Cisco Live Melbourne

Dieselboy · February 12, 2015, 05:56:39 PM

So the owner of the company I work for and I received the Cisco Live! email for it next month and I mention to him I'd like to go. He asked me to send him the info so I did, I explained I've not been before but would be beneficial, and it's $330 for the cheap ticket. Considering it's a 5 hr flight away, a four-day conference and we're in Australia which means I'll need equal spending money for beer and food his reply consisted of:
"Approved."

I'll need to go back to him with Business Class flights and accommodation of course and see if the above still stands

Is anyone going from here?

wintermute000 · February 12, 2015, 07:54:51 PM

possibility, will let you know.

Dieselboy · February 12, 2015, 10:41:59 PM

I want to go and my boss has approved the flights and accomodation. I just need to get the girls to book it all.

However, I will only go if it is going to be useful to me / us. I've looked over the agenda and I'm not even sure what the agenda details. It doesn't give anything descriptive, it only takes you to profiles of the speakers. I tried to obtain the conference manual but I think because I've not bought a ticket yet that's why it's saying I don't have permission to access that page. I'm not going to wonder around aimlessly for 4 days trying to discover what is going on and I'm not going to buy a ticket unless I have some kind of plan for at least a full day.

Any suggestions from anyone that has been before?

deanwebb · February 13, 2015, 08:59:39 AM

There will be lots of cool stuff to see. When you're not in a class, you'll be checking out the vendor floor and seeing some cool stuff there. There will be PLENTY to do.

wintermute000 · February 13, 2015, 02:53:53 PM

I respectfully disagree. The classes are great and pretty much the whole point of it. The rest is a waste of time.

deanwebb · February 13, 2015, 03:49:04 PM

Quote from: wintermute000 on February 13, 2015, 02:53:53 PM
I respectfully disagree. The classes are great and pretty much the whole point of it. The rest is a waste of time.

And so, you see that your mileage may vary. But you certainly can fill up the day with classes, no question of that.

killabee · February 13, 2015, 09:18:07 PM

Quote from: Dieselboy on February 12, 2015, 10:41:59 PM
However, I will only go if it is going to be useful to me / us. I've looked over the agenda and I'm not even sure what the agenda details. It doesn't give anything descriptive, it only takes you to profiles of the speakers. I tried to obtain the conference manual but I think because I've not bought a ticket yet that's why it's saying I don't have permission to access that page. I'm not going to wonder around aimlessly for 4 days trying to discover what is going on and I'm not going to buy a ticket unless I have some kind of plan for at least a full day.

Any suggestions from anyone that has been before?

Hey Dieselboy, last year was my first time to CLUS. Here's my "first timer's" take on it all:

I enjoyed MOST of the sessions and Cisco Live in general, but your mileage will vary because of the following...

The sessions are 2 bloody hours long, and IMO that's just too long for certain topics. And sometimes the speakers fill those 2 hours with product fact sheets that you'll only need/care for under specific situations and for which you'll know where to get them. For example, I attended a session on how to manage your network with Cisco Prime, and 45 minutes of it was filled with charts on information on sizing the server hardware for your environment and licensing (e.g. 1,000 hosts = 8GB RAM; 50,000 hosts = 24GB RAM...give me a break!). There's also several keynotes for which you can't schedule sessions over, and WoS (the last resort for when there's nothing to do) is closed down....it's as if they force you to attend the keynotes, and they're 95% marketing BS! Another complaint of mine is that there's a fixed lunch schedule (12 or 11, or so) and you can't schedule sessions over that timeslot either...again, another missed opportunity to learn because of a schedule they globally impose on everyone.

On the other hand, some sessions were very informative. They introduced me to new concepts and ideas, new ways of thinking, new hardware, and cool technology that I wouldn't have learned otherwise. Even if I followed every tech blog and forum out there I wouldn't get the same dose of information I got at CLUS. Think of it as another place to stay up to date with what's up and coming, what's hot, and where the industry is going.

There's also opportunities to meet with the speakers and other knowledgeable reps (e.g. special gatherings, lunch sessions, etc) in case you have pressing questions or just interested in a round-table discussion (e.g. I sat through one on FabricPath, OTV, and something else). There's also labs you can practice and learn on, but they cost extra.

There's other treats about Cisco Live, but for which you can live without. There's World of Solutions where vendors serve you their kool-aid and you drink it for an opportunity to win some sort of prize. There's random prize giveaways, free vendor swag, and the of course a free shot at a Cisco exam.

As for what sessions to attend...I'd typically direct you to ciscolive.com > On-demand Learning, but I don't see any 2015 Melbourne sessions. But by the looks of it some of the sessions and presentations are repeated, so the 2015 Milan sessions may give you a glimpse into the future of what's to come. Otherwise, it looks like you have to register first.

Overall, I found it was worth it if someone else pays for your trip. I definitely learned a lot. I'm not sure if I'd pay out of pocket for it, though, given what I mentioned above.

Hope this helps, mate!

wintermute000 · February 15, 2015, 11:54:36 PM

yeah I agree totally. The lectures rock and get you a taste of the cutting edge / chance to pick a vendor SE's brain or just some good brushup e.g. troubleshooting DMVPN.

The World of Solutions, keynotes etc. are a complete. waste. of. time.

Note I'm not sure what tix you are getting, but I've gotten tix before that were complimentary (vendor freebies) but discovered they don't let you into the sessions.... basically useless... snuck into as many as possible before they cottoned on and kicked me out lol... whatever you do, make sure your tix gets you into the sessions

deanwebb · February 16, 2015, 08:57:10 AM

Keynote speeches = naptime back at the hotel.

wintermute000 · February 17, 2015, 12:37:59 AM

gah, just found out we're not getting tickets, has to be paid up and there's no financial justification to send an engineer on what is effectively a jolly (a very technical jolly)... gone are the good old days of flying multiple techs up to Brizzie (all expenses paid) for sure!