This past November, we successfully launched our second VMware Odyssey Tournament, sponsored by Intel. Similar to VMworld 2019 US, we offered this new program in three different modes:

1. Game Mode: Individual VMworld attendees could drop by the stage and take one of three Odyssey labs during non-competition hours. For game mode, we partnered with the VMware Security team to create a series of Odyssey games that tested your knowledge of VMware Security through blocking a data breach.
2. Tournament Mode: 24 teams compromised of our customers and partners came together and went head-to-head to compete for the grand prize Odyssey winning title. We expanded our product offerings at the Europe show to include Horizon, vRealize Automation, and more.
3. Self-Paced Mode: VMworld attendees were also able to take our Odyssey labs in the Self-Paced Labs section of the HOL area. Anyone who was not able to sign up for the tournament could test their knowledge of the VMware portfolio with our Odyssey labs at their own pace.

VMworld 2019 EU Tournament Format: 

Before kicking off Round 1 of the World Cup Style VMware Odyssey 3-Day Tournament, we added a special round for our technical bloggers. Without any prior knowledge or practice, they were tested on vSphere! Here are some posts around the competition:

Next – The Tournament Begins: All 24 teams participated in Round 1 and Round 2. They were tested on vSAN and vSphere. Crowds formed as the participants focused on completing the given tasks as quickly as possible.  After both rounds were complete, we totaled their scores and selected the top 12 teams to continue into the semi-final rounds.

In between tournament rounds, the teams studied up on our products by taking our labs in the Hands-on Lab area. The semi-final and final round tested all participants on their knowledge of Horizon and vRealize Automation.

And finally, we had a winner! Congratulations to the VMworld 2019 EU Odyssey Champions: the Meteors! With a very impressive time of 10:36, they finished our (very challenging) vRealize Automation Odyssey lab first.

Thank You! We want to thank all the participants, our entire team, and our sponsor Intel. Without all of you, this would not be possible! The VMware Odyssey program at VMworld 2019 Europe was a HUGE success. We hope to see many of you again next year.

What’s Next: The Odyssey team has been working tirelessly to grow and scale the person in-person and online. We are expanding to have a presence at many different VMware in-person events in 2020 as well as online. J

Stay in the loop on all things Odyssey:

• Website: http://odyssey.vmware.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/VMwareHOL
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vmwarehol/

Ready to test your skills of the VMware Portfolio? Take our Odyssey labs now: https://www.vmware.com/try-vmware/try-vmware-odyssey-labs.html

The Hands-on Labs team is continuing the momentum to make sure your experience this year at VMworld Barcelona is unforgettable! Here is a list of items you don’t want to miss during the event.

What’s New?

• VMware Odyssey™ by Hands-on Labs: We are taking Hands-on Labs to the next level by adding gamification elements to the labs you know and love. Showcase your technical expertise and skills with VMware Odyssey, sponsored by Intel. Compete through rounds and go head-to-head with teams to be crowned the grand prize winner.The winning team is awarded the NEW MacBook Pro.  Register Now and become the Odyssey Champion!

The winning team is awarded the NEW MacBook Pro.  Register Now and become the Odyssey Champion!  Are you ready to be crowned VMworld Barcelona’s Odyssey Champion?

Limited availability, Register Today, claim your spot and jacket:

• Lightning Labs: At VMworld Barcelona, we will have more lightning labs than ever! If you’re not familiar, Lightning Labs are short 30-minute, concentrated modules of our Hands-on Labs that are designed to maximize your time. Simply put, they are the fastest and easiest way to learn about core product features broken down to bite-sized actions. Here’s the list of all the Lightning Labs that you can choose from in Barcelona:

• Partner Labs: Test drive our newest partner products and solutions with Hands-on Labs. At Barcelona, we will offer many new partner labs including Dell, AWS, and more.
• Hands-on Labs Augmented Reality: Augmented Reality will be available within the VMworld App throughout the Hands-on Labs area. Discover the Expert-Led Workshops, Command Center Wall, Hands-on Labs Tours, and VMware Odyssey.

Labs That Fit Your Schedule

Take any lab, anywhere, anytime. VMware Hands-on Labs are flexible to fit your schedule. Here are a few options available at VMworld:

• Self-Paced Labs: Explore VMware’s latest products by taking a Hands-on Lab on your own time and at your own pace.
  • At a traditional workstation:Come into the Hands-on Lab room and we will provide you with a seat, a screen and a keyboard.
  • Bring in your own device (BYOD):Find a spot in our open HOL Connect (info on VMworld website) to start a lab.

• Expert-Led Workshops: Try Hands-on Labs in an engaging, instructional environment with lab creators and experts in the room with you! This year we increased the total number of workshops available AND added a number of workshops in French and German. 

• Hands-on Labs Tour: Get a 30-minute behind-the-scenes peek at what it takes to run our Hands-on Labs. Meet lab creators and engineers running our multiple clouds. Make sure to book your tour at the HOL Tour Information Desk during VMworld!

What about Prizes?

 This year our prizes are better than ever! Here are a few ways you can qualify to win:

• The CloudCred, Hands-on Labs Great Labs Game: Score your CloudCred points for EVERY lab and workshop. Follow the QR code at the end of your lab or session for CloudCred points to win BIG PRIZES!! 
• VMware Odyssey™ by Hands-on Labs: Come to VMware Odyssey during VMworld and enter for a chance to win prizes and Odyssey swag. First place tournament winner gets the NEW MacBook Pro!

After Hours:

After working hard, it’s time to play! Here’s a few of our favorite things to do after hours while in Barcelona:

• Attend a Football game at Camp Nou Stadium: Camp Nou is the home stadium of FC Barcelona and the largest stadium in all of Europe. Cheer on the competing teams and meet some locals!
• Visit the famous Sagrada Familia: The large and unfinished Roman Catholic church in Barcelona is one of the must sees while in the area.
• Walk around el Mercado de La Boqueria: This is our favorite local market in Barcelona that sells some of the best meat, cheese, and sangria in the city.
• Eat dinner at El Nacional: The first restaurant in Barcelona with different areas to try traditional recipes from all around the Iberian Peninsula.
• Grab a drink at the Old Fashioned: This is one our favorite Gin tonic & Cocktail Bars in all of Barcelona.

We can’t wait to see you there!

We just made updates to the HOL-2008-04-ODY – vSAN Beginner Odyssey Lab based on user feedback. Version 2 of the VMware vSAN Beginner Odyssey Lab is now live!

Congratulations to Anthony Laurente, Jonas Weber, and Danilo Coppola on ranking at the top of our global vSAN version 1 leaderboard! Keep an eye out for our VMware Odyssey swag to come in the mail.

https://go.hol.vmware.com/odyssey/leaderboard.htm?showProgress=true&rows=27&interval=10&code=GMVSAN

Thank you everyone for playing our VMware vSAN Beginner Version 1 Odyssey Lab!  Now is your chance to go back and showcase your vSAN skills on our brand new leaderboard: https://www.vmware.com/go/try-vsan-odyssey 

As VMware Odyssey grows, we are continually learning better ways to run the program. Here are our latest tips, tricks, and best practices to have a VMware Odyssey ‘Hackathon’ at your next team meeting or partner event:

Prep Work:

Step 1:

Take an Odyssey Lab. Learn the key differences between a Hands-on Labs and VMware Odyssey Game labs. Your understanding of the program is key in the success of running the event and friendly competition.

Step 2:

 Understand what the requirements are to run Odyssey smoothly and successfully at your event. We put together a list below:

*If you will not provide thin clients, ensure there are enough computers available to run the games on.

The requirements above are categorized as optional and required items. The required lines will ensure you have the minimum necessities to successfully run Odyssey at a small local event. For medium-larger events that may span over multiple days with more attendees, we created a foundational list of “optional” items that will help drive awareness, buzz, and excitement. For example, adding emcees can help gather a crowd and get more customers to take a lab.

Step 3:
Fill out the information and details around your event here: http://web.hol.vmware.com/HOL-in-a-box/

Be sure to put a Salesforce Tracking ID and select all the Odyssey game labs you would like to run at your game night event.  Once you fill this form out, we will provide you with a landing page specific for your event, a unique Odyssey game code, and the custom leaderboard link.

Step 4: A few days before your event

Before your game night event, we recommend to take the specific Odyssey lab(s) that will be featured in the event and familiarize yourself with how to complete each task. It is also important to test the networking in the event room itself. This will ensure a smooth event experience and allows time to troubleshoot any issues before the event begins.

On the day of the actual event, we encourage a proctor or product expert present onsite that is familiar with how to complete the tasks.

Getting Started:

Once the prep work is down, lets create teams and design the game format based on the amount of time you have allotted.

Team Formation (optional step):

Start with all individuals form teams and create their team names. Help them along the way and try to keep each team small (we recommend no more than 6 participants per team). Once the teams have been finalized, write the team names and members down on the whiteboard. We noticed this can take a while, but it’s on our roadmap to automate.

If you decide that you do not want teams, then you can have all attendees play individually on their own laptops or thin clients.

Game Format:

Most Odyssey games run for 30 minutes, so we’d recommend you set aside 1 hour per game. Here’s an estimated timeline of events:

• First 15 minutes: introduce VMware Odyssey, create user accounts, walk the users through the VMware Odyssey game lab interface, and make sure all players are ready.
  • *If you have a special Game Code, make sure people use that instead of the one within the lab manual.*
• Next 30 minutes: Game Time – Choose one Odyssey lab at a time, and let the games begin.
  • We’d recommend starting with a Beginner level Odyssey lab to warm the players up, and then move into more Advanced topics if time permits.
• Last 15 minutes: Once participants begin completing all the Odyssey lab tasks, they should walk around and help other players that are falling behind. VMware Odyssey is all about having fun and working together!

Pro Tips:

#1: If you find most individuals are stuck on a certain task, be sure to encourage them to use other resources (i.e. Google) to help solve the answer.

#2: If you don’t want your last name on the leaderboard, you can edit it out on our VMware Learning Platform Profile (lab portal) and refresh your browser. See image below:  

Let us know what you think! If you have any additional questions, suggestions, or comments on how to (better) run Odyssey at your events, please email us at: odyssey-support@vmware.com

Our NEW VMware Odyssey, gamification of Hands-on Labs, hosted its very first Hackathon at the Electronic Arts Summit on September 18^th, 2019. We took an odyssey ALL the way to Vancouver, Canada at the EA Vancouver Studio to challenge the participants on our VMware portfolio.

Before kicking off the Hackathon, we had teams of three form on the spot. There were 12 players and four teams created. Our four teams were named Disaster Area, DevOps, Wirecutters, and the Wookies.

The teams were challenged with successfully completing each task within the Odyssey Lab in the least amount of time to rank on our leaderboard.

The competition kicked off with three rounds on the following topics:

1. vSAN
2. vSphere Performance
3. vRealize Operations

The teams dove deep into each task, in hopes to rank #1 on the leaderboard.

After all three rounds were completed, we had our grand prize winner! Congratulations to the Disaster Area team (Patrick, Andrew, and Robert) on finishing all three Odyssey labs in less than 40 minutes. Enjoy the prizes, swag, and most importantly, the bragging rights!

We even had a custom Electronic Arts Summit – Odyssey Hackathon Leaderboard with all the players and their rankings!

Interested to see where you would rank on our global leaderboard? Take our Odyssey labs now and find out! https://labs.hol.vmware.com/HOL/catalogs/catalog/1416

Thank you to all the players that made our very first VMware Odyssey Hackathon a success! A big shout out and thank you as well to Electronic Arts for giving us the opportunity to host our first Odyssey Hackathon at an AWESOME location and to our sponsor, Intel, who helped us make Odyssey happen!

What a week! VMware Odyssey, sponsored by Intel, was a HUGE success. Contestants and viewers gathered around the Odyssey stage to witness the first official launch of the program at VMworld 2019 US.

RECAP – What is VMware Odyssey?

VMware Odyssey, sponsored by Intel, is the gamification of Hands-on Labs, designed to engage, challenge, and showcase user’s expertise across the VMware portfolio. Last week at VMworld US, we offered two types of Odyssey labs:

1. Game Mode – Individual VMworld attendees could take an Odyssey lab in game mode at one of our desktop stations to compete with other players around the world!  The global Odyssey leaderboard displayed the top players with the quickest times.
2. Tournament Mode -Teams come together in a tournament setting to compete against each other in rounds. The winning teams continued to the finals to play for 1^st and 2^nd place.

VMware Odyssey – Game Mode

Outside official Odyssey tournament hours, our stage was open to anyone who wanted to try our brand-new Odyssey ‘Game Mode’ labs. Customers came to experience a taste of the ‘Odyssey Game Lab’. Participants raced against the clock to complete the given lab tasks as fast as they could to rank on the global leaderboard. Some initial customer feedback is included below:

• “Great experience. This would be a good way to expand on VCP certification and have a lab setup to test the skills of a certification.”
• “Fun concept. Challenging enough to be fun but not impossible. Leading but not spoon fed. Really well done; enjoyed this. Thanks!”

The VMware Odyssey Tournament Begins

Ready, Set, Go!

On Tuesday, all the participants delved into Round 1 with great scrutiny, trying to figure out the correct configurations. The excitement was almost tangible as teams huddled together to help each other in figuring out the correct configurations for the tasks.

After the first two rounds finished, the top 12 teams progressed to the semifinals on Wednesday, August 29^th. Each round covered a brand-new VMware product topic.  To kick off the final rounds, our CEO, Pat Gelsinger, cheered on the teams, and even gave them back rubs for good luck!

The top six teams from the semifinals advanced to the final round and competed for first and second place. After some breathtaking minutes we had a winning team, the Meteors!

Congratulations again to our Odyssey grand prize winners – the Meteors! Well done Dmitri,
Ben, and Nick! Check out Ben’s blog post on his experience with Odyssey: https://www.murben.net/2019/09/vmworld-2019-hol-odyssey-competition-we.html

Thank you again to everyone who participated in or cheered on VMware Odyssey at VMworld US last week. A special shout out and thank you as well to our sponsor, Intel, for making our first official VMworld Odyssey Tournament possible!

Check out our Facebook page for more photos: https://www.facebook.com/vmwarehol/ 

What’s Next?

Our next stop is VMworld 2019 Barcelona.  We can’t wait to see you there!  In the meantime, check out the VMware Odyssey website to learn more: http://odyssey.vmware.com/

About Kate Lee – 

Kate Lee is a Technical Marketing Manager (Support Engineer) of the Hands-on Labs Team and the only member residing in Asia. She loves supporting day-to-day customers and employees with their Hands-on Labs experience and is also engaged in supporting Odyssey.

Make your mark at Hands-on Labs VMworld 2019 US! Over the last 12 months, our team has been working tirelessly to create a meaningful experience for you. This year we have 83 new labs across all of our products and several never-before-seen offerings.

What’s New?

We are excited to be introducing several new programs this year.

• VMware Odyssey™ by Hands-on Labs: We are taking Hands-on Labs to the next level by adding gamification elements to the labs you know and love. Showcase your technical expertise in our Hands-on Labs environment across the VMware portfolio of products. Compete through rounds and go head to head with teams to be crowned the grand prize winner! Register now and become the Odyssey Champion!

Are you ready to be crowned this year’s Odyssey Champion? Limited availability, Register today, claim your spot and jacket!

• Partner Labs: Test drive our newest partner products and solutions with Hands-on Labs. At VMworld 2019 US, we will offer many new partner labs including Dell, AWS, and more.
• Hands-on Labs Augmented Reality: Augmented Reality will be available within the VMworld App throughout the Hands-on Labs area. Discover the Expert-Led Workshops, Command Center Wall, Hands-on Labs Tours, and VMware Odyssey.

Labs That Fit Your Schedule

Take any lab, anywhere, anytime. VMware Hands-on Labs are flexible to fit your schedule. Here are a few options available at VMworld:

• Self-Paced Labs: Explore VMware’s latest products by taking a Hands-on Lab on your own time and at your own pace.
  • At a traditional workstation: Come into the Hands-on Lab room and we will provide you with a seat, a screen and a keyboard.
  • Bring in your own device (BYOD): Find a spot in our open HOL Connect (info on VMworld website) to start a lab.

• Expert-Led Workshops: Try Hands-on Labs in an engaging, instructional environment with lab creators and experts in the room with you! This year we increased the number of workshops available AND added two workshops in Spanish and Portuguese. 

What about Prizes?

 This year our prizes are better than ever! Here are a few ways you can qualify to win:

• The CloudCred, Hands-on Labs Great Labs Game: Score your CloudCred points for EVERY lab and workshop. Follow the QR code at the end of your lab or session for CloudCred points to win BIG PRIZES!! 
• VMware Odyssey™ by Hands-on Labs: Come to VMware Odyssey during VMworld and enter for a chance to win prizes and Odyssey swag.

We can’t wait to see you there!

About Olivia Reyes

Olivia Reyes is a Content Delivery Specialist and the newest member of the Hands-on Labs team! She is excited to drive innovation and automation across current processes, products and solutions for all things Hands-on Labs.

Have you ever wished there was a fun and quick way to learn about a VMware product and its features? If your answer is yes, we are happy to introduce VMware Odyssey a new approach to evaluating VMware products.

How? We have added gamification elements to the labs you know and love. VMware Odyssey are short 15-minute tasks that challenge your knowledge and expertise across the VMware portfolio.

How did it all get started?

It is in VMware’s DNA to push the boundaries, we launched an in-person competition during vForum Singapore 2018. The results were amazing! We had a total of 52 customers and partners, forming 18 teams of 2-3 people competition against each other. Within the teams, there was a great amount of teamwork as participants worked together to complete the required given tasks.  There were a lot of interactions with the audience as they cheered for their favorite teams and friends. Click here to read more

How has it evolved?

The Hands-on Labs team has been working tirelessly to grow and scale the program in-person and online. For the vForum Singapore event all the validation was done manually; participants completed tasks and lab staff checked to make sure they were done correctly. This did not give us much room to scale, so over the past 6 months, we have been developing a fully automated game engine that will automatically check that a task was completed correctly.

Odyssey is created using VMware’s Hands-on Labs environment with customized manuals created specifically to test your technical knowledge and expertise of VMware products. Once you complete a task you get instant feedback on your progress. You can form a team and go head to head against the clock to reach the highest ranking on the leaderboard.

Watch Video to Learn More

What’s next…?

We are happy to announce we are bringing the fun and excitement to VMworld 2019! Come and join the fun in San Francisco August 25-29 and Barcelona November 4-7, register at www.vmworld.com!

Stay tuned for our next blog with details about our upcoming in-person events. Please leave your comments and feedback to learn more.

Lightning Labs are short 30-minute, concentrated modules of our Hands-On Labs that are designed to maximize your time. Simply put, they are the fastest and easiest way to learn about core product features broken down to bite-sized actions.

These evaluations are FREE, easy to access thru our Lighting Lab Catalogue and up and running on your browser in minutes, NO INSTALLATION required.

Simply choose the lab you’d like to test drive and click on the Start Lab button.

Now you are ready to dive in and evaluate the features and functionality of VMware products. It’s that simple.

But don’t take my word for it, listen to the experts:

Got 30 minutes? Try one now!

If English is not your preferred language, you will be pleased to know that our 2019 Hands-on Lab manuals have been localized to serve our global audience. Click here for instructions on how to change your language in the Hands-on Labs portal.

Let us know what you think of our Lighting Labs. Carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.