In May 2017 I travelled to DellEMC World as a guest of DellEMC, so this is my disclosure post as is my tradition.
Flights and Accommodation
- DellEMC paid for an economy flight to Las Vegas (via SFO) from my home town of Melbourne. DellEMC also paid for my accommodation for the week at The Venetian hotel and casino, which is where the event was held.
Food and Drink
Sunday
- I had dinner with a DellEMC colleague, who picked up the tab. I had fillet of barramundi because the sea bass was not available, which was a pity because sea bass is fun to say. Say it with me: sea bass. I also had a gin-and-tonic.
- There was a vBeers event at the Hofbrauhaus organised by my friend Gina Minks. It was sponsored by one or more vendors but I neglected to ask which ones. I had a heferweizen in a stein. For some reason people ordered shots of pear schnapps. I didn’t realise that accepting one meant that one of the serving wenches would then paddle your arse with the paddle thing the shots are brought to the table on. She didn’t hold back either, and sitting down afterwards was a… delicate… operation. People thought it was hilarious. I also discovered that I don’t like pear schnapps.
Tuesday
- I had lunch with a friend from Australia at a Johnny Rockets burger place at Fashion Show, and I paid for the two of us. The burger was enormous and I couldn’t finish it, but that may have been due to the amazing (but filling) vanilla milkshake. Las Vegas does dessert very well.
- Tuesday dinner was at Lotus of Siam as part of Howard Mark’s regular “let’s all get off The Strip for a while and try to remain sane”. Many garlic prawns were consumed. The vendors in attendance picked up the tab.
Wednesday
- I honestly can’t remember what I did for food on Wednesday. This is what I get for not writing it down shortly after it happens.
Thursday
- The conference was over and I had a bunch of work to get through so I did a hermit impression in my hotel room all day when I wasn’t on conference calls.
- Dinner was a giros from the food court in the Venetian and it was actually pretty good. Needed more garlic sauce, though.
Friday
- Friday was a travel day to New Orleans for VeeamON. My flight was relatively early, so I left having a coffee to after I got to the airport.
- The disclosure for this point onwards is covered in my VeeamON post.
- Lunch was at Houston airport while I waited for my next plane. I had a Wendy’s burger and fries because America, and because I was in Texas I had a diet Dr Pepper.
- Dinner was at the hotel in New Orleans, and I just had a club sandwich in the hotel bar because it was late in the timezone I’d just left and I didn’t want to wander around finding something better. The sandwich was enormous and delicious, so I felt vindicated in my choice.
Swag Etc.
Since I was due to be in the USA for three weeks at multiple conferences, I was keen to keep the swag load to a minimum lest I blow through the baggage allowance for US domestic flights. I have enough USB sticks, pens, and random squeezable shapes already, so I stuck pretty much to business cards.