VMUGs are a great way to learn new things and meet other VMware enthusiasts. They are great, free events, where normally a vendor sponsors food, typically lasting half or a full work day. Most times you get really great speakers from vendors or even specialists from other cities, but the real treat is when other people in your area share their hard earned tips and tricks.
A lot of the VMUGs have more vendor participation than actual users. It's the typical fear of presenting, I think - thinking you don't have anything of value, or you don't have the skills. I'm here to tell you both of that isn't true. You have something that you are an expert on, because you've spent the time with it. You can talk and communicate, so you can present. Take the plunge :)
I decided I have no problem whipping up a (simple) ppt and talking about a topic which interests me, so I've spoken in 2 so far. They aren't great - I do have a day job that keeps me very busy - but I do think they could help someone out!
Feel free to use the powerpoint files if they can help you. I tried to give credit to others as much as I could, but if I missed you, I'm sorry. Let me know and I'll correct it.
These are the actual files I used in the VMUG presentation on the date below.,I've put a note with any corrections I would put in today.
Denver, January 2014 This one talks about host level optimizations when using Equallogic iSCSI arrays. One thing missing from it are the recommendations in TR1091, which detail Delayed ACK, LRO, and Storage I/O settings. Thanks to Scott Lowe and Kevin Divine, and my SAN architect, Paul Pearson!
NYC, March 2015 I am big fan of the VCSA; it's amazing to me how few people use it. When I asked in the VMUG, only a handful had used it, even in lab environments - very few in production. Hopefully this ppt will make you reconsider and you will give it a shot. Also, after this ppt I noticed that the VMware hardening guide has 30+ items for windows vCenter, but only a handful for the VCSA - another advantage. I actually have a pic of this one thanks to the @nycvmug :)
NYC, Feb 2016 I presented a section of my website that I am working on - VCP6 study resources.
NYC, April 2016 I did a small presentation on "How I would explain NSX to a friend in 10 minutes" because I found out that explaining NSX to a fellow VMware administrator was not something that could be done in a few sentences. I would add a bit more today. My friend @stalin_pena snagged a pic for me and @iamantonz and we sent it out the @nycvmug handle. This day I was announced as part of the NYC VMUG team and I am awaiting my leader access to get things going :D