Hey guys, so I've been asked to do another "Top Ten Reasons" to attend the Dell Storage Forum in Boston coming up June 10th - 13th right in my backyard!  This is a premier storage event where we will have on staff some of the brightest and most technical people around Dell Storage.  This isn't a sales conference (In fact we don't let those guys in! Well maybe if they are buying drinks for the customers) but a technical conference for both channel partners and customers to get the best use out of their Dell storage and even learn about new software, new best practices and new ways to utilize their investment.  You'll also get to meet with hundreds of peers and users and learn how they use their equipment and what they have done to overcome their datacenter pain points.  So it's not just a bunch of boring lectures but instead engaging, technical sessions combined with ask the experts, birds of the feather meetings, engineer Q&As and more!  It's easily one of my favorite conferences of the year and we have so much stuff to bring you guys this year!

You can find out more information about the Dell Storage Forum here:

http://www.dellstorageforum.com/

But you may be asking yourself: “Why should I go?  Why should my management let me go?  Is there cake?”  Every year I ask about cake and maybe this year someone will cave!  But I digress, I’m here to tell you the top 10 reasons why you should go and why your management (or maybe you are the management!) should jump at the chance to further your skillset with Dell Storage.

#10 It's Boston!  I mean come on, Boston in June, warm with a nice breeze off the water, tons of historic stuff to see and do (that is while you aren't learning about great storage innovations in my sessions).

Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge - Coolest thing ever at night when lit up!

#9 Instructor led training sessions.  Take classes before the conference on any number of basic and advanced storage topics.

#8 Sessions led by Engineers and Subject Matter experts.  We have fantastic content on subjects such as Virtualization best practices, EqualLogic and Compellent product features and administration and advanced storage networking sessions.

#7 Learn more about your Dell Storage in this week than you probably learned all year!  Whether you are a new user just getting your feet wet or you manage hundreds of devices, there is always new and exciting information to learn.  Not to mention NDA sessions on up and coming features and products before these things are even announced!

#6 Meet with fellow users and peers, get best practices, tips and tricks that you can take back to your organization.  Who better than other customers to learn from and bounce ideas off of?  This conference is about you the customer!  

#5 Hands on Labs! Learn more without impacting your own environment and gain knowledge and technical proficiencies that you can bring home to your datacenter.  In fact, the hands on labs have been so successful and popular we had people learn how to install advanced host integration software and then install it in their environments the very next day!  How cool is that?!

#4 Have deep dive conversations with Dell Engineers, colleagues, and storage experts.

#3 Learn valuable solutions to implement in your own environment.

#2 Meet and talk with all the online personalities you have come to know and love from Dell Techcenter, Twitter, and more!

Smartest Storage Divas Evah!

My teammates are a bunch of jokers ... har har guys ^

Dell Tech Center folks in the house!

and the #1 reason (besides the fact that I'll be there talking about cool storage stuffs!)

#1 Learn firsthand from Dell Executives Dell's Enterprise and Storage strategies!

Alrighty then, this year we had some pictures and if that doesn't make you want to put on your Boston Red Sox cap and come enjoy some Clam Chowdah with us then I don't know what else will!  (Did I mention there may be cake?)

Until next time, keep it virtual and see you in Boston Ya'll!  (Yes I know Ya'll is NOT from the Boston area, but hey I'm a Texas boy so it's all good)

-Will

You can follow me on twitter at @VirtWillU.

Also, check out Dell TechCenter for these videos and other content on EqualLogic