Learning at Cisco Live
by Terry Slattery
(How to Benefit Most from a Conference)
Technical conferences like Cisco Live (previously called Networkers) offer a significant annual venue for learning. If you've never attended, start talking with your boss.
If you've not already made plans, you're probably not going, so start planning for next year. You can do something for this year even if you're not attending. Cisco has had Cisco Live Virtual for the last couple of years. It is a year-long learning web site where you download the slides and can see and hear recordings of the technical presentations from the conference. Many of them can be long - up to two hours. Sitting to listen to a technical presentation for that length of time takes dedication. Taking notes helps to keep focus on the topic and keeps your mind from wandering. I would like to see podcast versions of the talks so that I can listen and watch them on my iPod devices while commuting. Cisco Live Virtual is not free, but is much less expensive than attending the real conference, so you may be able to talk your boss into a subscription to it. Get some co-workers or references for your boss to talk with if more justification is needed.
But let's say that you're able to go to Cisco Live. How can you maximize your learning?
I've been to technical conferences with people who disappeared during the day. Much to my surprise, I find that they were out sight-seeing or taking in a movie. They were treating the conference as if it were a vacation! What a waste, for both the employer and for the employee.
For me, a conference is an opportunity to make and renew relationships with other people in the industry. I've found that meeting and talking with other people is the most valuable part of a conference. Why is that important? When you're faced with a tough problem, knowing other smart people who can help with it or who may know the answer is invaluable. The person who has a good network of associates will often be able to come up with an answer faster than someone who has to learn it themselves.
A good example of using a personal network came up recently. I was curious about the EIGRP feasible successor calculation. It seems to me that a valid feasible successor exists if AD <= FD, and I found conflicting info on the calculation from several sources. I was able to send an email to some associates who work at Cisco and quickly received an answer that described what is in the source code (it is a feasible successor if AD < FD).
The other opportunity for increasing your network happens when you attend a tutorial or technical session. At the end, if you have time, introduce yourself to the presenter and exchange business cards. That way, if you have further questions on the topic, or even another topic, you have a contact that may be useful for getting an answer.
Good contacts are also useful if (or when) you suddenly have to change jobs. In the recent job market, it helps to have a good set of contacts that you can use to find another job if you suddenly find that you have been "downsized."
Of course, there are the technical sessions themselves. If the session you're taking isn't working for you, go find an alternate one. I frequently have a list of alternative sessions for each time slot. At Cisco Live, you'll have the opportunity to attend nine sessions, so make the most of them. When you're in a session, don't feel bashful about asking good questions, but don't take the presenter too far off topic or ask enough questions that it impacts the session timeline. If you find that you'd like to ask a lot of questions, perhaps you're missing some foundation material, or the presenter is unorganized (which is rare - Cisco does a good job of qualifying the presenters).
Have a great time at Cisco Live, and use it to your benefit!
-Terry
NetCraftsmen Will Be @ Networkers @ CiscoLive In San Francisco
Jun 27 - Jul 2, 2009
Chesapeake NetCraftsmen will be at @ Networkers @ CiscoLive in San Francisco this summer. We hope you get a chance to stop by and visit our technical folks either at our booth #1038 in the World of Solutions area, or between sessions.
In addition to helping in our booth and attending technical breakouts, three of our senior consultants, Carole Warner Reece, Pete Welcher, and Paul Borghese will be presenting labtorial sessions at Networkers:
LTRCRT-2341 -- ''CCIP Prep: Influencing BGP Route Selection". Carole will lead a four hour lecture and lab session providing discussion and hands on labs on tools for influencing BGP route selection including: AS Path filters and regular expressions; Prefix-list filters; and using route maps, weights, and local preference. (Link to full abstract for "CCIP Prep: Influencing BGP Route Selection" is here.)
LTRCRT-2342 -- "CCDP Prep: Case Study Designing the Enterprise Data Center". Pete will present a four hour lecture and case study session reviews design considerations for the enterprise data center. Attendees will practice design skills in a collaborative small group classroom environment . (Link to full abstract for "CCDP Prep: Case Study Designing the ENterprise Data Center" is here.)
LTRCCIE-2746 -- "Cisco 360 Approach to CCIE R&S Skills Evaluation and Preparation". Paul will mentor a four hour hands-on practical Cisco 360 CCIE R&S pre-assessment session. Participants will obtain a scoring report and evaluate the results with an experienced instructor. (Link to full abstract for "Cisco 360 Approach to CCIE R&S Skills Evaluation and Preparation" is here.)
You can click the following graphic to link to CiscoLive Registration:
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