We made it through the year that was March 2020. Here were are on the other side trying to find out whatever this normal is supposed to look like. We’re not out of the woods yet but we do know that things aren’t going to be back to the way they were any time soon. That includes the events that we enjoyed traveling to and hanging out at.

Cisco Live has made the decision to go virtual again this year. One can’t blame them to be honest. Travel uncertainty and the potential liability of having a huge event just didn’t make sense. If you thought the old Conference Crud was bad you really don’t want this new-and-improved version! Cisco has also decided that one global event makes more sense than several events scattered across the calendar. That means that Cisco Live Europe and Cisco Live US are now global and happening at the end of March instead of January or June.

With the announcement that everything will be virtual again this year it also means that the social aspect of the event is going to be virtual as well. As much as we would have liked to hang out at Tom’s Corner in Las Vegas and catch up it just won’t be happening. I am a bit disappointed because this year was going to be the tenth anniversary of Tom’s Corner. It’s been a decade since I plopped down in an uncomfortable chair and set out on a quest to meet people. I was hoping to bring back the stool and the table and the corner live in person but it appears that we’ll have to do it some other time.

In the interim, we’re still going to be getting together in just a few weeks! We’re going to be hosting a Webex call just like we did last year so we can all hang out and chat throughout the day. Here are the details:

Date: March 29, 2021

Time: 7am PT – Whenever we get bored!

Where: Virtually via Webex (link will be in the calendar invite)

If you want to take part in the virtual corner, you need to either send an email to tom@networkingnerd.net or send a DM/PM/RRM/DMVPN to me on social media with the email address you want your calendar invitation sent to. If there is no email address I can’t send out the invitation! We’ll send them out as we can to get everyone signed up. You can pop in and out whenever you want. We’ll try to create breakout rooms for those that just want to chat on specific topics and such. It’ll be fun! Provided, that is, that we all keep to some basic ground rules:

• Disruptive attendees may be removed at the discretion of the hosts.
• Wheaton’s Law applies. If you think you’re violating it, you probably are.
• Be respectful of the community. We want this to be positive for everyone and that means everyone is responsible for keeping it that way.

If you have any questions about Tom’s Corner or things in general just ask! I want to thank Gestalt IT for allowing us to host this meeting and continuing to support community engagement and involvement. A huge part of my job is doing things like this and I still continue to be thrilled to have the support of Stephen Foskett, Claire Chaplais, and the rest of the Gestalt IT team when it comes to taking part of my day to interact with you all, virtual or otherwise.

I wish things could have been different as far as Cisco Live this year but we’re going to make the most of what we have. That means virtual for now but rest assured the the next time we can all meet in person we’re going to have a birthday party for Tom’s Corner that will be sung of in legends to come!