Networkers at Cisco Live 2010 - Barcelona

1 year after, i revisited Barcelona for this year's Networkers at Cisco Live 2010. This time i focused mostly on training.

Below you'll find my experience, expressed in the usual ranking model:

Category    Grade  Comments
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hotel         B-   I stayed at a non-Cisco hotel.
                   + : it was only 3 mins walk from the CCIB
                   + : best breakfast you could ask for
                   - : wi-fi access wasn't free
                   - : A/C has a strange issue with heat

Buses         -    I didn't use them.

Conference    B-   Better than last year's. 
Center             This time techtorials were made in normal rooms.
                   The most annoying thing was that there were some construction
                   works near the CCIB, which made projectors in some rooms bouncing.
                   Restrooms were still not enough (or food was too "energetic").
 
Training      A-   I tried to follow my usual two categories :
                   MPLS/VPLS & Carrier Ethernet. This time i focused more on
                   theoretical training, so i didn't choose any labs.
                   7 out of 14 sessions that i chose were advanced,
                   the rest were intermediate.
                   I met again the same French speaker who was hard to understand,
                   but i must admit he's a guru. Techtorial (Advanced L2VPN) was 
                   very well presented by the two speakers, although some
                   introductory stuff could have been avoided. Technical material
                   presented in breakout sessions was according to my expectations,
                   besides one session which proved more introductory and less
                   intermediate. Biggest annoyance was that most advanced sessions
                   included information that couldn't be presented in just ~2 hours,
                   something the made the speakers pass it over in quick steps.
                   Imho, some advanced sessions should be made 3 hours with a 
                   10' break and should be made available only in morning hours.
                   Trying to watch the advanced session "LFA - a simple protection
                   technique for IP/MPLS networks" at 18:00 is like hearing Dino's
                   session about LISP after a hangover.
                   The intermediate session about "Anatomy of Network Elements" was
                   an unexpected surprise, that proved too informative.
                   Online scheduler should provide an option to add alternative
                   sessions too (regardless of their availability), so you can always
                   have a quick look at your desired schedule.
                   For example, under each scheduled session you should see all other 
                   available sessions that you have in your interests.
 
Meet the      A-   I arranged a single meeting with a Cisco engineer, 
Engineer           which proved valuable for one of my issues.
Sessions           Cisco's major fault (hence the minus) was that it 
                   wasn't possible to schedule a meeting through the web 
                   and at the same time the meeting centre was well hidden 
                   in the world of solutions, behind the food area. 
                   Since my free time was limited, i had to actually run there, 
                   schedule a meeting by hand and then return back for the next
                   session.

Food          B+   I didn't try breakfast (i had at the hotel).
                   Lunch had good quality, could have bigger variety. 
                   Fruits and desserts were great.
                   Local specialties didn't impress me, so my meals were limited.
                 
Snacks        B-   Snacks were average, dessert was good.

On-Site Help  B    Is there a taboo with Spanish people speaking English? 

Cisco Store   A    I bought two books at a 30% discount price.
                   I couldn't find an old one though.
    
Conference    C    Better than last year's plastic bag, but still nothing exceptional. 
Bags               I used my own bag.

Registration  C-   Just the usual session guide and a very small CCIE label pin.
Pack               No DVD, no usb stick.

Internet      A-   I had my EeePC and wireless was ok on every spot i tried.
Access             PowerStations were only in the ground floor; 
                   CCIE Lounge should have some of these too.

Networkers    B-   Too heavy and too large for my netbook.
Virtual            Many unneeded features, personalization per attendee should be
                   supported. All PDFs should include the session title in their name.
                   A corrupted zip archive was created every time i tried adding
                   all sessions to a single download.
                   Some zip archives included more than one files with the same name                 
                   but different sizes.

World of      -    Like last year, i didn't have time to check it thoroughly. 
Solutions

Food at WoS   -    I didn't try it.

CCIE Lounge   B    Power stations should have been provided in the CCIE Lounge.
                   Also more lounge chairs would help in certain cases.

Certification -    I didn't have time for an exam, so i didn't recertify my CCIE 
                   as i was hoping.

Keynote       -    Since Chambers wasn't talking, i decided to miss this one and
                   get some sleep instead (previous night had been too long).

CCIE Party    -    Was there one?

Customer      C    Although it was a 2-day event, i can't say i enjoyed it.
Appreciation       There were 2 live events (one per day), but nothing remarkable.
Event              Maybe for locals it was something special.
                   Snacks and food were limited; at least drinks were plenty.
                   Also, it should have started after the end of sessions.

Cisco Live    A+   Everything that makes a positive contribution to society 
Initiative         is more than welcome.


Overall       B    Since i had put training at a high priority this time, this 
                   networking event fulfilled my expectations. Nevertheless, 
                   i still believe the USA based one is far better in regards to 
                   everything else.
                   In any case, if you want to mess with the best class
                   of Cisco engineers, don't miss the networkers events!

Note to Cisco : Next time, please use a single page for everything. Having to flip through www.cisco.com, www.networkersatciscolive2010.com, www.ciscolivevirtual.com for finding the required info can be quite tricky sometimes. Apart from having to keep track of all your login credentials.