World of Solutions

Ask Chuck!
Another exciting start on Tuesday with Chuck Robbins, Chairman & CEO of Cisco Systems, having an exclusive Q&A with the ITM group. Many CEO's of organizations as large as Cisco would shy away from this type of situation, but he did not, and answered all questions directly. His answers were filled with great takeaways, here are a few.

•  Find some place you love and work there
• If you want people to believe in the destination, they have to believe in you today
• Leaders are responsible for making sure the right strategy is built, then reverse the org chart and support the team

Cognitive Collaboration

I'm sure you are wondering if the day two keynote gathering started off with an amazing series of music and lights and the short answer is yes. If every gathering of employees could start off with this same pre-show, your staff morale would definitely improve :). However the light show wasn't the main reason, I was interested in listening to Amy Chang, the SVP/GM of Collaboration for Cisco Systems. One of the challenges in K-12 education in my view is finding ways for teachers to easily get out of the four walls of their classroom and connect with other educators, attend professional development, and collaborate efficiently. Gilbert Public Schools is beginning to implement Webex and the changes and integrations are of great interest right now to provide our end users the best experience possible. Amy is a dynamic speaker, has great energy and provided valuable information on the roadmap for Webex. I appreciated her statement that her team is building bridges not islands, as it reinforces my broken record phrase I like to use with my team, you can not be an island as it keeps growth from happening.   

The Abyss
If you have attended any large conference you have visited the sponsor area that can be overwhelming and often intimidating as you try not to make eye contact with the sea of vendors. I found the World of Solutions to be a nice mix of vendors and Cisco product area demonstrations and talks. I was able to speak with Google about their future Webex integration that will be key for our organization. Being a G Suite for education district, the integration with Webex would greatly enhance the collaboration ability for our teachers and staff. Another area of great interest is with Cisco's Room Kit products and a nice demonstration was done to highlight some of the capabilities. I also walked out with a couple pairs of socks, how can you go wrong!