Cisco Live!: Survival Guide

By now most people in the networking industry have heard that there will be a large gathering of networking people in San Diego, CA June 7-11.  For those that are going, especially first timers, here are some of my tips and tricks.

Training

This is to me the meat of the week.  The training sessions offered at Cisco Live! are some of the best training you can find.  Most of them are taught by subject matter experts from within Cisco including TAC.  Be ready for a drink from the fire hose of knowledge.

Ben's Cisco Live! Training Tips

• Download the presentations ahead of time.
• Find a good PDF annotation program for your device of choice.
• Take notes directly in the PDFs.
• Turn off your other devices during training if you can.
• Be willing to ask questions.

Networking (People That Is)

Next to the training, networking with other people has been my favorite part of Cisco Live! conferences.  It's great to have a network of people that do the same thing you do, especially when you hit a bug or problem and can suddenly get multiple people's take on it.

Ben's Cisco Live! Networking Tips

• Setup a Twitter Account
• Sit with someone you don't know at breakfast and lunch.
• Be a sponge, some of the greatest minds in our industry will be out and about, you might just learn something.

Surviving the Conference Itself

If you've never been to a very large tech conference, you might not know what you're in for so here are my tips.

Ben's Cisco Live! Survival Tips

• Wear a comfortable pair of shoes.
• Bring first aid supplies for blisters and sunburn.
• Prepare to be cold, hot and then cold again in the same day. (wear layers)
• Travel light, you'll have a lot of stuff to haul back from the conference so plan on that when you pack.  If you're able to wear XL t-shirts figure you'll get 3-4 free ones at the conference.
• Bring chargers and a power strip.  Outlets in the conference center are at a premium so be a friend and bring a power strip.

Hope to see you all there, if you're not registered yet, you still have time.  Just click here.

Still Undecided About Cisco Live? Take a Sneak Peek!

If you still aren't convinced to go to Cisco Live! this year in San Diego, perhaps a sneak peek at two of the courses will help.

BRKRST-2311P - IPv6 Planning, Deployment and Troubleshooting

(1 Hour)  Presented by Jim Bailey - Technical Leader, Cisco

April 21st

10:00am PDT / 12:00pm CDT/1:00pm EDT

This session covers IPv6 deployment and operational considerations. It begins with how network administrators can plan, design and implement an IPv6 solution, using a network readiness approach and holistic Network Architecture Strategy.

For more information and how to view the session, click here.

BRKRST-2311P - IPv6 Planning, Deployment and Troubleshooting

(1 Hour)  Presented by  Amanda Whaley - Cisco DevNet Developer Experience Lead and Community Manager, Cisco and Ashley Roach - API Architect, Cisco 

April 29th

10:00am PDT / 12:00pm CDT/1:00pm EDT

Are you new to coding ? This session will get you started using REST APIs and Python. We will cover coding basics and create some simple examples that retrieve, parse and display JSON data using the Cisco APIC-EM REST API’s.

For more information and how to view the session, click here.

Still not convinced???

If you register before June 5th, you can save $200 on registration.  It's going to be a great conference full of human networking as well as computer networking.  Here are some highlights:

• Sessions, Sessions, Sessions!!! Drink from the fire hose of knowledge.
• Meet the Expert Meet and talk 1 on 1 with a Cisco Engineer
• World of Solutions Explore the solutions of Cisco and their ecosystem partners.
• Aerosmith! Come rock out at the Customer Appreciation Event
• Keynotes Come listen to Mike Rowe and others.

Once you sign up, be sure to also sign up with the Official Unofficial Twitter List maintained by +Tom Hollingsworth aka @networkingnerd

It's Dirty Work, But Somebody's Gotta Do It

Network Engineers are known to have to work in dirty places like under desks, janitors closets (err I mean network closets), and those weird spaces in mechanical rooms in which someone decided to hide a switch or two.  Nothing though in networking compares with some of the jobs that this year's Cisco Live! keynote speaker has done.  He's cleaned poo, made snakes vomit and even greased the crawler for the US Space Shuttle.  

That's right, this year's keynote speaker is none other than the host of Dirty Jobs and Somebody's Gotta Do It, Mike Rowe!  If you haven't followed Mike recently, he's also started his own foundation Mike Rowe Works.  His goal is to bring back the notion that hard work can achieve greatness without the need for a formal higher education.  

His foundation is working to revitalize vocational training in the United States and train people for the over three million jobs that are open because of a lack of skilled labor.  Take Mike's S.W.E.A.T. Pledge today that Skill and Work Ethic Aren't Taboo.

Mike's speech should be humorous, yet poignant and very educational.  If you haven't already registered for Cisco Live!, what are you waiting for? I mean really, a week of awesome training, new and old friends, Mike Rowe and Aerosmith, can you really beat it?

Cisco Live! Social Media Hangout

Cisco's commitment to social media at Cisco Live! has grown steadily.  This year they're announcing a new Cisco Live! Bus Stop gathering area on the beautiful San Diego Bay for social media gatherings.  Below is an artist rendering of what it might look like.  More details to come as we get closer to June.  Definitely stop by and introduce yourself to your fellow Tweeps, Bloggers and Facebookers.  Put a real name with the avatar and handle.  Oh and if you haven't registered yet.... do it!

Cisco Livin' On the Edge!

Cisco Live! is always a great week of training, networking and socializing, but this year is going to put us on the edge. The Customer Appreciation Event band is always one of the things most anticipated in the lead up to the event. This year Cisco has done a wonderful job of bringing us a band that has managed to span decades and still keep going. Without further adieu... the band this year will be ...

So if you haven't already registered for Cisco Live! do it this weekend and get a grip on early bird pricing before it expires!  It's going be a blast and you don't wanna miss a thing.

Cisco Live! 2013 Notable Keys to Know!

Cisco Live! is Cisco's annual customer conference.  I try to go as often as possible simply because it's the best training bang for the buck that I've found when it comes to Cisco's technologies.  Each day of the conference is started off with a keynote speech and this year Cisco is going with the following speakers.

First on Monday evening before the conference officially begins will be the Solutions Keynotes.  These keynotes will feature senior Cisco engineering experts speaking about the various product lines and their futures.  

Cisco Chief Executive Officer John Chambers

On Tuesday morning the conference officially begins with Cisco CEO John Chambers giving his annual keynote.  Mr. Chambers is always an engaging speaker and lays out where things have been and where they are going.  This year he will be joined with Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior.  Traditionally Mr. Chambers' key note tends to be heavy with facts and figures in complicated power point slides, but what he says is generally inspiring and interesting in my opinion.  I'm hoping that this year will be less about pandering to the news media and stockholders and more about the customers which make up the majority of the audience.

Cisco Chief Technology Officer Padmasree Warrior

Padmasree usually gets the technology keynote on Tuesday so it will be interesting to see what she will be presenting this year.  She is definitely a visionary when it comes to looking at new technologies.  Unfortunately compared to the Cisco Chief Demonstration Officer Jim Grubb she comes across as rather boring at times.  I'm really hoping that a Jim Grubb demo with Mr. Chambers is still in the works for Monday.

Wednesday has often been my favorite of the Cisco given keynotes.  This keynote is generally the demo of some new technology or a way of integrating existing Cisco technologies in a particular vertical.  This is generally where any big announcements of new products are made.  This year Robert Lloyd, Cisco's President of Development and Sales, will be making his Cisco Live! keynote debut.  To be honest his name wasn't on my radar until I got the information on this keynote so I look forward to seeing what he's like as a speaker.  Especially with the blogosphere buzz about him being a potential successor to long time Cisco CEO John Chambers.

Ok, so finally here is the keynote that everyone is really wondering about.  The Thursday celebrity keynote.  In the past we have been graced by the likes of John Cleese, William Shatner, and last year the Mythbusters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage.  And this year the celebrity keynote speaker is...

Sir Richard Branson

Sir Richard Branson.  He is the founder and chairman of the Virgin Group which includes Virgin Records, Virgin Airlines, and my personal favorite Virgin Galactic.  Virgin Galactic competed in and won the Asari X-Prize to build a craft to ferry three people into space and be able to be returned to space again within 2 weeks.  I am expecting a very good keynote from Sir Richard.

Finally Carlos Dominguez will once again be the host leading us through the conference and the various keynotes.  He has a great stage presence to fire up the crowd every time he gets out there.  Last year I was lucky enough to meet him after one of the keynotes and found him as personable in person as he was on stage.  Keep an eye on his Facebook and Twitter posts as he'll probably be touring Orlando and giving away things prior to Cisco Live!

My Cisco Live! plans for this year are barely in shifting sands, but I'm really hoping to be there again.