What Stays In Vegas Doesn't

"It takes less time to do a thing right than to explain why you did it wrong." —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Here we are, home from a week long convention in Las Vegas called EMCWorld 2013. There were nearly 15,000 people in attendance and it really was a great week filled with technical presentations, product demonstrations and some really good people connections.

This completes the third year in a row that this event has been held in Las Vegas. In saying so, I am always amused at the Las Vegas tourism catch-phrase "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." It is meant to convey a free-spirited notion that you can let loose a bit, that anything goes while you are in Las Vegas. You can spend your money (which is really want any tourism board wants), have any and all kinds of fun and that when you leave, no one else will know what you did.

Another way of putting it would be to say "mum's the word" because everyone will keep quiet about what you did. So let loose, do as you want, no consequences. But that really isn't what happens in real life, outside of the commercials you may see on television.

In one respect, I really do hope that everyone in attendance to EMCWorld learned something about our company, our products and what we can do to help your business. I also really do hope you do not leave that learned experience in Las Vegas. We want you to take home that information to your colleagues, so please don't leave that piece of it in Vegas.

But on a broader look, beyond just Las Vegas, we do many things that we would just as soon stay there. The point being that everything we do in life has consequence of one sort or another. You can binge on drinking, gambling, eating and playing in Las Vegas, but you really can't leave those things behind. What we do, how we act, the impressions we leave with other people will last a very long time.

When you have the opportunity to choose between doing something that might not be the correct or proper thing to do, choose the right thing. Make your choice as if your wife, children, boss or grandmother will get a front page story about the choice made.

Stay inspired my friends and please don't leave that behind in Vegas.

Viva Las Vegas: EMCWorld 2013 - Day One

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit." -Albert Schweitzer

Are you one of the thousands of people attending this year's EMCWorld Conference in Las Vegas? If not, it starts today and the crowds of people roaming the halls of the Venetian Conference Center are proof of what you might be missing out on. From my perspective in the Unified Storage Division, the large amount of events associated with just our division is quite big...Big Data!

• USD Keynote: Rich Napolitano, Wednesday May 8th 8:30-9:30am, SVP Unified Storage Division
• Technical Breakout Sessions: 32 sessions repeated twice
• Birds of a Feather Sessions; Hands-on Labs; Unified Storage Booth; Meet the Experts Whiteboard area
• Demonstration stations covering several topics including Applications, Management, Virtualization/VDI, FLASH 1st
• Theatre Presentations in Partner booths: VCE, VMware, Avnet/Metalogix

Wow, it is big.

But what is even bigger are the people in attendance, the interaction, the conversations and the collective human connection. It reminds me of what we can do when we come together. This week I look forward to meeting new people and renewing old acquaintances. When each of us leave at the end of this week, we'll be better prepared to solve challenges in front of us and see new possibilities.

All of this will happen because we connected with each other. You might be at @EMCWorld 2013 or at home; just keep on connecting with people you meet. You're going to learn, enjoy and live a better life. And above all, don't forget to stay inspired my friends.