« Cisco "Connected Life" Contest: Who Wants to Be A $10,000aire? | Main | The Platform: The Official Cisco Blog »
July 23, 2007
Networkers at Cisco Live For the First Timer
Post by Chris Beveridge, Senior Manager, Technical Marketing
This morning I had the honor and privilege of being on the interview panel for Networkers at Cisco Live Orientation, and as I was commenting to the audience I was reminded of how powerful my first impressions were of Networkers 11 years ago when I was a "newbie." I am always struck by the sheer size and spectacle of this event, especially this year as we roll out so many new and different elements.
My impression from the start of my experience with Networkers has been how much of a "melting pot" this event always becomes -- people not only meet and learn from Cisco, they meet and learn from (and make new friends of) their peers at other companies. Even better, I ALWAYS learn from the customers at Networkers, and look forward to new perspectives, challenges, off-the-wall comments, new ways of thinking about problems, etc. -- it's all here -- and for me the buzz centers around this incredible group of customers and the discussions we get into every year.
I like to refer to Networkers at Cisco Live as a "knowledge transfer" event -- that it's more than training, it's getting to really dig deep into challenges and issues in the learning process so the attendee (all of us) get a meaningful learning experience beyond the simple understanding of a technical issue, protocol, architecture or troubleshooting detail. We are constantly challenged by the needs of our customers, and hopefully we respond with the freshest, most immediately relevant information, and Networkers at Cisco Live is a golden opportunity for all of us to interact in real time for that purpose.
If I have any advice for a new attendee, it's this: take advantage of this unusually rich and substantial community of VERY smart and experienced networking professionals, from Cisco and from all of the companies that are represented in our attendee mix. If you have trouble meeting up with the right folks, try logging into Cisco Live CONNECT and join the social networking community. I promise you that there will be many varied and interesting conversations, and hopefully that's one of the experiences that you have that you remember for a very long time from Networkers at Cisco Live 2007!
Posted by John Earnhardt on July 23, 2007 11:32 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blogs.cisco.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/1007
