Cisco Meraki hosted their first-ever user conference on the virtual MeetingPlay stage last week—June 16, 2021—and I think we can all agree with the event’s theme: the time to Lean into Change has arrived.

Our event management team worked with over 30 speakers to bring this event to life, including those from enterprise companies such as Wells Fargo, Comcast, and Verizon, as well as top industry analysts and experts. It was a mix of presentations, firesides, and solo keynotes.  

A new client for the event management team, Cisco Meraki attracted attendees whose journey focused on cloud-managed IT. The audience was a mix of industry influencers, decision-makers, physical security buyers, and executives,  mostly from the US and Canada. Aside from main stage sessions, the content was divided into three curated tracks tailored for Technology, Business, and Learning & Development.

Session themes ranged from:

• Moving to a cloud-first strategy

• Protecting your customers, employees, and businesses with sensors and cameras 

• Collecting the meaningful data through a web of connected devices

• 5G’s effect on business outcomes, and more!
  
  

We were lucky enough to work with Reshma Saujani, Founder of Girls Who Code and Marshall Plan for Moms, as well as Guy Raz, Award-Winning Reporter, Radio & Podcast Host, and Creator. And yes, we fangirled over both!

These two powerhouse speakers brought inspiration, insights, and lessons learned from their awe-inspiring careers. Reshma’s Opening Keynote focused on casting aside fears of failure, and instead, embracing it in A Brave New World. While Guy Raz closed out the event in a captivating fireside chat with Cisco Meraki COO, Denise Thomas titled The Building Blocks of Leadership. 

A few more key takeaways from the event:

• In Feb of 2020, there were 40 billion fewer emails sent than in Feb of 2021 (Microsoft). People are working more while at home, and productivity levels are high. 

• Cloud use is absolutely ubiquitous at this point. Everyone is using some form of infrastructure-as-a-service or software-as-a-service. And the research shows that 94% of organizations report using the cloud to some extent. 

• Lots of talk about the cloud but it’s still not completely widespread. We are still in the early stages. The data shows that almost 8 out of 10 enterprises still have less than 40% of applications in the cloud.

• Alert fatigue is a huge issue.

• The momentum is there for physical security and cybersecurity to come together. More and more, physical security decisions are being made by IT leaders. Protecting the physical space is becoming as important as securing the data. 

• It took companies 100 years to reach $1B at the turn of the century. Today it is less than 5 years. The world has moved to technology.

Aside from our speaker management + speaker coaching role on this event, we also handled customer service support as well as production and platform management and worked closely with MeetingPlay to create the virtual venue for this event.

Featuring a photobooth, networking opportunities, a Meraki product spotlight,  audience Q&A features, gamification, Meet the Speakers, and Sponsorship showcase, we really ensured this event had plenty for attendees to do leading up to the event, during breaks and outside of the stellar content. 

All sessions are available to watch on-demand with registration. Cisco Meraki has brought us on board for their internal Sales Kick-Off later this summer so we look forward to working alongside them soon!