Cisco Live Tips and Tricks

Hard to believe it's been over a year since my last post here.  As I've learned in life though, sometimes you have to forgive yourself for your failings (in this case, not blogging for a while) and then you can continue to improve on yourself.

I recently attended Cisco Live 2012 in San Diego. After attending 9 times (thereabouts), I figured I'd share some ideas/thoughts/tips.

First off, have a 10-foot extension cord when traveling and when attending sessions.  Many breakout sessions and labs are in rooms that have power strips available, but some do not. If your extension cord has a 3-prong plug, have a 3-prong to 2-prong adapter with you just in case you need to plug into an old outlet.

The World of Solutions (WoS) is the area where Cisco and their partners set up booths with all sorts of goodies.  The first night it may be okay to wander a bit, but at some point you need to HAVE A PLAN. Look over the list of exhibitors. Think about your goals for the conference. Are there particular problems at work that you're trying to solve?  The WoS is THE PLACE to find the solution.  Print a map of the booths and circle the ones you want to visit. Then cross them off after you've been there.  Stay focused!

Some of my favorite places in the World of Solutions:

• Walk-In Hands-On Labs - Great place to spend a few minutes learning new skills and practicing configurations on a plethora of systems.
• Cisco Booth - Incredible opportunity to learn about almost every product/system/solution that they sell.
• Social Media Hub - For the first time this year, the folks behind all the social networking for the event, such as the @CiscoLive Twitter account, set up shop to show off the top Tweeters and give people a place to lounge for a bit.
• Technical Solutions Clinic - Basically an engineer's Heaven-on-Earth, there are several dozen whiteboards surrounded by some of Cisco's smartest Technical Marketing Engineers and TAC folks. What problem did you have at work you've been trying to fix? They'll solve it for you.

The Cisco Live mobile app makes navigating the conference a snap. View your schedule of sessions, browse WoS exhibitor listings and conference maps, and complete evaluations of sessions you've attended, right on your phone or tablet.  The evaluations are incredibly important and Cisco takes them very seriously.

I'm very excited to have attended Cisco Live once again, and hope to continue doing so.  I consider a week at Cisco Live equivalent to about 3 weeks worth of training.

If you have any questions, comment below or hit me up on Twitter (@swackhap). Cheers!