Every year, a lot of technical companies host at least one large conference to showcase products and to help customers and vendors learn more about technologies. These are great events for numerous reasons including learning, seeing friends, and having a good time all in one week. Personally, I have gone to Cisco’s main conference, CiscoLive, numerous times. I think it is my favorite technical event of the year mainly because the CiscoLive team is really, really good at hosting the event. Between awesome technical discussions, unique experiences, and hanging with friends I do not get to see all year long, it is a really good time.
Unfortunately, in 2020 most of these events are not occurring the same way due to a global pandemic. Just like a lot of other conferences, CiscoLive is going digital for 2020. This does not mean it is going to be bad, just different. I have been helping the CiscoLive team with the event and I can tell you they have some tricks to make this event great. But there is nothing I can share at this time. One of the positives is that it will be free which means it will open up to people that were not able to attend previously. I expect it to be a really good event. I am guessing that, going forward, the CiscoLive team will be burdened with the extra work of a digital event on top of the physical events.
For numerous reasons I attended virtually for the last two years. I was even bestowed the title of “best remote attendee” during both of these years. Perhaps I know a thing or two about attending remotely. Here are some quick tips to help with being a good remote attendee, which is important this year since everyone will be remote attendees.
- Social Media helps you attend. Head on over to Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and even Facebook to interact with other virtual attendees. Use the event hashtag (#CiscoLive) to make sure others see your postings.
- Cisco has its own Social Media team run by the awesome Kathleen Mudge, @KathleenMudge on Twitter. They monitor the main social media channels for comments about the event and will even respond to posts. It is really awesome to tweet out something and have one of the team respond to you.
- Block your time. This one may be tough since you may still be at your office. Do what you can to carve out your time so you can concentrate on the event. Just like being there in person, you will get out of it what you put into it. Try to concentrate on the event.
- Attend sessions that you want to know about right away. There will be more information available than you have time for but the on-demand library is your friend. You can come back later (after you digested what you just learned) and review what is in the on-demand library. Download slide decks, watch videos, take it all in later.
- Have fun. Ok – it will not be as good as being there in-person. But that does not mean it will not be fun. Reach out to others and let them know your thoughts. Interact on social media when you can.
Now, I did mention that there is nothing I can share at this time but stay tuned and I will share some details as soon as I can. For now, use the event website (https://www.ciscolive.com/us.html?zid=cl-global) to get information before the event. You can even download a calendar reminder to help block your calendar (Tip #3 above). Check out the FAQs to help with your questions – the team will add good questions as they come in. If you do have questions that are not in the FAQ list, you can reach out to the CiscoLive team (@CiscoLive on most social media channels) or email support (ciscoliveus@ciscoevents.com) for anything technical. If you have any questions about attending remotely, you can reach out to me – I will help where I can.