Dell EMC World 2016 in Austin, TX starts tomorrow. This is the continuation of Dell World as opposed to the continuation of EMC World (now also called DellEMC World in a move sure to confuse no one) which will in Las Vegas next May.

Side-note: according to Jeremy Burton on Episode 48 of the The Hot Aisle podcast, both conferences may continue but with difference focus and length.

Both last week and over the weekend I’ve been thinking about how for Dell and EMC this is really a Brave New World (go read it if you haven’t…read 1984 while you’re at it too) – this has only been reinforced by multiple very off the record recebnt conversations.

To avoid revealing my sources, I’ll keep it pretty general (and any topic below came up with multiple people)….but let’s just say that there’s a LOT going on between now and February 1 – the beginning of Dell’s fiscal year. This ranges from partner programs (more Dell-like? more EMC-like?) to sales+presales structures (no additional comment 😉 to product portfolio rationalization (which products stay and go short term or long term – see Documentum already being sold to Opentext). Suffice it to say, there’s a lot of uncertainty. Most DellEMC folks seem to be optimistic overall and think that going private/being acquired by Dell was the right move but that doesn’t remove the uncertainty.

One of my goals this week is gathering more information around this uncertainty. As I’m on an Influencer pass, I’m in back to back Analyst Relation sessions Wednesday and Thursday. I have no plans to be “that guy who argues about stuff” but am planning to listen carefully, float a few open-ended questions out there, and possibly even some fairly direct ones as well. For those who haven’t been in the AR (Analyst Relations) world, here’s the kind of schedule you’re provided – will be my first time on the AR track so really looking forward to it.

And yes, in case you’re wondering, this absolutely plays into my job search and the risk I’m seeing in various positions and companies — I’m seeing potential for real impact both positive and negative to DellEMC partners, competitors, and customers. For instance, once you start looking at things that could impact the business model of DellEMC partners, the potential ripple effect gets very large.

Aside from the serious stuff, I’m really looking forward to catching up with lots of friends within EMC Elect, other partners, and EMC folks. vBBQ on Monday night, opening night conference party on Tuesday, Dropbox & Nutanix parties on Wednesday.

Random side-note: make no mistake, conferences are draining but worthwhile. I always bring Five Hour Energy + drink lots of coffee — limited amounts of time to meet lots of people/have tons of conversations/write multiple blog posts/tweet my heart out.

For anyone who has read this far (is that anyone? ;-), I have (2) United Club onetime passes I won’t be able to use – let me know if you have a long layover on your way back home from Dell EMC World and happy to send one your way (all you need is an image on your phone with the barcode).

Thanks again to DellEMC for running an Influencer program to cover the conference pass/airfare/hotel (this is around $2.5k of value) and to Mark Browne for all his work in coordinating the EMC Elect program.