Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
If you’re like me and looking forward to VMware Explore 2025 in Las Vegas, then you may have heard that the Content Catalog went live just a couple of days ago, on June 17th. This is an exciting milestone for the conference, because prospective attendees can obtain a first glimpse of which breakout sessions, tutorials, and quick talks will be offered! Especially if you’re still on the fence about attending, reviewing the Content Catalog is paramount to planning your experience. There is plenty to experience at Explore 2025 – check out my post from last month for some additional insight.
At the time of this article, there are approximately 200 different opportunities offered in the Content Catalog. This is a “living” catalog and additional sessions are likely to be published in the coming weeks leading up to the event. I have decided to briefly discuss my Top 3 selections from each Session Type: Breakout Sessions, Meet the Expert Roundtable Sessions, Quick Talks, and Tutorials. This isn’t to say that alternative selections are less meaningful; these selections are based on my own interests and perceived opportunities for growth. Use them as a baseline for navigating the Content Catalog and discovering favorites of your own!
Pro Tip
There are so many sessions to consider! Sign-in to your Event Portal account (it’s free!) to save your favorite sessions for later! This doesn’t enroll you in a session, but significantly helps narrow down selections later when it’s time to build your schedule! Once signed-in, just click on the heart-shaped icon, located at the bottom-right of the session card! You’ll be glad you did!
Breakout Sessions
Breakout Sessions are standard lectures and demonstrations offered by Broadcom Employees, Customers, Partners, and Enthusiasts (sometimes a combination). Each session is approximately 45 minutes in length, presented in a ballroom at the conference venue.
A Deep Dive into Memory Tiering with NVMe [CLOB1122LV]
Memory Tiering has gained significant attention following the Explore 2024 conference, which has quickly become a favorite among homelabbers. In fact, many homelabbers are starting to consider it a “must have” feature! This Breakout Session is expected to discuss the foundations (what/how/why) of Memory Tiering, including how Cloud Engineers and Administrators can extract the most benefit in their unique environments.
Choosing Your Path to VMware Cloud Foundation: A Technical Guide for Migration [CLOB1100LV]
In case you haven’t heard, VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) is Broadcom’s flagship private cloud platform, designed to surpass the rest. We heard a lot about VCF at Explore 2024, but Broadcom’s vision is becoming more clear and understood. Many customers are now wondering how they will align with the VCF Architecture, especially with the least risk and potential disruption. This session is expected to cover those topics, in addition to Disaster Recovery (DR). Anyone still operating a vSphere architecture should take a close look at this session.
FinOps in VMware Cloud Foundation [CLOB1498LV]
The concepts of Chargeback and Showback are not new, but you may be surprised how many of your peers consider them to be distant goals. VCF Operations offers capabilities to define, monitor, optimize, and report costs. Even traditional vSphere environments can benefit from these features! This session is expected to cover each aspect of cost management in VCF Operations (i.e., rate cards, cost drivers, etc.) and provide meaningful insight into how customers can quickly evolve cost data into meaningful information.
Meet the Expert Roundtable Sessions
Meet the Expert Roundtable sessions are more interactive than Breakout Sessions but equally informative and technically sharp. These sessions are an excellent opportunity for attendees to bounce ideas off the Experts, ask the burning questions at the top of your mind, and gain insight into what challenges and ideas fellow attendees face in their environments and industries. There is no lecture here: it’s all about the attendees and answering questions or providing guidance in a dynamic and supportive setting.
Learn Best Practices About Capacity Management for VMware Cloud Foundation Operations [CLOM1917LV]
How do you handle capacity planning in your environment? Are there factors which are more relevant in VCF compared to traditional vSphere deployments? This session is intended to host open discussion and Q&A for attendees to explore methods of interpreting capacity analytics, identify potential capacity shortages, and evaluate opportunities for optimization. VCF and vSphere deployments alike can equally benefit from these insights.
Learn Best Practices to Build a Self-Service Private Cloud [CLOM1923LV]
VCF offers a robust platform to promote enablement and self-service. Current and prospective VCF customers will benefit from the best practices, win sharing, and guiding principles shared in this session. If you have questions about resource assignments, content management, security, and more – especially how each fits into VCF – this is a session to consider.
All About Kubernetes on VMware Cloud Foundation [CLOM1934LV]
Did you know that you can host your Kubernetes workloads directly in VCF? This session will enable attendees to ask Expert presenters about the details (basics to advanced) of managing next-generation workloads using VCF. Maybe you need help understanding the requirements or simply want feedback regarding decision points – either way, you will walk away having gained valuable knowledge.
Quick Talk Sessions
Quick Talk Sessions are akin to the “Code Theater” sessions from previous events. These sessions are historically open-theatre formats offered within The Hub. This content is commonly more hands-on and technical, frequently offering code snippets and deep technical demonstrations isolated to a specific subject. Quick Talk sessions are usually about 30 minutes in length. Many of these sessions are interactive, although the presenter has prepared a full presentation and will commonly have time at the end for questions.
Demystifying Linux Configuration with Cloud-Init on VMware [CMTYQT1019LV]
I love this session because Cloud-Init and Cloudbase-Init are such powerful and integral parts of enabling automation in any environment. Whether your environment is on-prem or hosted in the public cloud, Cloud-Init can make short work of customizing virtual machines. Even if you use Cloud-Init today, it’s highly likely that you will discover some really interesting use cases or approaches which you may not have considered previously.
VMware Cloud Foundation Sandbox-as-a-Service: The Ultimate Way to Build Self-Managed Labs [CODEQ1354LV]
Honestly, it just sounds cool – right? This is an excellent use case for automation and involves interaction with several different components: networking, compute, storage, etc. The concept of lab-as-a-service is thought provoking and will likely capture the hearts of many enthusiasts.
How to Implement VMware Cloud Foundation without Starting Over [CMTYQ1372LV]
Customers operating in traditional vSphere environments may feel overwhelmed by the notion of migrating to VCF. Did you know that there is a path for converting your existing pre-VCF production environment into VCF? Without a full rebuild? This session will cover important details about migrating to VCF and highlight another inherently cool solution, HCX, used to aid in the migration of workloads.
Tutorials
Tutorial sessions are exactly what they sound like: a designated expert in their field will provide a through walkthrough of a given technology and use case, commonly answering questions along the way. These sessions are more “hands on keyboard” oriented, showcasing the finer details of how attendees may actually perform a given task in their own environments.
Fleet Management Tutorial: Single Sign-On, Certificates, Passwords [CLOT1502LV]
This session is a must-attend! Fleet Management is a game-changer in how Cloud Administrators facilitate lifecycle operations in their environments in VCF 9. This session is expected to demonstrate Single Sign-On (SSO), certificate management, and password management – all using the new VCF Fleet Management capabilities.
Hardening and Securing VMware Cloud Foundation [CLOT1035LV]
This goes without saying – we all want secure environments. Especially for customers with traditional vSphere environments, the idea of securing VCF may raise some questions (and should!). This session is expected to discuss common attack vectors, how to counteract them, and become more ransomware-resilient.
VMware Cloud Foundation Automation: An End-to-End Hands-On Guide [CLOT1759LV]
I very much enjoy working with VCF Automation, yet it seems like one of the lesser-known solutions. I encourage all attendees to learn more about VCF Automation and learn how VCF Automation can enhance infrastructure and application delivery across tenants. You can’t unsee the innovation!
Wait, there’s more!
This is just a taste of what Explore 2025 has to offer! Per usual, Hands-On Labs, Hackathoon, and other community experiences will be offered, which always receive high praise. Keep an eye on the Content Catalog and event homepage for updates! You can stay informed using any of the official links below.
