I can’t believe I’m preparing to attend my fourth Cisco Live. In the 10 years I’ve worked at Global Knowledge, Cisco Live has always been a big deal, even back in the day when it was called Networkers.
The Cisco Live schedule is packed with sessions, technology keynotes, and Lenny Kravitz. There’s also the usual opening keynote by Cisco CEO John Chambers. It amazes me how each year he comes off like a rock star during his keynote. Watch out Lenny!
There are seven technology keynotes covering service provider, cloud, collaboration, public sector, application centric infrastructure, enterprise solutions and last but not least security, featuring Christopher Young, Senior Vice President of Cisco’s Security Group, and Bryan Palma, Senior Vice President of Security Services. Young and Palma are scheduled to speak at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, and their keynote is entitled “A New Security Model for an IoE World.” They’ll discuss (and no doubt have awesome slides on) how technology changes driven by cloud, mobility and the Internet of Everything are accelerating, creating significant opportunities, but at the same time, bringing about more sophisticated and innovative security attackers. I’ll be there for sure.
Salman Khan who?
While Lenny Kravitz and Imagine Dragons are about as good of a music lineup an IT conference is going to get, some may have been disappointed in the underwhelming choice of Salman Khan, the founder of The Khan Academy, as the ending celebrity keynote speaker. Frankly, after being spoiled by Mythbusters and William Shatner, I was underwhelmed when learning that last year’s celebrity keynote speaker was going to be billionaire Richard Branson. I got that wrong. Branson was irreverent and precocious, and he walked off the stage with Cisco Live host and Cisco’s Chief Marketing Officer Blair Christie in his arms. That’s how you end a keynote!
So I’ll give Khan a chance. The Khan Academy’s mission is to provide free, high-quality education to “anyone, anywhere” in the world. I’m a training guy, so his keynote entitled “Reimagining Education” might be enlightening.
THE Social B2B Company
I’m a social media guy, and like in years past, Cisco Live is packed full of social events throughout the week.
Enter the #IoEContest and win a social event pass to Cisco Live 2015. Just pick an item you think should be connected to the Internet and tweet why with a photo using #IoEContest and #InternetOfEverything hashtags to enter.
There’s also a scavenger hunt, which I hope includes an image of our booth graphics custom-designed by Tom Whalen. The hunt takes place during the conference when you share photos from the scavenger hunt list in various locations. Use the hashtag #CLScavenger to gain points toward a daily prize of a $1,250 Amazon gift card or the grand prize of a $2,000 Amazon gift card.
Monday night is Lego Mania night. After you collect Lego pieces from 12 Gold Sponsor booths in Cisco Live’s World of Solutions, turn in the Lego pieces at the Social Media Hub and you’ll be entered to win a Lego Mindstorms kit when you share your qualifying photo on social media.
In the spirit of the Tour de France’s yellow jersey that’s worn by the leader, the daily winner of the content tweets will be awarded a yellow cape. The topics are Best Pre-Show Content on Sunday, Best John Chambers Keynote Content on Monday, Best World of Solutions Content on Tuesday, and Best Technology Trend Keynote Content on Wednesday. The daily cape bearer will be announced at 6 p.m. each day.
Cisco’s got all the top brass speaking during their daily keynotes. This year if a Cisco Live speaker inspired, motivated or enlightened you, share it on Twitter after the session using the hashtag #MyFavoriteSpeaker, along with the speaker’s Twitter handle to be entered to win one of the daily prizes of $80 of Cisco Press products and the grand prize of $200 of Cisco Press products at the end of the week.
It seems like every IT conference now has a social media lounge, but Cisco Live’s Social Media Hub was the first I ever used. Located in the Moscone South Lobby, you can connect with your favorite social media mavens and recharge your batteries, and there will be Legos too. The social media screens will keep you up to date with the latest highlights, including your social updates and leaderboard status. There are also social media gaming opportunities. I’m probably just going to hang out between sessions.
Tweetups are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Sunday and 4 p.m. Thursday to start and end things on a social note.
If you’re attending Cisco Live, stop by to see us in Booth 2123 in the World of Solutions. We’re also going to be at Cisco’s Certification Testing Center.
If you can’t make it, be sure to follow us at @GKonCisco for updates from Cisco Live 2014.