Cisco Live 2017 is coming up and there’s much to see. Clear To Send will be there to do a live recording. We will also be giving away Clear To Send stickers at Cisco Live if you can find us!
Upcoming Cisco Live 2017
The Mandalay Bay will be hosting Cisco Live 2017 again in Las Vegas. The event begins on June 25th, 2017 through June 29th. I, Rowell Dionicio, will be in attendance from Clear To Send podcast. This is the second year in a row as an attendee for me. Learn more about last year’s experience from Episode 44.
First Time Attendee?
I highly recommend picking a hotel close to conference. If you can, get into Mandalay Bay or Delano. This year I will be staying at the Luxor which is next door. Other hotels may seem like an easy walk but trust me, in the heat you don’t want to be walking. Luckily, there will be a constant stream of shuttles to various hotels.
Prepare an extra bag just for the swag. You’ll get a ton of it. I’ve heard of some bringing an extra carry-on just for the swag. Lots of cool toys, tshirts, and of course marketing literature.
Wear comfortable shoes because you’re going to be doing a lot of walking. The Mandalay Bay conference center is very large. There’s also walking along Las Vegas if you’re up for it. That also means wearing comfortable clothes. When I attended Las Vegas 2016 it was a nice cool 110F. Wear light, breathable clothing. Within the conference center it will get very cold. It’s best to layer your clothing for Cisco Live.
Cisco Live Sessions
I’ll be attending mostly wireless sessions but will add in a few new technologies to keep myself up-to-date with what’s out there. My favorite speakers are Jerome Henry, Matt Swartz, and Jim Florick. Any topic from those individuals will be knowledge bombs.
Check out all the sessions from the Cisco’s website.
Here are a few interesting sessions to check out:
- CCNA Wireless, master the 802.11 protocols! By Jerome Henry (Tue 27th 8am 2h)
- Improve Enterprise WLAN Spectrum Quality with Cisco’s advanced RF capacities (RRM, CleanAir, ClientLink, etc) by Jim Florick (Wed 28th 8am 2h)
- Apple and Cisco: Fast-Tracking the Mobile Enterprise (Monday 26th 8am 1h)
- Be my guest! – Design and Deploy Wireless Guest Access that Works by Federico Ziliotto (Monday 26th 4pm 1.5h)
- High Density Wi-Fi Design, Deployment, and Optimization by Josh Suhr and Matt Swartz (Wed 8am 2h)
- Advanced Enterprise WLAN Deployment (full day seminar)
- Design and Deployment of Outdoor Wireless Networks by Kshitij Mahant (Thurs 29th 1pm 1.5h)
- 7 Ways to Fail as a Wireless Expert by Steven Heinsius (Ekahau Webinar)
- CCIE Wireless Techtorial by Carlos Alcantara and Santiago Lopez (Wed 28th 1pm to 5pm)
- CCNP Wireless – Candidate’s Choice (Mon 26th 8am 2h)
- Connected Mobile Experience (CMX) by Darryl Sladden (Thur 29th 8:30am 1.5h)
- 5G Radio Access Network Transformation (Cellular Networks)
- 5G Technology Updates (Cellular Network)
- Cisco IOT in a 5G World
- Deploying 4G/LTE for Enterprise and IoT Solutions
Meet The Engineer
Any attendee can schedule in a Meet the Engineer and I highly recommend it. Last year’s Cisco Live I was able to sit down with Matt Swartz and Jim Florick to talk RRM. It was a valuable discussion which gave me a few action items in the end. When you can talk directly with the engineers about any topic at hand you come out much smarter.
Certification Exam
Once you’re registered for Cisco Live you’ll want to schedule your free exam. Try to get this out of the way as soon as possible. I land on Saturday afternoon and I scheduled my exam for Sunday. Seats fill up fast and the earlier you can get this done the better. As soon as you get into sessions your brain will be overloaded with so much information that sometimes it can be difficult to focus on an exam.
Customer Appreciation Event
This year Bruno Mars headlines at the T-Mobile Arena. I love the upbeat music from Bruno Mars so this will surely be an entertaining event.
Live Podcast Recording
We can’t do Cisco Live without doing a live recording of Clear To Send! The details are still being put together but once we have things finalized I will release more information on when, where, and how to get there. If you can, please join us for a recording and become part of the show!
Prepare To Chow Down
Join me as I get food at some of my favorite restaurants. I’ll be stopping by the following:
- Tacos El Gordo
- Secret Pizza Parlor
- Lotus of Siam
Networking
The best part of going to Cisco Live is networking with your peers. We often communicate virtually on social networks so this is a great time to get face to face. Meet the people behind the avatar and you’ll be surprised with much fun you can have just by meeting your social counterpart.
I’m looking forward to another Cisco Live. Keep up with what’s happening during the event from my Twitter account: @rowelldionicio
