The Experts 2 Experts virtualization conference, formerly known as PubForum, is a bi-annual event organized by Alex Juschin. In my opinion this is one of the few must-attend conferences for any die-hard virtualization specialists.

The Fall edition last year was held in Rome, Italy. The next conference, Spring 2017 from 9 till 11 June will take place at Prague, Czech Republic. There are also conferences throughout the year in Sydney, Tokyo and Orlando.

Here are my 29 reasons why you definitively must attend:

1. It is a great network opportunity to meet fellow people and experts. There are approx. 200 attendees from more than 25 countries.
2. It is cheap: Comparing to other events charging 1.500 euro plus, this event is available from approx. 400 euro’s and even cheaper when you buy a ticket at the super early bird price.
3. It is the only opportunity to name calling Justin to the organizer of the event, Alex Juschin.
4. At every event, at any case the last four events, there are at least 4 Microsoft MVP’s, 4 Citrix CTP’s and 4 VMWare vExperts.
5. It is the only event where (part of) the beer is sponsored and the coffee will be charged. Actually the coffee is also free but most attendees prefer beer.
6. Each time the event will take place in a different European city and you can do the sightseeing bus tour on Saturday evening.
7. The event is usually from Friday till Sunday, so your boss cannot complain about missing too much work hours.
8. The quality of the presentations is very high. While not all the presenters have perfect presenting skills, the technical quality is very, very high. Almost all presentations are level 400 sessions.
9. E2E is one of the few non-commercial organized IT events, so when you talk to other people you don’t get a sales pitch every time.
10. At the end of the conference there is geek speak, discuss all technologies with beers and other peers.
11. Did I mention (part of) the beer is sponsored?
12. If Alex does not crash the shuttle bus there will be a shuttle bus service from the airport to the hotel.
13. Be sure to attend the great prize drawings from Alex during lunch time.
14. It is a great opportunity to take your wife, girlfriend, family with you and spend a few days extra.
15. Follow @E2EVC on Twitter to get the latest event information.
16. Alex is one of the seven persons in the world who hold the Citrix CTP, Microsoft MVP and VMWare vExpert title at the same time.
17. The E2E conference is more than only deep-dive technical sessions, the networking part is equally important. Besides a bus tour there are the night out parties to meet fellow geeks.
18. There is no commercial blahblah on the event, sales people will be ‘booh-ed away’ by the audience.
19. It is a great replacement for Citrix Synergy or VMWorld. At E2E there is always a what’s new or technical deepdive session..
20. Zero tolerance for BS.
21. If you want to present a session, even if you have little or no experience, you are more than welcome to do so. There are no requirements of voting, sending presentations or video’s upfront. Just ask Alex for a presentation slot.
22. At most events there will be a separate presenter lounge just for presenters, so they can prepare their session in peace, silence and mindfulness.
23. Don’t be afraid to mingle and talk to other peers.
24. Let’s not forget, (part of) the beer is sponsored.
25. The venues the event are hosted are all not expensive, so it won’t break your budget.
26. It is one of the events where the majority of attendees will be Dutch.
27. It is the only event where the session agenda will be final when the event is finished.
28. On Sunday afternoon there is a geek speak everybody can attend and will be heard. Disagree about all technologies with each other but still drink a beer together.
29. If you don’t believe me, other peers are also writing about E2E as well. Read stories about E2E from Neil Spellings, Bas van Kaam, Ronald Grobben, Wilco van Bragt, Jim Moyle, Edwin Houben, Thomas Maurer, Didier van Hoye, Samuel Legrand, Andrea Mauro, Stephane Tirion, Sinisa Sokolic, Stefan Roth, Esther Barthel, Martijn Hulsman, Michael Ruefli, Jeff Wouters, Rene Lindeboom, Nicolas Dille, Claudio Rodrigues, Rory Monaghan and many, many more…

Photo by Joaquin Romero on Unsplash