Umm, yeah I know that Cisco Live was like two months ago (ok three now) and I am finally getting around to writing my recap.  I think I waited so long as I don’t want to admit that it ended and I had to go home.    I will make this post brief as there are plenty of good Cisco Live recap posts out there already.
– NetworkingNerd
– Amy Engineer
– Lookingpoint
– PackIT Forwarding

Let me start with saying I was glad I was able to just make it there!  My flights, for two days, kept gitting canceled due to weather, it was crazy! Every time I was rebooked, that flight was either cancelled or would have gotten me into a connecting airport after all the flights left.  Sometimes travel challenges happen – I was just glad I was still at home and was able to rebook from my home airport.

Cisco Live 2019 was the 30th Cisco Live/Networkers event that has been held.  Cisco celebrated that number in a few ways.  As you can see in the pictures above, CCIE/CCDE NetVets received a 30 Years pin at check-in.  On the bag this year there was also a 30 tag, as well as the CAE hat was a 30th Birthday Cake!    It is crazy to think that Cisco Live is probably older than some of the people in attendance!

I wanted to mention some of the outdoor activies that they had this year as I rarely saw anyone using these.  I am wondering how many people knew that Cisco Live had the one whole lawn outside the convention center decked out.  If you look at the slideshow above, you can see we had Hammocks, Miniature golf, Ping Ping, and a bunch of other things to do.  I know the one hot item out that way was the mats – unfortunately I do not have a picture as I did not get one.

There were a few things this year that just seemed out of place though. The seating areas on the marina lawn were in a terrible location, it was hard to get to/from and it was not up to what I have come to expect from Cisco Live. The NetVet lounge was, in my view, unusable and ill stocked. One of the advantages of being a NetVet has always been the lounge area where you can gather to work and talk while grabbing a quick snack. This year, that was not the case – too far out and little to no food/coffee.

The CAE this year was “out of the park!” The 30th Birthday Cake has was a great party hat for everyone to help celebrate this milestone. Rocking to Weezer and Foo Fighters was awesome! Those are two amazing bands and help this CAE rank up there with the best of them.

Even with the Marina Lawn issue, this was a good event. The sessions (as always) are great, the speakers know what they are talking about, and that CAE was just amazing! The increased size of DevNet was awesome, those walk-in-labs were HUGE this year, and it was a good show.

Looking forward to Cisco Live 2020 as we are back in Las Vegas. Back to the land of affordable hotels, space, and things to do.