation, vSAN, and data center modernization also came up repeatedly — both in formal sessions and in the hallway conversations that are often where the real insights happen.
The people make it
I want to be honest: the sessions were good, but the networking was great. There’s something about a multi-day format that changes the dynamic. You keep running into the same people — at coffee, at lunch, between sessions — and conversations that started with “so what do you work on?” turned into genuinely useful exchanges about shared challenges and approaches.
Lunch was included, which made it easy to sit down with people you’d just met in a session and keep the conversation going. The atmosphere throughout the day was open and collaborative — exactly what you’d hope for from a community-led event.
Would I go back?
Absolutely. VMUG Connect Amsterdam delivered on its promise of being more than a one-day event. The depth of content, the quality of the conversations, and the sheer number of knowledgeable people in one place made it well worth the trip.
If you missed this year, VMUG Connect continues in 2026 with stops in Minneapolis, Toronto, Dallas, and Orlando. And if Amsterdam comes back next year — which I hope it does — I’ll be registering early.
You can find more information about upcoming VMUG Connect events at: connect.vmug.com
Use #VMUGConnectAmsterdam to join the conversation online.
