VMUG Connect came to Amsterdam for its first European event, bringing together more than 500 attendees from over 24 countries. Built with input from a regional taskforce of VMUG Leaders, the experience reflected both local insight and broader community needs.
For most attendees, it was their first VMUG Connect. For some, it was their first VMUG event, period.
Tayyip Celikkok, an IT Specialist, was one of those first-timers. "Attended my first VMUG in Amsterdam and had an incredible time," he said. "It was great connecting with amazing people from the community and getting inspired by the speakers."
That feeling carried across the event. Practitioners working through similar challenges found they were not working through them alone. As John Ryan reflected after attending, “VMUG has always been great at blending the tech and the community elements at their events and, once again, they got the balance right.”
The sessions covered VCF, vSAN, NSX, security, automation, and certification. Deep, practitioner-led content built around real environments. Christian Mohn, who wrote about the event afterward, noted that conversations stayed grounded throughout, in the actual challenges people brought with them rather than abstract ones.
One moment that stood out: Sidney Laan passed his VCAP VCF Storage v9.0 exam mid-event. He was not the only one. For several attendees, being surrounded by peers deep in the same technologies for three days made Amsterdam the right place to finally sit for a certification they had been working toward.
For VMUG Leaders, Amsterdam included a dedicated training to kick off the event. Marcus-Claudius Freese, a VMUG Leader and Cloud Engineer, described the in-person time with fellow Leaders from across the region as one of the most valuable parts of the trip. When people who build local communities in different countries finally get in the same room, something shifts. Ideas get shared, problems get solved, and the work of keeping a community alive feels a little less like something you do on your own.
What stood out was not just what people learned, but how they showed up for each other. Sharing perspectives, offering insight, and continuing conversations beyond a single moment.
Amsterdam was three days of that happening in one place. And for many, those conversations will continue well beyond it.