I’ll be heading to Virtualization Field Day 2 Feb 22-24 in Silicon Valley!  What is Virtualization Field Day?  It’s a 2 day event packed with in-depth and interactive Q&A between vendors in the virtualization space, and independent bloggers / writers / thought leaders in the industry.

Vendors get to showcase products that are real, or on the drawing board, and they get solid, candid feedback from independent IT pros that helps them make their products better for all of us.

Delegates get a first look at some of the coolest new technologies everyone will be talking about in the coming months, as well as an opportunity to get hands-on with them and ask the tough questions that would never be allowed in a webcast full of random people.  Some things may be covered by NDA, or an embargo date, but the majority of the event can be viewed live right here as it happens!

If you can’t catch the stream live, follow us on Twitter with hashtag #VFD2, and tweet us your questions for the vendors.  The videos will be posted after the event concludes so you can go back and catch anything you might miss.

This is my second Tech Field Day event, and based on the presenter and delegates list, it’s going to be fantastic!

What makes these events so valuable is the expectation of independence and objective nature of the delegates.  Combine this with the hard work and dedication of Steven Foskett, and Matt Simmons, who plan everything to the last detail, and coach the vendors ahead of time so they don’t bring lame marketing presentations to real technical guys and gals.  The stream will definitely be worth your time!

Are there vendors making something awesome you’d like to see present at an event down the road?  Nominate them here!

Do you love technology, and work for a non-IT vendor?  If you’d like to become a delegate, find out how here!

In the interest of full disclosure, delegates’ travel expenses to and from the event, as well as accommodations during the event are covered by sponsors.  As with any tech event, delegates may receive swag from vendors, but delegates are not under any obligation to blog, tweet, or even like the products.  Of course if there are cool products that interest delegates, they may be discussed on various social media sites, but there is no compensation, or expectation from either side after the event concludes.