Cisco Live 2008

It has been almost 1 week since i returned from Cisco Live (Networkers) in Orlando and since i enjoyed Michael's report card about it, i decided to use something similar in order to describe (and grade) my experience.

Category    Grade  Comments
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Hotels        B+   I stayed at a non-Cisco hotel, but it was good
                   for its price. It was also only 10 mins walk 
                   from the Convention Center.

Buses         -    I didn't use them. Maybe Cisco should think 
                   to support other hotels too for its bus routes.

Conference    A-   Excellent Convention Center! 
Center             Large area, many session rooms, impressive 
                   keynote rooms, lunch area was more than enough.
 
Training      B    I tried to follow 2 categories : 
                   Carrier/Metro, MPLS/VPLS
                   While you could clearly understand that 
                   most of the presenters were experts in their area, 
                   some of them were talking too fast 
                   or were speaking english in a strange way.
                   Also i would prefer to have less sessions
                   overlapping each other and some sessions
                   should have been longer.
                   On the other hand, techtorial was very good 
                   and detailed.
 
Meet the      B-   It was interesting to see some of the top engineers
Experts            together (+ famous Ian from c-nsp), but i was 
Session            disappointed by the session's limited time.
                   C'mon Cisco!!! Only 50 mins?

Meet the      A    I arranged two of them and both went very well.
Engineer           I was able to find solutions in some interesting
Sessions           problems of our network and i was happy to meet an
                   old friend of mine (hi Yves :).

Food          C-   Techtorial-day lunch was too cheap,
                   breakfast could have been better
                   (i was lucky to have my hotel's too).
                   Lunch was ok and desert at WoS was fine.

Snacks        D-   Not something you would enjoy. It was good to 
                   have them, but a bigger variety would be better.
                   Also i couldn't find any fresh juice.
                   At least there was some ice-cream the last day.

On-Site Help  A    Helpful staff, there were everywhere, 
                   answered most of my questions.
                   If only their ages were smaller, 
                   i would have it enjoyed better :p

Cisco Store   B-   Too expensive! Also there weren't many sizes 
                   (regarding clothes) available. The bag that was
                   given for free (for >$150 buys) could have been
                   better.
    
Conference    A    Excellent! Although a little bit heavy, 
Bags               it had everything i needed for my daily carrying
                   needs.

Internet      B    Everything i needed was there.
Access             Maybe a little bit slow sometimes
                   especially when watching streaming video.

World of      C+   Too many vendors, too many people.
Solutions          Guitar hero was annoying for nearby vendors.
                   CCBootCamp, Emulex and Qumu were very HOT!!! 

Food at WoS   B+   Desert was great, food could have been better.

Certification B+   Nice room, but a little bit cold in the morning.
Lounge             The exam procedure was quick 'n' easy and 
                   some of the girls were extremely friendly!

Chambers      A+   Excellent speech by John Chambers, 
Keynote            nice iPhone video-call demonstration 
                   (since when does a Cisco iPhone exist?).
                   I really enjoyed that John was walking around us 
                   and talking almost directly to our faces.
                   Human network, human communication was the key.

CCIE Party    B+   It was my first CCIE party and it was good.
                   I still can't believe i meet some fellows 
                   that read my blog.

Warrior's     B-   If i'm right, this was Warrior's first public
Keynote            appearance on her new role and it went well.
                   Some topics weren't of my interest, but it 
                   was nice to get a general idea about everything.

Conference    B-   The party at Universal was generally better
Party              than expected.
                   Blue man show was incredible but very short
                   (although nobody informed us that we were 
                   going to need tickets), live shows were just 
                   interesting (not my kind of music).
                   Food and drinks were above average.
                   I was disappointed by its limited time availability,
                   because you probably needed double the time 
                   to see and enjoy everything.
                   The CCIE hat (cowboy style) was given as a present 
                   to Amanda for her beautiful blue eyes!

Overall       A-   One of the greatest networking events i have 
                   been to. It was my first time in the USA, 
                   but if i want to compare it to the European ones, 
                   i would say it was much better.