Top vBlog 2015 is over but I’m still continuing my vBlogger Spotlight series to shine the spotlight on several prominent bloggers in the community to give you some insight into their experiences with blogging. Today’s spotlight is on Eric Sloof, aka Mr. Scoop due to his keen ability to post news about VMware before anyone else is aware of it. Eric is another one of the OG bloggers as well as Godfather of the Dutch vMafia and also one of the hosts of VMworld TV that broadcasts live from VMworld events. Eric’s blog is NTPro.nl and has consistently been one of the Top 10 blogs. While other bloggers were all getting scooped up by VMware and it’s partners he’s chosen to remain as one of the few very independent bloggers left in the Top 25. Eric is one of the very early VMware Certified Instructors and remains one too this day. So without further ado enjoy a Q&A session with Eric Sloof:
What year did you start your blog?
[Eric] I’ve started my blog nearly 10 years ago. it was September 2005 to be more specific.
What inspired you to start a blog?
[Eric] The inspiration for my blog came from Mike Laverick – He was running the RTFM-Education blog for his own training company and I was really enjoying reading his articles.
Describe your early blogging experiences and how you have evolved over the years?
[Eric] My first blog articles were in Dutch and related to selling Vizioncore vRanger licenses. Back then I was the only reseller in Europe and my blog was used as part of my company ntpro.nl. When Vizioncore was going to an event or I was able to get a new customer, I posted an article about it.
After some time I switched to English and started blogging more about VMware. My first big event was the TSX in Nice 2007. I’ve covered that event with interviews, videos and photo’s. I think back then I was one of the first bloggers who was using multimedia to cover an event. I still have a picture of young Mike and me 🙂
What has kept you blogging over the years and not quitting at it?
[Eric] At the start of 2007 I also became a VMware certified instructor. I kept on blogging because I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from my students and I’ve always used my blog as and extension of the training material. I was able to show an extra demo or screen dumps and dive a little bit deeper than the official material which resulted in good evaluation scores.
After all those years I’m still working as a trainer and I simply can’t quit as long as I experience the enthusiasm of my students.
What was your best experience or fondest memory related to blogging?
[Eric] The best experience because of blogging was being asked as a host for VMworld TV. Me and Jeremy are presenting VMworld TV for tree years in a row now and we’re doing both San Francisco and Barcelona. It’s so great to meet people worldwide who know you from your blog, just incredible. We had a lot of fun recording all the interviews and I felt as a big honour to be part of the VMworld TV crew.
Any advice for others who are new to blogging?
[Eric] My advice for people who are new in blogging is try to be unique. It doesn’t really matter if you’re doing one two or three posts a week as long as you have good content – content is king.
1 comment
I don’t know – I think I’m still looking quite young looking. Must be all the botox I use… 😉