My First v100 Summit: A Recap
Updated: 13m
This year I went to the annual v100 Summit for the first time, as a newly named Veeam MVP. Several Vanguards and Legends had told me it was the event of the year. What can I say? They were right.
That’s why I’m writing this post: to encourage you to get involved in the Veeam Community. You can write blogs, make videos or shorts, post in the forums, or just give Veeam feedback. Everyone has something to contribute. If you’ve ever wanted to share your passion for backup, the Veeam Community is the place for you.
What is the v100 Summit?
The v100 Summit is an in-person event organized by Veeam and its community team, including Rick Vanover, Madalina Cristil, Nikola Pejkova, Safiya Mohamed, Karolina Basak (and many more people working behind the scenes).
Every year, community members from around the world meet to talk about Veeam’s products: where they are today, where they’re heading and how they could get better. Together with Product Management, Veeam puts a huge effort into giving something back to the community through presentations, roadmaps and plenty of networking. Any IT person’s heart, and especially a Veeam heart, will be happy here. The conversations we usually have online finally happen face to face.
Who attends?
Veeam recognizes active community members through several programs:
Veeam Vanguards: External IT experts recognized every year for their expertise and community work, such as blogs, talks and product feedback.
Veeam Legends: The most active members of the Veeam Community Hub. They help others, share knowledge and shape the community.
Veeam MVPs: Veeam employees in customer-facing technical roles, such as SEs, SAs and Support Engineers, who share their knowledge beyond their day job.
NEW! Veeam Rising Stars: A program launched in June 2026 for up-and-coming members who create content, support others or get involved in Veeam User Groups (VUGs). For many, it’s the first step toward a bigger community role.
NEW! GSIs: Global systems integrators that deploy and run Veeam solutions for large enterprises.
Why was I there?
This year I made it into the Veeam MVP program, which I didn’t expect at all at the start of the year. I mean… I only started making Veeam videos last year.
It was my way of sharing content and helping the community, and I wanted to try something different. I think those videos earned me my spot. But it turned into much more. I got hooked on writing blogs and starting small side projects, like a map of all technical colleagues in Veeam DACH, inspired by the v100 map.
In short, I’ve caught the bug, and I want to earn the title again next year. Many people don’t know this: some roles, like MVP, have to be earned again every year with new content. No resting on your laurels.
Green, Yellow and Red
Every session and every slide at the summit had a confidentiality label:
RED: Deep internal knowledge or roadmap previews. Not to be shared, period.
YELLOW: Can be shared after a certain date, such as upcoming features or product updates.
GREEN: Cleared to share right away.
For most of us, me included, the RED content was the most exciting part, and that’s where I spent most of my sessions. (Sorry, that’s all I can say ;))
Impressions
As a Veeam employee, I already knew events like this from our internal Sales Kickoffs and the former Tech Expos. Still, the v100 Summit has its own style. Beyond the content, it was the people who stood out. We talk online every day, but meeting in person is even better and was another highlight for me.
I met so many new people that naming them all wouldn’t be fair, because I’d surely forget someone and every conversation was special. If you’re a v100 member reading this: big shout-out to you! It was great to meet you and share these few days together.
And to everyone I didn’t get to meet: I’ll do my best to change that next year :D The summit is just too short to talk to everyone.
This year’s summit was in Lisbon, and the city is well worth a few extra days. Unfortunately, I only had a few hours to explore, because arriving early or staying longer wasn’t possible for me this time.
Why “v100”?
In the early years, there were around 100 active members. On the last evening, a slideshow of past summits showed how small the group used to be. Today there are far more members, and the name doesn’t quite fit anymore.
So here’s my feature request: v100+ Summit!
My thoughts
It was an amazing event, and I’d love to go every year if I get the chance. I highly recommend it to every Veeam and backup enthusiast. Maybe these few words will spark something in a few of you to take that step and start creating content that helps others and makes Veeam’s products a little better.
A big thank you to Rick Vanover, Madalina Cristil, Nikola Pejkova, Safiya Mohamed, Karolina Basak, and Hannes Kasparik, who made this event possible and allowed me to attend it.
