Professional development is highly valued and essential in most careers for growth and advancement. For education instructors, it's absolutely crucial in order to continue to provide relevant and impactful studies to students.

Academy Conference 2011 is bringing you the sessions that can help make a difference in your classroom - in a style that suits your needs with in-person and virtual events. Our focus this year is how to best equip you, the teachers of the World's Largest Classroom, and connect you with your peers.

Return Attendees

You can expect the same quality and range of technical and program sessions as you have in previous years. Peer networking opportunities abound with both the in-person and virtual events.

First Time Attendees

Whether you decide to attend in-person, virtually, or both, you can expect a number of sessions dedicated to:

• Cisco technology overviews and updates
• Networking Academy program and curriculum updates
• Networking Academy teaching enhancement tools
• Teaching best practices from fellow instructors
• Ideas for generating student demand

We also encourage everyone to share, discuss, and ask via blogs, chats, tweets throughout the conference. To ensure you get the most of your conference experience, please email us if you have any questions, at any time.

One Conference, Two Ways to Participate

You can attend the conference either in-person in San Jose or Virtually right from your desktop. These events allow all instructors to access the sessions, whether you can travel or not. The events are more integrated this year with a conference kick off and keynote that will take place live at both events.

Use the Event tabs for details on each.

Together, we create the World's Largest Classroom:

• 1 million students engaged in learning this year
• 3.75 million students touched by the program to date
• 10 thousand academies operating in 165 countries
• 1 million online assessments delivered monthly
• 100 million online assessments delivered to date
• 172+ thousand Facebook fans, and growing daily

Each of you, your students, and your institutions are critical links in the chain!

Registration is OPEN NOW for both the virtual and in-person events!

If you're attending the in-person event, you will be:

• automatically registered for the virtual event as well
• notified when agendas are available to select your sessions

Virtual Event: FREE

The virtual event is free. Simply select Virtual Event when registering. Check the Virtual Event tab for session information.

In-Person Event: US$90 until May 1

The San Jose event has a special registration price of US$90 until May 1. After that the price increases to US$145. Seats are limited to the first 425, be sure to save yours early! The conference hotel is the Fairmont San Jose we've secured rooms at a rate of US$139 per night (plus taxes) for attendees. You can book your room as part of the registration process. Use the cost estimator to help you determine total expenses, and check the San Jose Event tab for additional details and agenda.

Check back soon for tools to help you make the most of your conference experience, including recommendations for sessions and navigating the virtual event.

Audience, Registration, Cisco Live!

The Virtual event is

• Available to academy instructors around the world
• Free to attend
• Accessible from anywhere, at any time, from the comfort of your desktop
• Providing Cisco Live content for free

To register, please use the register button above. San Jose attendees, remember you do not need to register for the Virtual Event, you are automatically given access.

Cisco Live! Sessions are again available for 2011. We will provide free access to about 40 Cisco Live sessions available on-demand in the Virtual event. Instructors found this extremely valuable during the event last year.

What is Virtual?

The Virtual is a true online and interactive experience. Instructors can access live sessions and on demand content, and interact with each other and with Cisco via chats and blogs. Instructors who attended last year had a wonderful experience.

Agenda

Below is the agenda for the Virtual Event. Use the complete list of conference sessions to view descriptions.

Audience, Registration, Limited Seats

The San Jose event is

• Only available to U.S. and Canada academy instructors
• Offering a discounted registration fee of US$90 available until May 1, after which the fee increases to US$145
• Open to the first 425 registrants

Conference Location:

• Cisco Headquarters, Building 9, 1st Floor, the Vineyard
  • 260 East Tasman Drive, 1st Floor, San Jose, California 95134
  • 7 miles from Fairmont Hotel to Cisco Bldg. 9
  • Google map of Bldg. 9

To register, build your agenda, or reserve a hotel room, please use the register button above. Remember your registration automatically includes access to the Virtual event and content.

Official Conference Hotel

The Fairmont San Jose is the official 2011 Academy Conference hotel. Conference attendees have a special room rate of US$139 per night (plus taxes). The Fairmont provides excellent accommodations and is located downtown with convenient access to restaurants and shops, with many areas for attendees to gather and meet.

Please note that Cisco is providing free transportation only from the Fairmont Hotel to the Cisco San Jose Campus for conference activities. The Fairmont will also host the conference Welcome Reception.

To reserve your room, select the option during the registration process, or if you have already registered simply log back in and add the hotel to your order.

You may take a tour of the hotel by visiting their website, and calculate your conference costs using the cost estimator.

Free Transportation

Transportation will be provided free to attendees staying at the Fairmont San Jose hotel. Buses will ferry attendees between the hotel and Cisco San Jose campus for daily conference activities between June 27 and 29.

Agenda

Below is a condensed view of the San Jose event agenda. You can view session details when building your personal agenda during the registration process. Log in using the registration button to build or edit your agenda. You will receive a copy of your personal agenda when checking in to the conference in San Jose. Access a complete list of conference sessions for both the in-person and virtual events, with a key to quickly indentify sessions related to the curriculum you teach.

Academy Conference attendees may be eligible to receive 12 Continuing Education Units (CEUs) that are specific to Cisco Networking Academy.

Eligibility

2011 San Jose and Virtual attendees qualify by attending all of the live sessions available in the conference they participated in, specifically:

• Virtual attendees must attend or watch as on-demand each of the 12 live sessions delivered into the virtual environment on June 27, 28, and 30.
• San Jose attendees must attend the general sessions on June 27, 4 breakout sessions on June 28, and 3 breakout sessions on June 29.

Request Your Certificate

To request your CEU certificate:

1. Confirm your eligibility as outlined above for either the San Jose or Virtual conference.
2. Send your request to the Academy Conference team by clicking here or using this address to academyconference@external.cisco.com
3. Indicate within your email if you attended the live events at the San Jose or Virtual conference.
4. You will receive an electronic certificate as a response to your email within one week.