I’m attending VeeamON 2014 in Las Vegas, NV this week, as a guest of Veeam.
So far I’ve managed to catch up with a bunch of Internet friends I only get to see at these things, which is always good fun.
I’ve also got several executive interviews lined up, including one with Veeam CEO Ratmir Timashev. His part of the keynote this morning was very entertaining, so I’m hopeful it’ll be a good interview. Probably quite short, because of how busy Ratmir is, but that’s how these things generally go.
I chatted with Chief Marketing Officer Peter Ruchatz this morning just before the keynote, and learned about the overall branding and positioning approach Veeam are going for. They seem to have excellence focus, but I’ll write more specifically on that topic in a few days once I’ve had time to digest all the information I get this week.
On Las Vegas
I had a bit of a look around the Las Vegas strip last night with some blogger pals, and what struck me is how much… smaller… Vegas seems to be. It’s always portrayed as this ‘larger than life’ thing, but it feels more like a thin veneer of impressiveness, masquerading as gravitas.
The fountains out the front of the Bellagio are lovely, and well worth a look, and Caesar’s Palace does seem to cover a lot of ground, but I can’t shake this feeling of being slightly underwhelmed. Perhaps my expectations were unfairly inflated.
Having said that, the Strip felt friendly and happy, and people were well behaved and just generally in a good mood. I’m much happier with the “let’s just relax” aspect of things than the tacit expectation that being in Vegas means you should try to emulate The Hangover.