vExpert Application for 2020H2 are open – Know before you apply

Currently vExpert applications are open for the second half of 2020. As a former vExpertPro I voted on previous applications. During my voting on applications I saw awesome, good, ok, bad and worst applications. So I thought I could give everybody some guideline on how to improve your application and how your application should probably look like to have a good chance to be selected as vExpert.

But first of all, as usual, what is the vExpert program.

The VMware vExpert program is VMware’s global evangelism and advocacy program. The program is designed to put VMware’s marketing resources towards your advocacy efforts. Promotion of your articles, exposure at our global events, co-op advertising, traffic analysis, and early access to beta programs and VMware’s roadmap.

Each year, we bring together in the vExpert Program the people who have made some of the most important contributions to the VMware community. These are the bloggers, book authors, VMUG leaders, speakers, tool builders, community leaders and general enthusiasts.

What are the benefits for being a vExpert?

• Networking with 2,000 vExperts / Information Sharing
• Knowledge Expansion on VMware & Partner Technology
• Opportunity to apply for vExpert BU Lead Subprograms
• Possible Job Opportunities
• Direct Access to VMware Business Units via Subprograms
• Blog Traffic Boost through Advocacy, @vExpert, @VMware, VMware Launch & Announcement Campaigns
• 1 Year VMware Licenses for Home Labs for almost all Products & Some Partner Products
• Private VMware & VMware Partner Sessions
• Gifts from VMware and VMware Partners
• vExpert Celebration Parties at both VMworld US and VMworld Europe with VMware CEO, Pat Gelsinger
• VMware Advocacy Platform Invite (share your content to thousands of vExperts & VMware employees who amplify your content via their social channels)
• Private Slack Channels for vExpert and the BU Lead Subprograms

When applying for the vExpert program there are 4 tracks you can choose from.

Evangelist Path
The Evangelist Path includes book authors, bloggers, tool builders, public speakers, VMTN contributors, and other IT professionals who share their knowledge and passion with others with the leverage of a personal public platform to reach many people. Employees of VMware can also apply via the Evangelist path. A VMware employee reference is recommended if your activities weren’t all in public.

Customer Path
The Customer Path is for leaders who evangelize VMware. We are looking for passionate customers who do the work to evangelize within their organization or worked with VMware to build success stories, act as customer references, given public interviews, spoken at conferences, or were VMUG leaders. The actives must not be related to your position within the company, i.e. not being paid for evangelizing VMware. A VMware employee reference is recommended if your activities weren’t all in public.

Partner Path
The VPN Path is for employees of our partner companies who lead with passion and by example, who are committed to continuous learning through accreditations and certifications and to making their technical knowledge and expertise available to many. This can take shape of event participation, video, IP generation, as well as public speaking engagements.

VMUG & VCDX
If you are an active VMUG Leader or hold the title of VCDX you will qualify for the vExpert award. VMUG leader titles and activities are also verified and you must be an active leader in your chapter. Inactive VMUG leaders will not qualify for the award. To apply via VMUG or VCDX, please use the evangelist path and state you are a VCDX or VMUG leader and which chapter. All VCDX applicants will be verified via vcdx.vmware.com.

From my experience the partner path is the most challenging path because most of the people’s content, who are applying for the partner path is maybe not public available. This is the reason why a VMware employee reference is required.

So most of the people applying for vExpert are using the Evangelist path. Here are some guidelines you should consider when filling out your vExpert application.

• Make sure that your content is about VMware. If you are writing most of the time about Veeam, Microsoft or what ever, chances are good that you won’t be selected as vExpert. For this content other community programs are available like Microsoft MVP or Veeam Vanguards. So personally I would say that 50% or more should be about VMware.
• Be honest in your vExpert application, content and path. Voters are also looking at your content provided in the application and also checking the VCDX directory if you have applied for the VCDX path. If you have chosen the wrong path because you are e.g. no VCDX it’s up to the voter and the remaining content if you are still getting selected.
• Don’t use a syndicate blog in your application. This content is not your own and voters can’t give you credit for that.
• If you fill out the VMTN field please provide the correct VMTN username. You can find your VMTN username if you login to VMTN and select “View my profile”. This will create an URL similar to this one “https://communities.vmware.com/people/Fred_vBrain” where the red marked part is your VMTN username.
• Just fill out your VMTN username if you actually helping people there. If you are just a lurker and your last post is ages ago don’t fill out the VMTN part because voters can’t give you credit for that.
• If you are mentioning speaking engagements (VMworld, VMUG, etc.), please provide the necessary references for that (links, agenda, etc.). Otherwise it won’t count towards the final scoring.
• First half vExpert applications normally taking content from last year into account (e.g. vExpert 2020-> content from 2020), whereas second half vExpert applications normally taking June to June timelines into account (second half 2020 -> content from June 2019 to June 2020). Keep this in mind when you are providing content links.
• If you are a blogger, please date your posts in whatever way suits you. If the voters can’t verify that the content is from the required time period they also can’t give you credit for that.
• If you are a VMUG leader it would be great if you are mentioning your meetings and have a link to it. Would save time for the voters who doesn’t need to search for it.
• Please mention only content or activities which were created or done outside of your daily job business. E.g. if you’re a Vendor SE and you’re doing presentations for your customers, then this is part of your job. But if you’re speaking at VMUGs or VMworld then this is voluntary and would count towards the vExpert criteria .

I hope these guidelines will help people who apply for the vExpert program or such people who get’s denied in their first try. Also if you need help for preparing your application you can always reach out to your local vExpert Pro which can be found in the vExpert Directory. If there is no vExpert Pro in your country or region you can either contact me or one of the other Pros in the directory. I think everyone of them will be happy to help with the application or giving some advice for “how to apply”.

Source: Information about the vExpert program and wording was taken from the VMware vExpert Blog site.