Will people remember you as someone who spent your entire life chasing a paycheck; consumed by your wants, needs, and fears? Or will your legacy be of someone that put good into the world?
If you weren’t already thinking these things, there’s a chance that #VMworld at least inspired you to consider these ideas. Whether the thoughts came from seeing the musical Hamilton, the “Make Your Mark” signage, or maybe you noticed the re-occurring conference theme of using “tech for good.”
Let’s go through the places that VMworld aspired to inspire us to do good.
Keynote
On VMworld 2019’s day one’s keynote, Pat Gelsinger began with the idea of using “tech as a force for good.” He gave two examples of two customers that leverage VMware solutions to help make the world a better place.
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- TechSoup is an organization that brings digital transformative tech to non-profits like charities, museums, and churches at a discounted price or as a donation. VMware Foundation recently announced a $2.5 million grant that will enable TechSoup to serve significantly more organizations.
- Angel MedFlight depends on VMware vSAN HCI for the life-saving tech needed to transport critical patients.
Expo Floor
On VMworld 2019’s day one’s keynote, Pat Gelsinger began
Ken Nalbone (@KenNalbone) once said that the “swag usually isn’t worth the scan,” But wait, how about instead of swag, the vendor makes a charity donation? That kind of changes things, right?
Walking the expo floor, a couple of the vendors did exactly that. They made donations to charity in exchange for time and attention. Here’s my shout-out to the vendors that I saw offering this option:
- Cohesity
Cohesity donated a dollar for each putt taken and also matched any donations to the Special Olympics of Northern California. - VirtuStream
In exchange for watching a 5-minute presentation and your participation, VirtuStream made donations to Cradles to Crayons.
#vBrownBag Stage
Maybe you weren’t at VMworld and didn’t have a chance to trade time and attention for a vendor-made charity donation. Have no fear; you can still put some VMworld-inspired good into the world.
On the #vBrownBag stage, Yadin Porter de Leon (@porterdeleon) presented a session entitled, “Technologists for Good, Through Global Mentorship.” In this session, he talked about WarChild, a non-profit in need of virtual mentors for children in war-torn countries like Syria.
Conclusion
Many of us in tech were drawn to this field because of a love for the industry. However, does this need to be separate from our desire to make the world a better place? Or a desire to leave things better than you found them? What are the ways that you could use tech to make the world better?