I went to the LARGEST networking event in the world!
About this video
Chuck returns to Cisco Live in San Diego in 2025 for the first time since 2019, bringing his whole team, and traces the history of what he calls the largest networking event in the world. He says 22,000 people attended in 2025, that a ticket is normally $3,000 plus travel — usually paid by an employer — and that he first watched the keynote livestream as a senior network engineer in 2017 before attending in 2018 and 2019. The event began in 1989 as Networkers, with 200 people in Palo Alto, focused on making multi-protocol networks work together. It peaked in 2019 with 28,000 people, debuted the CCIE in 1993 and the CCNA in 1998, was renamed Cisco Live around 2006-2007, added the DevNet Zone in 2015 and a DevNet cert track in 2019, went virtual only in 2020, and returned in-person in 2022. Attendees interviewed stress community over sessions as the reason they return, and Chuck concludes the event — held amid heavy AI discussion — rekindled his love of networking and plans to attend Cisco Live 2026.
Key takeaways
- Cisco Live 2025 drew 22,000 people in San Diego; Chuck had not attended since 2019 and describes a return driven by wanting to rediscover his excitement for networking
- The conference began in 1989 as Networkers with 200 people in Palo Alto, centered on whiteboard knowledge-sharing for multi-protocol networking
- Attendance peaked at 28,000 in 2019; milestones include CCIE debut in 1993, CCNA in 1998, the Cisco Live rename in 2006-2007, and DevNet Zone in 2015
- Cost is a barrier — about $3,000 for a ticket plus travel — so most attendees are sponsored by their companies, which Chuck says is justified by learning more in a week than in much of the year
- Despite sessions being valuable, attendees repeatedly cite community and in-person relationships as the main reason they keep coming back
Episode details: published June 21, 2025 · 12:16 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are NetworkChuck’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.
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