Cisco Live 2019 now seems like a long time ago, but I thought it would be appropriate to write a little recap of my experience of this very special one.
Being my 7th Live, this was going to be a different one for me. The first time being a Cisco Champion and a Tech Field Delegate I knew this one was special. And special it was…
Although it didn’t start off in the best of ways. I flew in from Dulles Airport in Virginia and the trip was normal and unexciting. Jumped into a cab at San Diego airport and onto the hotel, done it plenty of times. Except for the moment I got to the lobby I couldn’t find my phone. I quickly looked at my smartwatch and saw it was disconnected. Holy crap, my phone is gone! It slipped out of my pocket exiting the cab.
I quickly checked in and went online to track it. It remained online for about 15 minutes; I put a message on the display, but in the end, this was a goner! I have never lost a phone in my life, and now my 3-month-old Pixel 3 XL was gone at Cisco Live!
Not a good start indeed. So, off I went in a cab to a Sprint store, bought a new phone (kudos to the kid working in that store, he was great) and I was back in business. Well, sort of, I bought an LG cheap smartphone to get me through the week, but it definitely was a different experience compared to my Pixel.
Luckily the day got a lot better meeting people at the Cisco Arrival Tweet Up. I made it in time, thanks to some rather quick Uber driving. After the meetup, I sat at the bar for a little while setting up the phone for email and some basic apps, but I was pretty done for.
Monday was a good start with some great sessions on Cybersecurity, Cisco Champion meetups and a Banter and Beer in the evening. On Sunday night Cisco Media Team reached out to me and let me know I won 3rd place in Cisco’s blogging contest. I thought, wow, completely underserved and awesome! The price was front row seats for all keynotes. And front row it was, I’ve never seen Chuck up so close!
One definite highlight was a tour for the Cisco Champions around the keynote stage and some interesting stories about how it all comes together. Very fascinating to see the backup systems they have in place and all the planning and practice it takes to put such a show together.
After some time at World of Solutions I meet up with fellow Cisco Champions at Harbor House; it was a fun night, but I knew I couldn’t go bar hopping since I had the only valid excuse at Cisco for not partaking in such shenanigans; Certification next day.
Tuesday was my biggest day. I had to get my CCNA recertified in the morning and TechField Day in the afternoon. The certification went fine, although some questions caught me completely off guard; luckily not too many, so my CCNA is good for another 3 years. Although after Chuck Robbins announcement about all the changes coming to certification, I might go towards the new DevNet certifications sooner.
So it was on to TechField Day. Anyone not familiar, please check out Gestalt IT and TFDx here. There were some great presentations, Fred Niehaus on Wifi 6 was a ball of energy. Seeing Dave Zacks whom I got to talking to at Vegas a few years back was great as well.
It was an awesome experience being one of the delegates. Big shout out to Tom, Ken and the entire staff of TFD!
The evening was DevNet party at Music Box. There were some impressive musical acts; I decided not to stay until the end as I had some work-related things to take care of but enjoyed my time there very much.
Wednesday was filled with more sessions and more WoS. And as a highlight all Cisco Champs got to meet Susie Wee! It is still very hard for me to believe I’m part of this group! Just listening to her and seeing the passion she has for DevOps is inspiring.
In the evening it was time for Customer Appreciation at Petco Park Stadium. Weezer and FooFighter. I got to hang at the Veeam party. Now, here’s an unpopular opinion; I’m not a big fan of the FooFighters, but it was fun to see Dave Grohl wear a Cisco Party hat for sure!
Thursday I did make my 8:00 session! (In case anyone is wondering) After the Departure Tweetup, I walked up past the USS Midway and to the pier where it was just nice to sit by the water in quiet and reflect on the past week.
As every Cisco Live, the days are long and awesome. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, it’s where I get to recharge my “nerd” batteries. Coming from a smaller shop, I always appreciate being able to talk “shop” and bounce ideas off one another. But, this time I definitely experienced the imposter syndrome big time! Being in the Cisco Champion program and a Field Delegate can be intimidating, and I’m not ashamed of admitting this.
I think I will write something about this in the near future, it’s really been on my mind lately.
But in conclusion, Cisco Live 2019 was a blast! As always I came back with a bunch of ideas for our shop and got to talk to some great people.
Now it’s soon onto VMworld 2019 in San Francisco!
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