Get ready for an insightful journey.

Join us at VMware Explore

Las Vegas, Nevada | The Venetian
August 25 – 28, 2025

Ever wondered what goes through the minds of the experts who take the stage at VMware Explore? We’re pulling back the curtain with a special speaker spotlight series that gives you an inside look at the brilliant minds shaping our four event tracks.

Over the next few weeks, we’re sitting down with four standout speakers from VMware Explore 2025 in Las Vegas—one from each track—to get their take on everything from cloud complexity to breakthrough innovations. We asked them all the same questions, and their answers? Let’s just say they’re as diverse and insightful as the community that makes Explore the powerhouse event it is.

John Dwyer, Technology Product Manager, Tanzu Division, Broadcom

John Dwyer is Product Manager focused on AI, in the Tanzu Division of Broadcom. John is an experienced IT professional with an extensive background in Software Development, Automation, Virtualization, Networking, and Storage.

Connect with John Dwyer
X | LinkedIn

Don’t miss the chance to hear directly from industry leaders at #VMwareExplore. Check out our Modern Applications Track Spotlight featuring John Dwyer (@johnnycuse) ⤵ Share on X

5 Questions with John Dwyer

Your session is part of Modern Applications—what’s this track about, and what’s one reason your session is a must-attend for folks interested in this topic?

The Modern Applications track is all about building, deploying, and managing applications. There is a focus on simplifying the development process as well as how applications move to production. At a starting point, it focuses on moving beyond the VM, with containerized applications deployed on PaaS or Kubernetes layered on top of VCF.

At this point in time there is nothing more modern, with every company scrambling to keep up with generative AI. We are seeing all over the industry, similar to Shadow IT, an uprising of Shadow AI. You can prevent this by enabling access to the right AI tools in a secure way. My session is a must see if you are interested in what is going on in the AI space and want to learn how you can deliver AI services.

Can you give us a brief description of what your session/sessions will cover at Explore? And what’s one takeaway attendees will walk away with that they can implement immediately?

My session, Tanzu AI Solutions Essentials: What You Need to Know to Get Up and Running [MODB1496LV], will focus on how VI Admins can deliver a world class PaaS platform on VCF with a focus on building and delivering generative AI applications.

Many companies think they need to either make a large GPU hardware investment or get security approval to leverage a SaaS based generative AI service. My session will show you how to get started with what you have today!

You will leave my session with a general understanding of what is going on in the AI industry, a general understanding of all the confusing terms, and see demos of the most common use cases companies are trying to leverage AI for.

If you had to convince a skeptic to attend Explore in 30 seconds, what would you say?

Explore is an amazing opportunity to step away from the day-to-day work and up level your skillset. We all want the time to learn what is coming next and how to better use what we have, but meetings and other admin work often get in the way. Attending Explore enables you to focus on you. It is an amazing opportunity to attend in-person sessions, get focus time to be hands-on in the labs, and network with other users.

What’s the biggest challenge you see IT practitioners wrestling with right now, and how will Explore help folks navigate it?

With my focus on AI, I see so many people just struggling to keep up with the rate of innovation and how they can help their organizations enable successful AI projects. They often struggle with how they can justify the ROI for adopting AI. Explore is a great opportunity to learn how you can take advantage of what is going on in the AI industry, but in the comfort of your own datacenter.

Beyond the sessions, what’s your pro tip for getting maximum value out of the Explore experience?

I have had the pleasure of attending Explore as a customer years ago and now for over ten years as an employee! For me there are two main things I always try to focus on—making time for the labs and talking to the person next to me.

The hands-on labs give you an amazing opportunity to learn something new and get some practical experience. I still as an employee try to do multiple hands-on labs every year; it helps me keep up with everything that is going on across our products.

Perhaps my favorite part of attending an in-person event is getting to talk to someone new. I can’t tell you how many things I have learned over the years just by striking up a conversation with someone in a session, in the hallway, or my favorite at lunch! Everyone attending has a similar interest, so when you go to lunch, go sit with people you don’t know and ask them what they are excited to learn at Explore.

Bonus: What is your favorite memory from attending Explore?

I have two major things that stand out to me as my favorite moments from attending Explore.

The first was when I got the opportunity to present a session for the first time when I was an attendee. I was really nervous about public speaking and the VMware employees I was presenting with were so encouraging and supportive helping me through the preparation and delivery of the session. Little did I know that those same employees would eventually become my colleagues, friends, and public speaking would become one of my favorite things to do.

The second is I am pretty sure that I am the only one in the history of the event to officiate a wedding during the event, but if you want to hear that story, you need to attend my session or find me at the event and ask in person!

Check out John’s Hot Picks Session Playlist

Curious about what sessions you can’t miss at Explore? We’ve got you covered. Dive into this curated playlist of John’s favorite sessions, and add them to your agenda. ⤵

See John’s Playlist