We Arrived, We Roamed, We Listened

The IT Roaming Reporters reorient to our regular schedules, sort through our inboxes, file our travel expense reports – Cisco Live 2017 memories still alive (albeit blurry) in our minds. Wow! What a week.

Typing away at our desks seems suddenly tame considering last week’s editing, recording, interviewing, photographing, tweeting, networking, and celebrating spree. Working into the morning was worth it to showcase our creative talent and manage daily deliverables. This included opening and closing videos, a themed daily video, building informative commercials for each breakout session, and topical discussion with as many attendees as possible. Covering an event so immersive, large-scale, fast-paced, and being involved with the IT Management Program has been a rewarding experience of our (relatively new) careers.

We arrived

You learn a lot about others when you’re sharing tight quarters, 3 meals, and 16 hour workdays. Collaboration and teamwork – and their inevitable inverses compromise and criticism – are necessary when you’re submerged in this microcosm. You learn a lot (maybe too much) about each other, but most of all you learn about yourself.

We roamed

For every Roaming Reporter, there were 250 IT Management Program attendees (our unsuspecting victims). Something of this magnitude is a testament to Cisco’s active and passionate fan base. We covered as much ground as humanly possible, meeting with attendees from mobile providers, government organizations, sports networks, and school districts; from Europe to Asia; from middle management to executive level (even our own CEO Chuck Robbins).

We learned

We heard you, loud and clear! Absorbing as much information as possible was the goal. Customers, partners, and peers all interested in sharing their experiences, inspirations, and goals; speaking openly about industry trends, solutions, and the future. Like many Cisco Live attendees, we came looking for answers and left buzzing with ideas.