Hands-on Labs Goes to Vegas!

VMware Explore is headed to Las Vegas, and Hands-on Labs will be bringing our best to the show! We have twice the space we had in San Francisco and we are filling it with all the good stuff…

The Hands-on Labs room can be found on Level 2 of the Venetian (casino level) in Hall D. Head past registration to The Hub and follow the signs through the Hub…you can’t miss us.

We open on Monday at 9 and will have the labs warmed up and ready for you 😉

Expert-led Workshops

This year we have over 90 opportunities for you to explore VMware solutions with the experts who create the labs, including vSphere 8, vSphere+, Tanzu and the full Aria suite. Expert-led Workshops are small sessions (25-50 seats) and 90 minutes jam-packed with product information and hands-on experience in a live environment.

Workshops are always our most popular activity at the show, and we heard you that you want more, so we have added space for additional workshops scheduled more sessions of our most popular content.

Didn’t get into the workshop you wanted? We have got you covered 😉

We will be releasing additional seats for all of our workshops in the Explore Content Catalog on 8/14/23.
Still didn’t get a seat? We do keep a few reserve seats for folks who show up 15 minutes before the session to join a wait list, so be sure to stop by and check on your favorite topics.
Did you know? 95% of the labs we offer in sessions are also offered in our Self-paced Labs area; there is no need to register for these labs, you can show up at any time to take them and take as many as you like, every day of the show. The same VMware experts that write the labs (and deliver the Expert-led Workshops) are in the self-paced labs area to answer questions, deep dive into solutions and share their knowledge with all attendees.
Finally, for the first time at our US show, we will be releasing additional sessions during the show! On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we will be offering the most popular sessions from the day before as a Pop-up Workshop. Seats will be released Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, so watch those special “Watch this space” sessions for your favorite titles.

Self-paced Labs

The Self-paced lab catalog has new titles being added everyday…you will find 95% of the labs offered as workshops available to take at any time, with no registration required. At last count we had over 100 brand new titles coming to the show. You can check out the full list in the Explore Content Catalog and favorite <3 the ones you want to check out on-site. Our lab authors will be on-hand to answer any questions you have about the labs, or VMware products.

Watch the catalog for a special release lab or two coming on Tuesday…or ask anyone in the Labs room and they will be happy to share 😉

Odyssey by Hands-on Labs is BACK

You know we had to bring back the fan favorite, and we have some very cool prizes again this year! Test your knowledge of VMware products and race the clock to see how high you can climb on the leaderboard.

Monday: Game #1
Tuesday: Game #2
Wednesday: Game #3
Thursday: Tournament @ 11:00AM – 12:00PM

If you make it to the top 10 by Wednesday, you will be invite to the Odyssey Tournament on Thursday and compete to win one of the awesome grand prizes:

First Place: An Alienware Aurora R15 Gaming Desktop
Second Place: Viewsonic Portable Projector
Third Place: Lego Imperial AT-AT ^TM from Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back

This year we have made a few improvements:

There will be new games Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday…but all games will be published on Monday…so you know what’s coming 😉
Each game will remain playable once it is published. Missed Monday’s game? Don’t panic! You can take it Tuesday or Wednesday and still qualify for the tournament
The Hands-on Labs team is creating a study guide…in the Self-paced Labs area you will find a special catalog that includes all of the labs you need to “study” to maximize your chances of winning. You can thank us later 🙂
Finally, we have a special engagement after the tournament on Thursday, so come to cheer on your favorite player and stick around for something cool

Some things stay the same:

Odyssey is still open to all attendees
There will be daily giveaways for giving the daily game a try
Points are cumulative and each game counts toward your leaderboard standings, so playing every game maximizes your possible points.
The top 10 on Wednesday advance to the Tournament
The live emcees will be back, giving a play by play of the tournament, you don’t want to miss this…their dad jokes are hilarious!

Hands-on Labs Tours, Command Center and Scavenger Hunt

The Hands-on Labs Tours are an opportunity to meet the lab creators and engineering teams that work to build the lab experiences. This journey behind-the-scenes takes about 30-45 minutes, covers all of the elements in the room and covers business and technical topics. The final destination on the tour will bring you to our world famous Command Center Wall where you can see how we monitor the Hands-on Labs room in real time, using VMware products. If you want to see what happens behind the curtains, stop by the Tours Check-in Desk at one of the tour times below.

Tour Schedule