In case you were living under a rock in the networking world, Cisco Live 2014 happened last week and in a big way. Thousands of geeks took over San Francisco and it’s safe to say a good time was had by all!
A few things made my week in particular quite excellent, one of those being the Cisco Champion(s) Program. The Champion events were excellent opportunities to get to know fellow engineers and have a good time laughing it up with friends. A special thanks to my fellow ginger and partner in plotting world domination, Amy Lewis (@commsninja), who definitely leveled up her already extraordinary unicorn wrangling skills. Her own talk was also fantastic and you should check it out here.
Tech Field Day also organized some great events, including round table discussions for us blogger/social media types. These pictures don’t do justice to the staggering amount of brain power gathered around the table, but you can check out the videos here.
I’d be remiss not to give an extra special thanks to these two guys, Tom (@networkingnerd) and Stephen (@sfoskett) for all the work they do to build community in networking.
This Cisco Live was also the week of fabulous tweeps bringing me all sorts of fun and shiny presents. From a Batgirl t-shirt from Jeff (@fryguy_pa) to actual sparkly bats from Tom (@networkingnerd) and Denise (@denisefishburne), I love that this group laughs and jokes together. A sparkly PVDM from Erik (@ucgod) and a tiara (also from @denisefishburne) rounded off the gifts. The opportunity to dub Pete Lumbis (@tacCCDE) as the king of TAC, complete with a tiara and a sword, certainly made my week.
Last but not least, the awesome events organized by @ciscolive @kathleenmudge @rbakker and the rest of the Cisco Social Media team, allowed for some quality time with awesome engineers. These are just a few pics below. From the looks of it, by the end of the week dignity had clearly taken a vacation, not that there was much of it to start with in this crowd.
Good times with truly good friends. Can’t wait till next year!
Special shout out to Kale Blankenship (@vcabbage) for creating a CLUS set of Cards Against Humanity. This one is my favorite:
And congratulations to @bcjordo who got his CCIE digits on Monday, way to go!
Amy Engineer 
Great write up on the blast we were so lucky to take part in. It is truly an essential event to get connected as a community networker. Great pics too. I will look into joining Cisco Champions as well. My first post to re-firing up the blog will be about #CLUS! 🙂
That is awesome!! So glad you’ll be joining and really great to see you at Cisco Live!
Very nice write up. #CLUS was awesome, but the people make it the best.
This was year two for me and I’m hoping to be back for next year. Every year I find myself getting more and more involved … I’ll have to look into Cisco Champions if I’m lucky enough to make it to San Diego for 2015!
Great stuff! Love it! @JamieShoup76