Ideas For Keeping Up With The VMware Launch Event On April 21
April 20th, 2009 | 
Author: 
Just like with VMworld Europe 2009, I am again having to try to figure out the best ways to keep up with a virtualization event I can not attend in person. Even though the simulcast will be live the chances of me getting to sit and watch it look slim. So, here are my ideas on how I plan to to follow the April 21 VMware Launch Event from afar while I work my way through the day.
Hopefully I’ll get to watch as much of it as possible, but I expect not to be able.
VMwaretips Launch Event Coverage
Rick Schere will be at the event in person and has declared he will be shooting video, sending tweets, and blogging his experiences. Therefore, I will be watching Rick in the following ways:
- My RSS Reader (Google Reader is already subscribed to VMwaretips.com’s RSS Feed
- I already follow @rick_vmwaretips on Twitter.
- I’ve configured my cell phone for device updates, so Tuesday morning all I have to do is SMS “ON rick_vmwaretips” to Twitter to start getting text messages when Rick tweets. This will more than likely be my primary method of tracking the event if I am not able to sit at a computer. I’m sure other tweeters will surface on that day too, and the turning the device updates on for those accounts will be key while mobile. Once the event is done I’ll SMS “OFF [twittername]” to stop the text messages.
Tweetgrid
If you follow me on this blog you know I love Tweetgrid for events, and of course I’ve created a Tweetgrid for the Launch. I’ve built this one based on “rick_vmwaretips” and “vSphere” as the keywords.
Search vSphere
Assuming the Tuesday Launch is about vSphere 
, I will attempt to the monitor the virtualization ecosystem and news related to the Launch by searching on keywords:
- Searching for vSphere on search.twitter.com
- Creating a global search in Tweetdeck for vSphere
- My vm /etc news page aggregates all Google News with a tag of virtualization, and I expect there to be plenty to follow on April 21.
Blog Aggregation
I probably do not need to mention it by now, but Planet V12N will be watched constantly for blogger reactions as usual.
Let me know if you have any better ideas, or one that I have not mentioned here.
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Posted in cloud computing, events, vmware | 
Tags: cloud computing, events, virtualization, vmware, vSphere
Or, you can just wait until the evening and read all about it here!
Rich,
Also watch the news wire. My guess is that almost everything will be announced via press releases just before the event. This is typical for launches like this. There will most likely be a number of press releases from VMware as well as from vendors announcing their support of vSphere.
Another good keyword for search might be Nexus since I'm sure Cisco will be making a lot of noise about their new virtual switch.
-doug
Hi Richard,
For the Twitter side of things you could try and setup a keywork (hashtag) and spread the word so whenever anyone mentions the new release they put it in it? That way you could then use something like twitterfall.com or search.twitter.com etc to follow everyones tweets? Maybe something like #vsphere, that way you'll also get tweets that ppl mention it in but dont know about the hashtag.
Did that make sence?
Simon
I will do my best to add my take on the event here on VM /ETC as quick
as possible!
Doug,
I am betting that all non VMware announcements will still contain
vSphere as a keyword, so my plan of using it as a common denominator
should pull a lot in from Google/Twitter searches.
Simon,
See my reply to Doug's comment, but here is my thoughts on search and
hash tags.
I think they are great but still largely misunderstood as a search
tool when really they are better for sending tweets. For example, if I
send a tweet “vSphere rocks!” And you reply “@rbrambley bang your
head, dude!” I did not need to use vSphere as a hash tag to find it
later, but you did and did not use it because it was awkward. This is
common. So if we want to search “vSphere” my tweet is discovered but
the replies are not.
So, I agree with using a common hash tag for the event. That not only
makes it easier to track the entire conversation, but it also
registers, tallies, and trends our event tweets globally under a
single tag. VSphere is the best obvious tag, but personally I like 3
to 4 letter hash tags (makes 5 characters with the #) to allow for
larger tweets and RTs.
I've suggested #421 and #VMW yesterday on Twitter. Maybe we should use
#v12n? In fact that ties the virtualization community better for now
and all future tweets about anything or any event.
Maybe I'm over analyzing it? What do you think?
No i agree with what your saying and i think a shorter tag such as #v12n would be ideal for both this release and other future virtual events.
Simon
No i agree with what your saying and i think a shorter tag such as #v12n would be ideal for both this release and other future virtual events.
Simon
Or, you can just wait until the evening and read all about it here!
Rich,
Also watch the news wire. My guess is that almost everything will be announced via press releases just before the event. This is typical for launches like this. There will most likely be a number of press releases from VMware as well as from vendors announcing their support of vSphere.
Another good keyword for search might be Nexus since I'm sure Cisco will be making a lot of noise about their new virtual switch.
-doug
Hi Richard,
For the Twitter side of things you could try and setup a keywork (hashtag) and spread the word so whenever anyone mentions the new release they put it in it? That way you could then use something like twitterfall.com or search.twitter.com etc to follow everyones tweets? Maybe something like #vsphere, that way you'll also get tweets that ppl mention it in but dont know about the hashtag.
Did that make sence?
Simon
I will do my best to add my take on the event here on VM /ETC as quick
as possible!
Doug,
I am betting that all non VMware announcements will still contain
vSphere as a keyword, so my plan of using it as a common denominator
should pull a lot in from Google/Twitter searches.
Simon,
See my reply to Doug's comment, but here is my thoughts on search and
hash tags.
I think they are great but still largely misunderstood as a search
tool when really they are better for sending tweets. For example, if I
send a tweet “vSphere rocks!” And you reply “@rbrambley bang your
head, dude!” I did not need to use vSphere as a hash tag to find it
later, but you did and did not use it because it was awkward. This is
common. So if we want to search “vSphere” my tweet is discovered but
the replies are not.
So, I agree with using a common hash tag for the event. That not only
makes it easier to track the entire conversation, but it also
registers, tallies, and trends our event tweets globally under a
single tag. VSphere is the best obvious tag, but personally I like 3
to 4 letter hash tags (makes 5 characters with the #) to allow for
larger tweets and RTs.
I've suggested #421 and #VMW yesterday on Twitter. Maybe we should use
#v12n? In fact that ties the virtualization community better for now
and all future tweets about anything or any event.
Maybe I'm over analyzing it? What do you think?
No i agree with what your saying and i think a shorter tag such as #v12n would be ideal for both this release and other future virtual events.
Simon
No i agree with what your saying and i think a shorter tag such as #v12n would be ideal for both this release and other future virtual events.
Simon