Cisco Live 2019 – A Whirlwind of Networking Goodness

Cisco Live 2019 came and went in a whirlwind of fantastic meetups, excellent sessions, and genuinely nerdy networking conversations.

Cisco Live session content was top notch. Jasper Bongertz’s Wireshark talk blew the audience away with useful packet capture and troubleshooting tips, and Denise Fishburne’s Network Detective presentation captivated the audience with methodical troubleshooting processes and issue isolation techniques. Both sessions are a must watch for network engineers. Seriously, you will thank me (send coffee) and more importantly you should definitely thank them for giving so much to the community!

Tech Field Day captured a ton of great content this year as well. I especially recommend this NetBeez presentation highlighting the exciting ways their monitoring solution is fighting the good fight by helping to prove it’s not the network. Their new integration with Cat9K switches is also covered and definitely worth checking out.

This year also featured the distribution of Amy’s Army of Angry Routers. Angry routers were given, angry routers were received, and a new site header came to be.

Cisco Live 2019 was also especially memorable in the recognition that this very blog received! As Cisco 2018 IT Blog Award winner for Most Entertaining, yours truly had her big screen moment! I couldn’t be more thankful for each of you who took the time to vote! Thanks for reading along, laughing along, and sharing along with my adventures, snark, and bits of wisdom. You all rock, and obviously have the best taste.

And finally, my favorite part of every Cisco Live wrap up, the photo gallery! So many long time friends, so many new friends. The networking community is genuinely the best and you all make it that way.

Published 06/23/2019

2016 Cisco Live, US – Geeks for life.

Putting together a wrap up post on Cisco Live US always makes me smile, and 2016 is no exception. As many of you know, this CLUS marked 5 years since Tom and a small group of engineers first bonded over networking nerdiness and an addiction to 140 characters.

We’ve followed and helped each other through upgrades, outages, career changes, certifications, and a plethora of engineering challenges. We’ve commiserated with the suck that sometimes is our jobs, we’ve championed the hard-fought successes of our peers, and as a bonus, we’ve managed to provide an ever flowing stream of hilarious commentary along the way.

I’m thrilled to be part of a networking community that just keeps growing larger, and I’m continually impressed with the engineering talent this group represents. I’m also pleased to have been part of Tech Field Day at CLUS as well, which continues to do an amazing job bringing great content and engineers together.

Just check out this awesomeness. Could there be anything better? No, no there could not.

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Tom’s Corner – Cisco Live Twitter community 5 years later…

If you’re an annual attender of Cisco Live like I am, you might be noticing there’s some pretty cool stuff taking shape for 2016.

This year will be the 5th anniversary of Tom’s Corner – the first ad hoc gathering location for us geeky, twittering engineers*.

Hard to believe, but in 2011 we were just a smallish group of network nerds, some with quite a bit more hair in those days, and of course, the one random photo-bomber guy on the left. Still nobody knows who that guy was…

The amazing amount of talent represented and the camaraderie of the network engineering community is what makes Cisco Live the place to be.

This year I’m also looking forward to witnessing some epic Engineering Deathmatch action. If you aren’t familiar with Engineering Deathmatch you gotta watch this video. You won’t be disappointed.

And if that weren’t enough Cisco Live goodness, I gotta admit I’m pretty excited about hearing Keyser Söze, err Kevin Spacey, speak.

Other useful details for attendees:

The scheduler will be available on April 26th for NetVets, May 3rd for the rest of us.
The band this year is Maroon 5, and the CAE is going to be at the shiny new T Mobile Arena
Newbies to Cisco Live can get a super cool mentor to help them figure the conference thing out, just sign up here
Tech Field Day will be at Cisco Live this year as well, look for fabulous content from them. If you’re interested in being a delegate for this or any event, apply here
Awesome blogs to watch for new Cisco Live content and to read past posts for excellent conference advice: @fryguy_pa, @scottm32768, @mrtugs, @net_introvert, @networkingnerd, @someclown, @aconaway, @danieldibswe, @gingmar, Cisco Live Attendee Blogs
The annual twitter list is out, sign up here!

*Tom’s corner even had it’s own check in on Four Square. In case there was any doubt we were and still are total nerds…

Published 04/11/2016

Cisco Live 2015 – Community rocks.

FullSizeRender (22) The San Diego sun has set on another Cisco Live, closing out an amazing week of learning and community. As usual, Cisco Live 2015 was one jam-packed, over-before-you-know-it, week full of opportunities to learn and network with incredible peers.

Once again, I got to be part of Tech Field Day, attending presentations by both OpenGear and Netbrain. I highly recommend checking out the videos for both, you won’t be disappointed. Netbrain even announced a DevOp version of their product, which allows you 10 free nodes. Super cool stuff, the demo will knock your geeky socks off.

And, of course, I got the hang with so many fabulous engineers, some I have come to know well over the years, and others were new shiny faces. Now I shall subject you to my camera roll, because awesome. Enjoy.

A Canadian and a Texan walk into a bar... @ghostinthenet @that1guy_15 — A Canadian and a Texan walk into a bar… @ghostinthenet @that1guy_15

Oh, the priceless expressions of Canadian @Rob_Coote. It doesn't get any better. @sharpnetwork — Oh, the priceless expressions of Canadian @Rob_Coote. It doesn’t get any better. @sharpnetwork

The extremely intelligent, very kind @jamieljones, a total honor meeting her. She is an inspiration to anyone working to get their digits.

Wireless guys loving on wireless. @jsnyder81 — Wireless guys loving on wireless. I find it’s better not to ask… @jsnyder81

Awwww, these guys... @tonhe @ciscovoicedude — Awwww, these guys… @tonhe @ciscovoicedude

The fabulous @pilotmike, oddly without his Blackberry. @denisefishburne

FullSizeRender (15) — Anti-social social dining. @avalonhawk @scottm32768 @radzima

Because network engineers ARE superheros. @scottm32768

Behold @vcabbage, the self proclaimed pretty, pretty princess. — Behold @vcabbage, the self-proclaimed pretty, pretty princess.

Some look better in skirts than others, just saying... @kathleenmudge @wifijanitor @subnetwork @ucgod @fryguy_pa @lauren @denisefishburne — Some look better in skirts than others, just saying… @kathleenmudge @wifijanitor @subnetwork @ucgod @fryguy_pa @lauren @denisefishburne

Yeah, what can I say about this? ;) @grinthock @Rob_Coote — Yeah, what can I even say about this? @grinthock @Rob_Coote

The incredibly smart, incredibly witty @drjmetz.

The expressions are priceless. @kathleenmudge @lauren @ucgod @wifijanitor — The expressions here are priceless. @kathleenmudge @lauren @ucgod @wifijanitor

Usually it's his backside people are posting... @networkingnerd — Usually it’s his backside people are posting… @networkingnerd

These two crack me up. @scottmorrisCCIE @denisefishburne

I love that @samplefive is just having a normal conversation in the background. @wifijanitor @fryguy_pa

Social media gurus @kathleenmudge @lauren — Sweet and amazing social media gurus. Thanks for all you do. @kathleenmudge @lauren

These two are fabulous. But don't tell them I said so... @fryguy_pa @subnetwork — These two are fabulous. But don’t tell them I said so… @fryguy_pa @subnetwork

Kilts. There were kilts. (Why??!!) @subnetwork

It's importance to have balance in your networking career. @denisefishburne @nmarus — It’s important to have balance in your networking career. @denisefishburne @nmarus

FINALLY this guy decided to join us for a Cisco Live. About time... @JTIE_6EE7 — FINALLY this guy decided to join us for a Cisco Live. About time… @JTIE_6EE7

Because UC engineers rule. @mlundbom1 @ucgood

The awesome ginger princess @jay25f with the fantastic @denisefishburne.

Awwww...thanks @drjmetz for this pic. @networkingnerd — Awwww…thanks @drjmetz for this pic. @networkingnerd

The @ucpappy trying to collaborate on some new fangled device. @ucgod

The caffeinated side of the social media hub. @fryguy_pa @bbaize @wifijanitor

The non-caffeinated side of the social media hub. @bcjordo @hankito @tonhe

Completely impressed with the technology aid @CiscoTACOPS brings to disaster situations. @aconaway @bcjordo @densaer

Networking - it's about community. — Networking – it’s about community. And this community is incredible.

How we all felt by the week's end. @lauren — This sums up perfectly how we all felt by the week’s end. @lauren

Published 6/19/2015

The Sparkly Side of Cisco Live 2014

In case you were living under a rock in the networking world, Cisco Live 2014 happened last week and in a big way. Thousands of geeks took over San Francisco and it’s safe to say a good time was had by all!

A few things made my week in particular quite excellent, one of those being the Cisco Champion(s) Program. The Champion events were excellent opportunities to get to know fellow engineers and have a good time laughing it up with friends. A special thanks to my fellow ginger and partner in plotting world domination, Amy Lewis (@commsninja), who definitely leveled up her already extraordinary unicorn wrangling skills. Her own talk was also fantastic and you should check it out here.

Tech Field Day also organized some great events, including round table discussions for us blogger/social media types. These pictures don’t do justice to the staggering amount of brain power gathered around the table, but you can check out the videos here.

I’d be remiss not to give an extra special thanks to these two guys, Tom (@networkingnerd) and Stephen (@sfoskett) for all the work they do to build community in networking.

This Cisco Live was also the week of fabulous tweeps bringing me all sorts of fun and shiny presents. From a Batgirl t-shirt from Jeff (@fryguy_pa) to actual sparkly bats from Tom (@networkingnerd) and Denise (@denisefishburne), I love that this group laughs and jokes together. A sparkly PVDM from Erik (@ucgod) and a tiara (also from @denisefishburne) rounded off the gifts. The opportunity to dub Pete Lumbis (@tacCCDE) as the king of TAC, complete with a tiara and a sword, certainly made my week.

Last but not least, the awesome events organized by @ciscolive @kathleenmudge @rbakker and the rest of the Cisco Social Media team, allowed for some quality time with awesome engineers. These are just a few pics below. From the looks of it, by the end of the week dignity had clearly taken a vacation, not that there was much of it to start with in this crowd.