On the heels of the Let's Chat!#Ciscosmt Series: Social Media for Events USTREAM panel discussion a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to share my recent experience with Cisco LIVE.  I remember the late 90s when I started working in the tech sector.  Customer events and conferences were primarily in-person and we were just beginning to explore ways of extending content virtually.  Fast forward 15 years and things have really changed.  Even if you can't attend an event, chances are you can still experience some, if not much of the content virtually and feel part of the event.  A good example of this is, this year's Cisco LIVE US in Orlando, FL.  20,000 people attended in-person and 250,000 people participated virtually. 

I didn't make it to Orlando this year, but I viewed a lot of the content through Cisco LIVE 365.  I was able to watch many of the keynote sessions virtually and I have to say, the conversations were phenomenal.  We were elated by the fact this was our biggest Cisco LIVE event ever.   Favorite moments included John Chambers and Jim Grubb's demo of The Internet of Everything, Dave Evans view of the future and Blair Christie's closing keynote interview with Charles Branson.  A number of my team members came back with great stories and our team had the pleasure of putting together some evening activities for our customers who attended in Orlando.  Thank you for joining us, hope you had fun! 

Extending your event content through virtual channels are a great way to expand sharing.  How do you extend your event?  Do you see more of your audience joining through virtual channels vs. attending in-person?  Social Media is allowing us to also to feel much closer to the event.  Can't be there, but have something to say?  Tweet it (#CLUS,#CL365).  Here's a great BizBash article on how social media was an integral part of Cisco LIVE.  By the way, if you missed Cisco LIVE this year, you can still catch the content via Cisco LIVE 365.  Thank you to all our customers and partners who participated both in Orlando and virtually, we look forward to Cisco LIVE 2014.