What Did I Do At Cisco Live Orlando 2018 ?

Cisco Live Logo in front of the convention center.

When I was talking with people that I was going to Cisco Live Orlando to speak for 4 hours, everybody thought : Well, that’s a nice vacation. Being at Cisco Live is NOT a vacation and to prepare for a session, you will have to work late at night and even in the weekends. There is a lot to do and network with customers, partners, peers, business unit etc.

I did the TECCOM-1463 during Cisco Live Barcelona.

Here’s an impression of what Cisco Live is and what I did during that week. Long days, but fun and informative !

This was my first Cisco Live US (CLUS) and it’s a massive event with 26.000 participants

What is Cisco Live ?

When you’re doing something with Cisco equipment or software and you want to know more thing in depth, then CLUS is the place to be for you. There are a lot of Breakout Sessions, Technical Seminars, IT Management Track, World on Solutions, Whisper Sessions, Meet The Engineer sessions, Self Paced Labs, Etc. In short : A Lot ! For more information you can have a look at the page of Cisco Live

Technical Seminar

The highlight of my week in Orlando was of course the TECINI-1463, which I presented. this was a 4 hour (extra paid) session on Sunday June 10th 2018.

During this Technical Seminar I talked a lot about HyperFlex. Did 12 live demo’s, which almost all succeeded.

And to give the participants some boost after the break, they all got a Stroopwafel. It’s a dutch cookie with loads of sugar in it.

World Of Solution

At the World of Solution you could see demo’s, ask questions, interact etc. I was having booth duty at the HyperFlex booth. And Yes, we had stickers. 😉

Here is a small Time elapse video of World of Solution. It’s kinda shaky, but atleast you know kinda the size of WoS.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axe_Q0ksvds[/embedyt]

DevNet

When you want to know how to program things, automate and makes your life easier, DevNet is certain a place to visit. There was also a nice lab with Cisco HyperFlex and Cisco Container Platform. Some nice API intergrations you could test with it.

CCIE Lounge

At the CCIE Lounge, you could get your CCIE Ribbons and the CCIE Tattoo !

This one was painless, because it was painted.

Meet the Engineer

If you have any technical question, you can schedule a 1:1 meeting with an Engineer. In my case I was the Engineer and I had a session about HyperFlex, but also about storage protocols.

Breakout Sessions

During CLUS there are over 200 Breakout Sessions which can be very technical. The biggest advantage to join a session, is to ask questions to the presenter during and after the session.

Breakout session of a dutch colleague : Steven Heinsius.

CCIE Party

For all the CCIEers at the event, there is a special lunch and party. You could have one person with you and if you like Star Wars, you were at the right place !

Social Events

During the week, not only Cisco is trying to get your attention with Social Events, but also 3rd parties. I went to the Cohesity Party at the House Of Blues. Ludacris was performaning and due to the open bar, a lot of people stayed and it was very very nice.

Cohesity Party at House of Blues, Orlando

One of the best Party there was, was the HyperFlex party at the Hyatt Hotel. It really rocked !

Customer Appreciating Event

Cisco is always appreciating their customers and partners and want to give back to them. This year the event was at the Universal Studio’s Orlando. From 07:30pm – 11:30pm the whole park was exclusive for CLUS participants.