I have been to many technical trade shows over the years and my favorite is CiscoLive. It offers some great sessions from the people that actually work with the products. Plus, you can get your technical questions answered (or at least discussed). But there was always one thing that I dreamed about and in 2017 I got to do it: be a presenter.
My first CiscoLive was in 2011 in Las Vegas and it was awesome. But one thing troubled me – I showed up Monday morning not knowing anything about what to expect. The following year, I went again but at least I knew some of what to expect, such as getting your badge on Sunday so you are not waiting in line Monday morning. I learned more each year and Cisco added more to the show.
A few years ago, a Cisco customer named Johnathon Davis (twitter: @subnetwork) had the great idea to have a welcome session for new attendees and he was able to get Cisco to back it. The first session was not well known and had probably less than 100 attendees. Last Year’s session had more attendees and a few NetVets (including myself) show up to help with any questions. It was in a hallway and used a portable sound system – I was in the back and could not hear a word that Johnathon said. I guess it got some good reviews because in 2017 Cisco really got behind it: Cisco’s Marketing and Communication department took over the planning and reached out to a couple more people to help. I was fortunate to be one of those people.
When I agreed to help, I thought they just wanted me to come answer any questions or help with some of the first timers. But my first discussion with that group was when they told me what I would be speaking about. Wait!! They want me to speak about different parts of the CiscoLive experience – what have I gotten myself into? Then, I realized that this could be an experience, Plus, I would get to be one of the people on stage – now I started to get excited.
I did a little research and, along with my own experiences, made some notes. I got the notes to fit on one piece of paper along with some cues for what I wanted to make sure to say. Normally, I am in shorts and t-shirts while attending but since I was speaking I had to bring pants, a nice shirt, and shoes this year. As we discussed, I arrived to the room early and I helped Johnathon and the Cisco team to survey the area. It was a big room and we were expecting over 1000 people. This year, they put lavalier microphones on us and had a sound system throughout the room. Plus, the Cisco team brought in beer, wine, and some snacks, although we were told that we would have to wait till after speaking to get a drink.
When the time came to speak there were about 1300 people in the room and it was standing room only in the back. The picture below is my selfie I did during the session. One of my topics was the social media hub and I thought it would be really cool to take a selfie while on stage and then send it to the Cisco Live Social Media team so they can post it on their board. It worked out pretty well and if you look close some of the front row attendees even got into it. When it was over, I felt really good about doing it and was even told that I may be back next year to do it again. One of the coolest parts was when attendees later in the week recognized me – it was definitely a cool celebrity moment for me.
