Meraki Masters Program

I recently ran through the Meraki Masters program at Cisco Meraki HQ in San Francisco.  I have to say the experience was pretty enjoyable.  Meraki Masters is an invitation only session for select partners that provide a three day intensive training with Meraki product experts.

The days started early and were fast paced.  No scheduled breaks and we worked through lunch every day.  They did feed us breakfast and lunch every day at least!

Day 1 focused on the MX (Security Appliance) and MS (Switching) product lines, Big Wins, and some demo training.  We did work through some advanced labs similar in style to the CMNA course.  They also gave us a tour of the building showing the different departments.  The HQ has a very tech startup feel.  Game rooms, open floor plans, dogs walking around.  The day concluded with a Happy Hour at Cisco Meraki HQ.  The Happy Hour was a good chance to meet up with some Cisco Meraki AM's that cover differenct portions of my region.

Day 2 focused on MR (Wireless), MDM, Back-end Engineering, demo training, and Support & Troubleshooting.  Personally, I was most interested in learning more about MDM and wasn't disappointed.  For every product, we had top tier product managers presenting on their topics.  We got to ask questions and provide input on different products. Back end engineering was a great peak behind the curtain on how the Meraki product line works behind the scenes.  The day finished with a team offsite event.  Unfortunately I had to do some work and wasn't able to make it but it sounded like people enjoyed themselves.

Day 3 was demo day.  We were assembled in to multiple teams and provided a customer scenario.  We worked together to create a presentation plan.  Its funny to think about all these competing partners working together for a customer presentation.  Overall everyone was very cool.  We only had 1 guy on our team who wasn't a team player but everything worked out.  During lunch we had a Q&A with executives.  This was more interesting then I expected to be honest.  At the end of Day 3 the best presentation received a special gift.

The course was definitely focused on the presentation component.  They give you the technical info you need and show you how to present like a Meraki SE.  We now have access to special demo accounts that will help show customers all the options that Meraki has to offer.  We also get to participate in Meraki Masters monthly engagement activities, quarterly check-ins with CAMs, exclusive calls with Meraki experts, marketing promotions, and beta testing of new products.  I've already received an email on an interesting beta item I'm excited to check out next week.  I also received the CMNP designation as part of the training.

If you are interested in a free demo showing you how useful a Cisco Meraki Cloud Managed solution can be for your organization, let me know!