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Here I am at LAX airport stuck in 24 hrs after my return flight to home got cancelled last night. I thought it is good time recap my first ever WLPC (Wireless LAN Professional Conference) experience. WLPC was one of the conference that I was looking to attend in last few years. However I could not make it as mostly it is in US & Europe (far from where I live). This time, my university contributed for conference cost & I managed to cover my travel cost.

Typically it is a 3 day conference where most of wireless professional gathering at one place. There were 3 day pre-conference bootcamps for people who would like to learn more about wireless (Cisco Wireless, CWNP, Ekahau, 3D Printing, Python, Wireless Pen-testing) . This time event was held in Phoenix-Arizona, USA

When Keith Parson- Organizer of WLPC, welcome everyone, he said this conference is “All about People, All about You” , I can’t agree it with him more. There were around 300+ wireless professionals and you will get quality time to engage with the community. Around 15% of attendees share their knowledge through deep-dive sessions & talks (1hr, 30min & 10min talks)

I was in CCNP Wireless – Security (WISECURE) boot camp in first 3 days.

I had opportunity to meet some new friends as well as meet few people already knew me through my blog, but haven’t met prior to this event.

Wireless community is so friendly & very helpful, lots of them knew me through my blog, even though I haven’t met them in person. Many people came to me & shook my hand & thanked me a lot for work I have done to wireless community. That was a great feeling one could have & I am so lucky to have such fulfillment in my life.

Here are some of those happy moments I managed to capture.

There were few individuals who also interested about mindfulness practices I am doing. Addition to those wireless discussion, I enjoyed talking with them about mindfulness practices I am doing & why they should try it.

I had privilege to meet some individuals who provide great contribution to wireless community in general. Without their support, many of us not become wireless professionals today. It was a great privileged to meet them in person & say thank you for what they have done over the years.

  • Keith R. Parson (CWNE#3) & David Coleman (CWNE#4)
  • Tom Carpenter, CTO – CWNP
  • Adrian Granados – WiFi Exploer Developer for MacOS/iOS

We were lucky enough to have a group photo with CCIE Wireless & CWNEs at WLPC. Here is the CCIEW group photo.

There were more than 50 CWNEs in WLPC (out of 307 in total), We were lucky enough to get most of them for this photo.

My best moment of the conference occurred night before the last day. When I talked to Keith & thanking him for organizing such a great conference & told him I had to leave early on next day, He told me I will miss something big. Same night he presented below to me which I could not believe. They have selected me as “Person of the Year” based on my contribution to wireless community. I am grateful to everyone of you in this community for awarding me such honor.

When the public announcement made on the last day, my twitter feed overwhelmed with congratulations, I truly appreciate all of your support & warm wishes. Some of those comments were truly motivating me to keep doing what I am doing .

I am grateful to two families who make my first WLPC experience special. Damith is one individual I met for the first time in last October. He was kind enough to pick me from DFW on arrival to US, provided a great hospitality. Also he did the same on my last day in Texas & dropped me to DFW from his home. I am lucky to have friend like you Damith.

Damith & Me

Chris & his family treated me like part of their family. He took me into several plane rides and make my trip extra special. Chris’s mum also showed great interest into meditation & I enjoyed talking to her on that. She is a very kind person & gave me a book (Being Peace by Tich Nhat Hanh) as a gift. I started reading it today & enjoyed it alot. I hope one day she will come with me to go for a 10 day silent meditation here in Texas.

On a closing note, There are few people who had to sacrifice lot of their time for me to allow what I have done through my blogs, community support,etc. So I think this award is belong to all of those guys who supports me through out. I am grateful to have such a lovely wife & 3 greatest kids I could ever imagine.