Spouses at VMworld
Published on 6 Jun 2008 · Filed in Information · 302 words (estimated 2 minutes to read)For the last two years, my wife has accompanied me on my trips to VMworld. I’m lucky that she’s willing to travel with me and put up with long days (and sometimes long nights) during what is a very busy time for me, particularly in light of the fact that there traditionally have not been any activities designed to include spouses. This, by the way, is not a knock against VMware specifically; it seems to be a little bit of a trend in the industry. I’m not a huge conference-goer, so if anyone has any experience to the contrary I’d love to hear it.
John Troyer’s activities are an exception; his VMware Communities receptions, both in 2006 and 2007, were very inclusive of spouses or significant others. My wife enjoyed attending both of those events.
Aside from that, however, there aren’t a lot of reasons why spouses would want to attend. (This is aside from the obvious reason of wanting to be together.) This year, as my wife and I look ahead to VMworld 2008 in Las Vegas, she’s decided that she’d like to try to arrange some activities for spouses during the event. Perhaps a trip to a day spa, or a quick jaunt out to the Grand Canyon, or maybe just lunch near or at the Venetian. There would be some costs involved, of course, but at least they could all meet, have something to do while we’re at the conference, and have a good time.
So, if you are planning on attending VMworld 2008 and are thinking of bringing along your spouse—I’m primarily thinking of guys bringing their wives—I’d love to know. Shoot me an e-mail or post in the comments and let me know if your spouse would be interested in participating in some of these activities. Thanks!