It’s that time of year again.  Cisco Live 2012 in San Diego is coming up in June.  I will once again be attending for my seventh event.  After last year’s event, I realized for the first time that networking with my peers is just as important as attending breakout sessions.  With that in mind, I chose carefully this year when I build my Cisco Live conference schedule:

Monday
10:00 AM 12:00 PM		CUG-1002	Unified Communications Product Direction – Large Enterprise
1:00 PM 3:00 PM		BRKARC-3452	Cisco Nexus 5000/5500 and 2000 Switch Architecture
Tuesday
10:00 AM 11:30 AM		GENKEY-4346	Keynote and Welcome Address
4:00 PM 6:00 PM		BRKCRT-9344	IPv6 for Cert Nuts
Wednesday
10:00 AM 11:30 AM		GENKEY-4347	Cisco Technology Keynote
12:30 PM 2:30 PM		CUG-1008	Cisco Collaboration User Group Open Forum
4:00 PM 6:00 PM		BRKSEC-2006	It is 2012, Why Do You Keep Getting Hacked?
Thursday
8:00 AM 9:30 AM		BRKCRT-8862	Cisco Certified Architect: How to complete the journey from CCIE to CCDE to CCAr
12:00 PM 1:30 PM		CUG-1010	Cisco Collaboration User Group Business Meeting
2:00 PM 3:00 PM		GENKEY-4358	Closing Keynote: An Afternoon with Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman

Most of my unified communications sessions this year are going to be taking part in the Collaboration Users Group.  I like the small focus and immediate response to feedback I get from being a part of this users group.  I’m also going to be checking out some IPv6 and data center sessions, as I feel that much of what I’m going to be doing in the next couple of years will focus on these technologies.  Of course, having a security session is almost a requirement, so I found an interesting one in the list.  I’m also going to check out the Cisco Certified Architect briefing.  I’m nowhere near qualified to sit for the exam, having neither my CCDE nor the requisite experience in architect projects.  However, I think it will be interesting to see what’s going on with this certification since I was around for the initial formation discussion groups.

The keynotes are usually fairly interesting affairs.  John Chambers will likely have something to say about the new, slimmer Cisco and how they are doing in the market.  Padma Warrior will also likely be talking about the data center and the advantages that UCS offers to Cisco in this space.  The closing keynote appears to be the one that most people are talking about.  Discovery’s Mythbusters will be delivering a talk to the assembled crowd.  The closing keynotes are always interesting affairs, as you can never be quite sure what the guests will have to say to Carlos Dominguez.  I’m really looking forward to it.

If you’re headed to Cisco Live, feel free to leave a comment.  The Twitter and blogger contingent is usually fairly large and always great to hang out with.  The more people we know about at Cisco Live, the better the party will be.  See you in San Diego!