WOW! That is what I have to say about what Social Media has become at Cisco Live US.  A few years ago –  back in good ole 2011 –  we started our “tweet up” at a paltry table in Las Vegas and nicknamed it “Tom’s Corner.”  Why Tom’s Corner –  because Tom (@networkingnerd) was always there it seemed like! It quickly became the place where all of us on Social Media would meet-up after sessions, between sessions, or just wanted to chill out.

That little spot grew in 2012 to a nice little corner in San Diego, CA Cisco Live.  We had a few couches and some power strips, they did have drinks for us on occasions, but it was just a little corner that we had.  It was an official “tweet up” area, but not so much in the center of the attention. Actually, we where in a far off corner of the event, but that was actually nice as it allowed us to be social and just hang out.

That year the turn-out was not bad either, here is our group-photo from that year.

Now for Cisco Live US 2013 –  and WOW did Cisco out do themselves!  Cisco went all out to embrace the Social Media group. Cisco had a nice desk for their staff to work from as well as a video wall with statistics behind the desk. This video wall contained the top Tweets, leader board for contests, and other social media related information.  Below is a picture of the Social Media Hub from Cisco Live 2013. The social media attendees had a really nice area with couches, chairs, and charges.  It was right in the middle of everything –  and that just helped to let people know about this part of the event.    As you can see from the image below, it was quite an impressive setup!

Do you know what else was impressive for Cisco Live 2013? #CLUS started to trend on Twitter!  So much so in fact that Cisco had to work out a special arrangement with Twitter!  Now THAT is impressive!!!

And the social media turn-out, just AMAZING!  This picture right here shows you what this event can be about –  networking and friends.

So what can we expect for 2014?  I am sure what we experienced last year and much more!  Cisco has seen that Social Media is a big part of the event –  we have brought Networking back to Networkers Cisco Live 🙂  This year we should have tables in the lunch area marked with balloons or some other way to easily identity them (they tried card on the table last year, but I don’t think we ever found them), there may be another photo scavenger hunt, and who knows what else we can expect!  I do know this –  the Social Media Hub will be in Moscone South!

Few other quick things – Cisco Live is running a few contests RIGHT NOW that you can participate in.  They have a Blogger Contest for $50 Amazon Gift cards; a Facebook contest for a FREE 4- hour lab or technical session; a Twitter contest for a backstage pass by following @CiscoLive on twitter and tweeting a certain Tweet.  You can see all the contest information here: Cisco Live Social Media Sweepstakes

Here is a Presentation that was done for Cisco Live 2013 Social Media that compares 2013 to 2012. To see the page that this was posted on, you can click here –  Raising the Bar at Cisco Live 2013

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