Cisco Live 2014 CAE #CLUS

It looks like the Cisco Live Customer Appreciation Event will be fun.  This year the music will be provided by Lenny Kravitz and Imagine Dragons and hosted at AT&T stadium, the home of the San Francisco Giants.

They claim to have the best ballpark food in the west.  We'll see about that :)

I mentioned to my wife and daughter that Lenny Kravitz was the entertainment for Cisco Live.  My wife is a fan of his music all the way back from high school.  My daughter is a fan of him playing Cinna in the Hunger Games film.  Have to be honest, my wife is fairly jealous that she isn't seeing Lenny Kravitz.  

I had to do a little research on Imagine Dragons although I know their hit song Radioactive.  What I didn't know was that Billboard Magazine has named Imagine Dragons "The Breakthrough Band of 2013.  Among other accolades Rolling Stone named their single "Radioactive" "the biggest rock hit of the year and MTV called them "the year's biggest breakout band."

Cisco promises that this 25th anniversary CAE event will be one to remember.  I'm told there will be 'Rock N Roll' tricks on the field during "half time" (after Lenny's set) and you definitely want to be on the field for that..

Cisco Live 2014 #CLUS

Last year was my first Cisco Live and it was one of my most enjoyable experiences in my IT career.  The flow of information was tremendous and to me the whole thing seemed put together really well.  My only complaint is the show doesn't run 24 hours a day.  I would love something where I could attend sessions by day and labs at night but I assume I'm in the minority here.

As it turns out, it looks like I'm lucky enough to go again this year!  Last year I went alone and this year 2 other people from my region get to go so that will be nice.  I can't wait!

Since last year was my first time at Cisco Live, I think I missed out on a few things that I hope to attend this year.

Things I enjoyed last year:

Social Media Tweetup

Sessions - Sessions - Sessions

Met up with some customers

World of Solutions was pretty fun

Labs

Cisco Exam but I hope to pick a more reasonable time to take the test.

CCIE party was ok...  I will try it again but not really my type of thing in general.

Things I hope to take advantage of this time:

More labs

Meet the expert sessions

Table topics at lunch

Customer Appreciation Event - I was thinking the food was going to be similar to the CCIE party which wasn't that exciting.  Also, if I'm going to see live music, it's going to be a band I'm excited to hear (or a band my wife wants to hear, here at home).  As far as park rides, I'll save that for family time.  Only thing I missed was that I heard the food options were pretty good.

I'm hoping to find some info/sessions/hands on with Cisco ACI and Cisco Modeling Labs (CML).  I'm really excited about CML!  Last year I did base sessions like OTV, ISE, etc.  This year I hope to hit the fringe a bit more.  I'm also curious if there is anything going on for the #ciscochampion(s).  I think its pretty much the same group of people attending the tweetup but who knows!

Don't forget to check the Social Media promo's on the Cisco Live page!  You never know, you could win something.

• Win a full conference pass for Cisco Live 2015
• Win a free lab or technical session
• Win a backstage pass and meet the band.