Well everyone, we are just about one month from VMware Explore 2023 in VEGAS BABY!

With that in mind, I recently talked about one of my sessions at VMware Explore all about Neurodiversity. Today, I want to hit on 5 amazing sessions that I am legit excited about since that’s what everyone else is doing anyways!

My Favorite Sessions at VMware Explore 2023

Data Science Deep Dive in Anywhere Workspace, and What AI Means for EUC [EUSB2527LV]

Anyone who knows me, knows I am a huge supporter of my good friend Johan Van Amersfoort. One of the themes at Explore this year appears to be slightly less partner/customer focused and more on synergies like Microsoft and Spring.

Luckily, Johan was able to squeeze a session or two in. This one is amazing and how could they not do it. Johan is bringing a session on how VMware is using machine learning and AI under the hood of Workspace ONE with Hayden Davis (Sr. PM at VMware).

They will also cover how with generative AI and LLMs they will be trying to make major advancements to improve employee experience and more. I think it’s a must and I am so frustrated its not until Thursday. That is a legit Tuesday session.

Horizon Cloud Service and Microsoft Azure: DaaS Like Never Before [EUSB2734LV]

Some people may not know that I became a Microsoft MVP in 2023. The person who was instrumental in that is the great Christiaan Brinkhoff. He’s well-known as a leader for Intune, AVD, Windows 365 and much more. It’s rare that we get a chance to see him speak at VMware conference, which makes this a MUST attend.

This session is going to cover the synergies coming between Horizon and AVD/Windows 365 (such as AppVolumes and BLAST I presume). Deb Dubrow from Microsoft and Shika Mittal (Sr. Director in PM at VMware) will be there as well to deliver on this vision. This is a crucial session for people in both the VDI space and the UEM space as we are quickly seeing a convergence where VDI is an Employee Experience technology and not just something for the VDI guys.

Accelerate Zero Trust: Vision and Practical Projects with NIST and VMware Workspace ONE [EUSB2728LV]

The best session that I have attended in years was last year with the guy who basically created Zero Trust at Palo Alto named John Kindervag. Check out the video here.

This year, VMware brought in a computer scientist from NIST named Murugiah Souppaya and a few friends of mine Steve DeJarnett (Director of Product – Security & Analytics at VMware) and Peter Bjork who is a rocket scientist with Workspace ONE Access.

They discuss accelerating the Zero Trust journey where they discuss the vision. They will also cover/discuss practical projects for Zero Trust.

Help, My VDI Is Slow – Boost Productivity with Digital Employee Experience for Horizon [EUSB1227LV]

Another session that is too good for a Thursday (I say this because many people leave on Thursday mornings). Cris Lau and Kristina De Nike with VMware Product Management bring a really nice session about Digital Employee Experience (DEX) discussing stuff like the insights and automation Intelligence will provide.

My major hope is they will discuss the plans to extend the Horizon Cloud Connector to do Horizon automations against Horizon On-Prem which would be a MAJOR competitive advantage as they gear up for the arms race with ControlUp and Nexthink in the DEEM space.

VMware {code} Lab: Learning to Code Using ChatGPT API Interface [CODE2960LV]

What a SHOCK that VMware would do something on ChatGPT. I never would have thought! This session which is run by the founder of a company called LiveCopper will provide people with a hands-on coding experience with ChatGPT.

They will be using Microsoft Visual Studio to learn some basic coding techniques to build a small ChatGPT application using its API. This session will guide you through getting API keys, sending requests, picking a good model, and leveraging chat for dynamic interactions. It’s hard to get into with everything full, but I hope they will make it more available for people at Explore.

What I’m Doing at VMware Explore 2023

I have two sessions coming to VMware Explore. I could really use some help from my readers on.

Mobile Jon-Featured Neurodiversity Panel at VMware Explore

Firstly, on Wednesday I will be on a Neurodiversity Panel: Neurodiversity in the Workplace Panel: Stories of Struggles and Superpowers [VIB2876LV] and would love support from everyone. We’re in the 40s currently and would love some help there. That is the most important session of my career and a great opportunity to support others with neurodiversity. I’m remarkably lucky to be able to speak about it next month as mentioned before:

My Workspace ONE Access API Session at VMware Explore

My other session lets me present with a long-time friend Sascha Warno who I have collaborated with on a number of interested Workspace ONE Access items over the last few years.

I think this session will be really appealing to many people because the WS1 Access API has long been secretive and invisible throughout the Interwebs.

We will be covering a ton of various use-cases for the Access API like writing logs to services like Azure Sentinel, creating and emailing magic links, and much more!

Final Thoughts

In closing, I hope to see many of you at VMware Explore. I will be hosting a dinner for the Digital Workspace VMUG at a minimum and hope to catchup with many of my friends next month. I know it’s hard for many of you to make the conference, but I think this year will be worth the trip. EUC has had a hard year in 2023 and we could all use some downtime and the opportunity to see cool stuff and have some fun.