Category Archives: Salesforce

How Clean is Your Data?

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Every time I hear someone talk about data quality, I’m reminded of something I learned many years ago. Data is the life-blood of most any organization. It’s the new Gold, the new hot commodity. Every organization wants access to more and more data about their customers. Why? Because having good data is what drives business forward, what helps organizations better engage with their clients and constituents. There’s one big problem, though – the data you report out is only as good as the data you take in.  

Did you miss the recent webinar I participated in called Data Quality: Top 5 Ways to Prevent Garbage in, Garbage out – that took place on Thursday, August 11th? I discussed this very problem with Sviat Lobach, Vice President of Product at Revenue Grid. Some of the things we talked about included:

  • The impact bad data has on organizations – not just poor decision-making, but also the dollar impact on a company’s bottom line.
  • Why most approaches to data management don’t properly address this issue.
  • How automation can improve CRM data quality.
  • The best ways to have clean and complete data in your CRM.

Want to learn more? Check out the recording!

How Dirty is Your Data?

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Every time I hear someone talk about data quality, I’m reminded of something I learned many years ago. Data is everything. It’s the life-blood of most any organization. Data is what drives business forward, what helps organizations better engage with their customers, clients and constituents. The data you report out is only as good as the data you take in. There seems to have been two different schools of thought that have evolved on this subject over the years:

Garbage in, garbage out – An early IBM programmer and instructor named George Fuechsel is generally given credit for coining the term. It is said that he used “garbage in, garbage out” as an easy way of reminding his students that a computer just processes whatever data it is given. The term has expanded way beyond the computer science world and now “garbage in, garbage out” is often used to refer to situations in the non-digital world, where bad decision-making occurs as a result of incomplete or dirty information.

Garbage in, gospel out – This is a slightly newer variation on the same subject, where people tend to believe and trust statistics, and data that are computer generated. The thought here is that if a report has been produced by a computer, it must, inherently be accurate and contain valuable information to base decision-making on. 

In the upcoming webinar Data Quality: Top 5 Ways to Prevent Garbage in, Garbage out, taking place at 11am Central on Thursday, August 11th, I will discuss this very problem with Sviat Lobach, Vice President of Product at Revenue Grid. What you’ll learn from this session:

  • The impact bad data has on organizations – not just poor decision-making, but also the dollar impact on a company’s bottom line.
  • Why most approaches to data management don’t properly address this issue.
  • How automation can improve CRM data quality.
  • The best ways to have clean and complete data in your CRM.

Save your spot today!

Hurry! Special Dreamforce Offer Expires at 11:59 PM Central Time, September 3, 2022!

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Want to Attend Dreamforce 2022, and Help Homeless Children at the Same Time?

If you had the chance to do something (that you do every year) and help a great cause at the same time, would you do it?

Yes, that was a rhetorical question, but do me a favor, think about it and answer the question anyway.

My answer would be a resounding ‘Yes!’ I try to give back to the Salesforce community every chance I get. I’ve been fortunate enough to have secured a full pass to Dreamforce that I could auction off with the proceeds going to Project Night Night.

Today I’m thrilled to launch the 2022 edition of the “Attend Dreamforce, Help Homeless Children” auction. The rules are pretty simple:

  1. Place you bid here.
  2. All entries must be received by 11:59 PM Central Time on September 3, 2022.
  3. The highest bid wins.
  4. Free pass covers conference registration fees only. All travel and other accomodations are the responsibility of the winner.

Registration for Dreamforce 2022 is already open, and once the early bird rate expires on August 9th, the cost for a full Dreamforce pass will be $1,999.00.

The lucky high bidder in this auction will get a full pass to attend Dreamforce 2022, taking place September 20-22, 2022.  And in the process the winner will be helping many homeless children get a NightNight pack from Project Night Night so that they can have sweeter dreams, no matter where they happen to call home for the night.

Please answer these two questions:

  1. Do you, or someone you know, still need a pass to Dreamforce, or want to save money on the pass you already have?
  2. Do you want to help children have sweeter dreams at the same time?

If you answered yes to both questions, please place your bids here. To see the current high bid, follow me on Twitter and search for #DF22PNN_HIGHBID.

The bidding will close at 11:59 PM on Tuesday, September 3, 2022.

If you happened to answer the first question with a no, please visit Project Night Night to learn more about their mission and consider making a donation through my special “bacon donation” to Project Night Night.

Either way, please follow Project Night Night on Twitter and support their cause with prayers!

Thanks!

3 Things You May Not Know About Mulesoft Composer

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Mulesoft Composer became generally available for Salesforce customers in mid-March, in the middle of the pandemic. And even with the lack of normalcy in the world, it didn’t go unnoticed. 

“The idea behind MuleSoft Composer is to give business teams a simple way to leverage data any way necessary to create new digital services.”

Data Integration Solutions News

A Brief History

Mulesoft was founded in 2006, as MuleSource. In 2009 the name was changed to Mulesoft. Over the next several years the company became a leader in the application integration space, with continuous  growth and innovation, and was acquired by Salesforce in 2018. Mulesoft Composer became generally available in March, 2021. 

Here’s 3 things you might not know about Mulesoft Composer. 

  1. Mulesoft Composer is code-free, point & click 

Mulesoft Composer is helping to grow citizen developers with its code-free, point & click environment that previews connections as you build them. Wow – a preview of the connections as you build them. That certainly solves the problem that end users don’t always know what data they want to integrate until they see it, and since it’s also point & click, those citizen developers (end users) don’t have to wait for IT teams to build those integrations either! 

Mulesoft Composer screen shot
  1. Business Technologists are power users

According to a Gartner report, the number of business technologists will exceed the number of IT professionals by a factor of 4 within the next 2 years. Mulesoft Composer was built specifically with the line-of-business (LOB) end user, the power user, the Business Technologist, in mind. This empowers end users to help IT teams better scale the organization as it grows.

  1. Speeds Integrations & boost collaboration with pre-built Connectors

WIth many pre-built connectors, it is fast and easy to connect data from applications like NetSuite, Workday, Slack, Google Sheets, Tableau CRM, and Salesforce. And since Mulesoft Composer is built on the Anypoint Platform, it shares the same enterprise-grade runtime, security, governance & scalability capabilities, which helps to boost collaboration between lines of business (LOB) and IT.

Mulesoft Composer Use Cases

So…what are you waiting for? Just think of all the amazing things your business could be doing thanks to Mulesoft Composer. Want to learn more about the amazing capabilities of Mulesoft Composer, check out these product spotlights, then contact Salesforce to get started. 

5 Things you may not know about FormAssembly

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Form Builder

FormAssembly is an all-in-one web form builder and data collection platform.

With an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop form builder, FormAssembly makes it simpler than ever to build sophisticated online forms. Users can change the layout and design of their forms to match their company’s unique branding for a seamless user experience, tailoring their forms to their specific use case and audience.

FormAssembly users can build an unlimited number of forms and collect an unlimited number of responses, which can all be found conveniently within the user’s FormAssembly account.

FormAssembly’s robust Salesforce integration helps Salesforce users get more out of their data.

With FormAssembly’s Salesforce connector, you can use form submissions to seamlessly set up records in Salesforce. FormAssembly can be used to create or update standard and custom objects, as shown below. This helps users avoid duplicate data. 

form builder

You can also prefill forms with data from Salesforce to streamline the data collection process for your customers. This robust integration helps Salesforce users eliminate tedious manual data entry and therefore save time, money, and resources. Visit FormAssembly on the Salesforce AppExchange to learn more.

FormAssembly also connects with other systems and tools, such as PayPal, Stripe, Mailchimp, and many others.

FormAssembly is suitable for endless use cases in all industries and departments, with helpful templates to help you get started.

Thousands of organizations in all industries trust FormAssembly for simple, secure data collection. FormAssembly’s versatile platform is used by large enterprises and small to mid-sized businesses alike, including financial services companies, healthcare organizations, higher education institutions, nonprofits, government agencies, and more. Because the platform is so customizable, it can be used in multiple departments of the same company, with endless use case potential.
FormAssembly’s recently updated Template Library makes it easy to start building sophisticated web forms, with customizable, ready-made templates for everything from secure payment forms to medical history forms. You may start FormAssembly for one specific use case, then find other use case ideas while looking through the Template Library. Below, you’ll see an example of a HIPAA medical form template:

form builder

FormAssembly prioritizes data privacy and security and is compliant with many data privacy regulations.

FormAssembly’s mission is to help its customers become better stewards of the data entrusted to them. With this mission in mind, FormAssembly offers encryption at rest and compliance with GDPR, CCPA, and PCI DSS Level 1 on all plans. FormAssembly’s Compliance Cloud plan is also compliant with HIPAA and GLBA, making it the ideal data collection platform for handling sensitive healthcare or financial information.

FormAssembly has a world-class Customer Success team.

When you read FormAssembly’s reviews on the Salesforce AppExchange, you’ll notice many mentions of their reliable Customer Success team. All customers receive unlimited world-class support, and Compliance Cloud customers receive priority support with 1-hour response times guaranteed 24/7 Monday through Friday.

FormAssembly offers Implementation Services for organizations that need extra support with customization and getting started. Packages include onboarding assistance, group training, and other options to help customers get the absolute most out of FormAssembly. FormAssembly also has extensive support documentation and helpful resources readily available for customers. 
Want to experience FormAssembly’s powerful, Salesforce-connected data collection platform for yourself? Sign up for a personalized demo or start a 14-day free trial today, no credit card required.

Does Your Data Tell Stories?

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I’m going to show my age here…remember the joke:

Question: What time does your watch say? Answer: It doesn’t say anything, I have to read it.

It’s like that with data too:

Question: What stories do your data tell? Answer: They don’t tell anything, I have to analyze and interpret the data to figure that out.

I’ve spent a large portion of my career digging into data, analyzing it, searching for patterns, outliers and exceptions. Why? To help the organizations I was working for to better understand what was driving their business forward, what was holding it back, where they were spending too much money, where they were making a lot of money, and even why their competition gained market share while they lost it.

It took hours and hours to plow through all the data available for analysis in order to be able to answer questions like “Why is printer ink sales down in Modesto?” or “Why do we sell more Adidas than Nike in Chicago?” Even much more complex questions like “How many seats do we need to fill on a Boeing 757 flight from Chicago to San Francisco to break even, and at what average price per seat?” can be answered with the right data. At one of my prior roles, I spent nearly 3 weeks of every month simply prepping the data from the previous month so that I could answer questions like those just mentioned. And then, during that 4th week of each month, I spent my time defending my findings and data analysis to management as I presented the facts about the business that went against their gut feelings.

Of course all this happened early in my career, long before I was a Salesforce user.

When I first started using Salesforce, I built reports and dashboards to see how many times customers called in with certain types of issues relating to their software. I was able to determine how often specific customers called in for support and what they needed help with. That still took time, but it was quicker than my pre-Salesforce days, and often still required some additional analysis and word-smithing before sharing with management.

So that’s better, but still rather time-consuming.

Enter Lexio, from Narrative Science.

Lexio automates analysis and gives you the story hidden in your Salesforce data in plain English, in real-time, and in a way that helps you understand and act on it.

Now that’s your data telling you something!

Narrative Science calls that Data Storytelling. Sounds simple enough, right? Ok, you try to explain just exactly what Data Storytelling is…go!

Listen to what the people who work at Narrative Science have to say in this video.

Want to learn more? Visit with Narrative Science at Dreamforce.

The 2019 Dreamforce Survival Kit

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Dreamforce. The name says it all – Dream!

Thousands upon thousands of people dream about attending each year, and once they finally get a taste of the annual Salesforce event, they feel this inexplicable force drawing them back year after year. 2019 will be my ninth year attending Dreamforce and my 7th year as a speaker. If I have my way, I will be returning to Dreamforce every year, year after year, just like the Monarch Butterfly’s annual return to Mexico, Florida and southern California, except that I fly on American Airlines and use BART, Lyft or Uber as my chosen modes of transportation.

Here are my top survival tips for first-time Dreamforce attendees:

Shoes – Wear comfortable shoes – You will walk more than you think. WAY more than you think. Many of the sessions are held in Moscone Center, which is actually three different buildings each with multiple floors of convention space. There are also sessions scattered about the city in various other locations – a movie theater and many hotels – some of them a good 15 minute walk from Moscone. If you are not used to walking a lot, get on a treadmill or get outside and start walking now! You might even want to bring more than one pair of comfortable shoes…just be sure they are not brand new. Breaking in new shoes at Dreamforce is a recipe for sore and tired feet!

Laptop – Leave the laptop at home – If you must bring it to San Francisco, leave it secured in the safe at your hotel room. You will quickly find that it becomes very heavy to carry around with you all day, even if it’s one of the ultralight laptops. Opt for a tablet if you have one or your smartphone if you are comfortable taking notes on a small device. Some people I know go totally old school and take notes in a notebook at Dreamforce! If you must bring your laptop, opt for a backpack or messenger-style bag that can cross your body, not just hang off one shoulder. You don’t want to end the week with a definitive lean to one side. (Please note – I do NOT always practice what I preach…and I usually pay the price for that.)

Clothing – Wear comfortable clothing – Be sure to dress in layers or bring a light jacket. San Francisco has beautiful weather nearly all year. It never really gets terribly hot or very cold, but with the proximity to the ocean, the chances for a breeze are pretty good, and once the sun goes down, the air could get a little chilly. It may be a little cooler than last year, since Dreamforce is in mid-November. AccuWeather currently shows Dreamforce week as having highs in the low 60s and lows in the upper 40s. That’s what I call camping weather, and its my favorite time of the year. (Hmm…that fits in nicely with Trailhead!)

Water – Don’t forget to eat and stay hydrated – Don’t get so busy with the event that you forget to eat. And by all means, keep drinking water too. (But please do so using a refillable water bottle to keep all the plastic out of the landfills and oceans!) Eating and drinking water is the best way to keep up your energy. Now I know what you’re thinking…if I drink a lot, I’ll need to use the bathroom a lot. That’s true. That’s also part of human nature. There’s time between sessions to find a bathroom, although the lines may be longer between sessions, so if you have a time-slot where you are not in a session, make a pit stop, even if you don’t feel the urge. I bet your body will thank you for it anyway. In past years, Dreamforce has created gender neutral bathrooms on the 2nd level of Moscone West – near room 2004; as well as in the Hilton Union Square and the Marriott Marquis.

Network –  a.k.a., talk to people – Don’t be scared. Talk to everyone you can. Talk to the person on your right when waiting in line to go into a session. Talk to the person sitting to your left once you get inside a session. When you take a break to eat lunch (included in your conference registration) be brave and sit near people you don’t know…and start a conversation! (Just don’t get so busy you forget about food and water! Remember the previous tip you just read?) With all the walking and mental exercise you’ll be getting during Dreamforce, you’ll need all the nourishment you can find! Back to talking to people – just do it. (Disclaimer – I know Nike uses this expression as part of their brand – I hope they don’t get too mad at me for using the sentence. At least I gave them credit for it!) People always say that outside your comfort zone is where the magic happens. It’s the same for Dreamforce. If you are an introvert, make it a goal to meet one new person per day. That’s not too daunting, right? You never know who you might meet. Out of the 33,000 + people at my first Dreamforce in 2011, I managed to sit down for lunch at a table with one of my brother-in-law’s co-workers. And no, I did not know that before I sat at that table! (Cue the Walt Disney music: It’s a small world after all!) If you are shy, take the high-tech approach to networking. Bring a surge strip with you and hang out at a charging station between sessions – one surge strip could mean five instant connections.

After Hours – Dreamforce at Night – Be prepared for some long days. This isn’t just an 8am to 5pm conference. Sure that’s when most of the keynotes and breakout sessions occur, but there are also many opportunities for networking before and after those hours thanks to many partners sponsoring parties. Your one stop shop for all the parties at Dreamforce this year is The Ultimate Dreamforce Parties List from Salesforce Ben! And don’t forget about the Trailblazer Community, with its many Dreamforce related groups like “New to Dreamforce” and “Dreamforce Newbie Reunion Breakfast” (Shameless plug number 1: That’s a group that I am organize, and it’s purpose is to help Dreamforce first-timers make a connection or two, while helping to raise money for Project Night Night. Want to attend the breakfast on Tuesday, November 19th from 6:30am to 8:30am? Register here.) One more point about “after-hours”, and this one’s pretty important: don’t overdo it on the alcohol! You will need to be well rested for the next day’s activities at Dreamforce, and while alcohol may help you fall asleep, too much of it can make waking up in the morning more of a challenge. (Some people call me a “one-hit wonder”…one adult beverage, and then I’m onto water the rest of the night.)

Training – If you can, take advantage of the pre-conference training and certification opportunities, Dreamforce is the perfect opportunity for that too, and at a discounted price too! Once you get your certification, be sure to tweet it out with #ThisOneIsForYouTamiEsling, use the same hashtag in the Trailblazer Community and on Facebook too! Doing so will make your celebration of certification a tribute to the late Tami Esling, a Salesforce MVP who passed away on March 5th, 2016. Tami made it her mission to help people get certified, so help keep her memory alive!

Go Global – Dreamforce doesn’t just happen in San Francisco. Dreamforce happens all over the globe! Attend a Salesforce World Tour or Trailhead Live event in your area. Look here for an event near you. Join a Community group in your area and attend the meetings regularly. Look for awesome regional, Community led Salesforce events, and attend those too! The Trailblazer Community is an awesome way to expand your knowledge and increase not only your network of people, but also the resources you can count on to help you solve problems.

All Year Long – Dreamforce isn’t just a week during the year. Thanks to the Trailblazer Community it’s a perpetual event. Get active on the Community and share your struggles and your successes. Get connected with the people you will meet BEFORE you get to Dreamforce and make friends that last a lifetime!

So why do so many people attend Dreamforce year after year? In a word, because it is AWESOME!

Want to meet up with me at Dreamforce? Tweet me!

5 Things you might not know about Salesforce partner FairWarning

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Guest post from Mike Mason, Senior Product Marketing Manager, FairWarning.

FairWarning is an ISV Salesforce partner – and here are 5 things everybody should know about us.

Kurt J. Long founded FairWarning after his own experience with a data breach.

Years ago, as founder and young CEO of the information security company OpenNetwork, Kurt was approached by the FBI after false information about a celebrity lawyer was sent from their network to a local radio personality, who read the information on-air to listeners. They needed to quickly determine where the leak originated, and whether they had somebody dangerous on staff. For three days, their key IT person – we’ll call him “Ken” – worked around the clock to investigate IP addresses and delve into all types of audit logs, painstakingly piecing together that the breach had come from an insider named “Don.” After this experience, Kurt realized the market needed a “Magic Button” that a business-minded person could push – one that would help organizations grow trust in their workforce while verifying that their access is above board. No other industry needed this more than the healthcare industry, due to the vast amount of sensitive data involved in patient care. FairWarning started there, monitoring electronic health record systems (EHRs) and other applications containing patient information. We introduced FairWarning for Salesforce in 2015 as a way for all types of organizations – not just healthcare – to unlock the information hidden in complex Salesforce Shield audit logs.

(EFD – Creating a product from a personal experience…I bet that’s how a lot of AppExchange partners go their start!)

FairWarning’s vision is to grow trust in an increasingly interconnected world.

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, consumer trust in businesses has plummeted. As headlines of security breaches make their way to our news feeds nearly every day, citizens may feel that the organizations holding their most sensitive data care little about the security of that data. Everything that FairWarning does, from product upgrades to educating customers, is designed to help our customers grow that trust, both internally and with customers.

(EFD – All of us in the Salesforce Ohana understand the value of Trust.)

We want all business-minded users to have full visibility into Salesforce user activity – not just data scientists.

“Ken” from OpenNetwork spent three days combing through those audit logs to track down the origin of one leak. Had the FBI not notified Kurt of the leak, the company may have never known anything happened. FairWarning delivers that visibility by translating complex audit logs (e.g., Salesforce Shield Event Monitoring) into simplified, actionable insights and proactive alerts on specific user behavior. We believe everybody should have visibility into their cloud applications without having to turn to a data scientist to interpret the information within the applications’ audit logs. And we believe in providing a product that works when you need it most.

(EFD – Putting the power into the users’ hands!)

We work closely with Salesforce.com product development to help our customers unlock the full value of Salesforce and Shield.

Because visibility for all is so important to us, we are in constant contact with Salesforce.com product development and marketing to ensure that our customers’ voices are being heard within the Salesforce ecosystem. We have helped drive enhancements to Event Monitoring logs, and are currently working with a group of customers on real-time monitoring. In fact, our Dreamforce ‘18 messaging is “Empowering You to Take Shield to the Next Level.” We are a true partner for Salesforce and our customers, in every sense of the word.

(EFD – Be sure to visit with FairWarning while you are at Dreamforce!)

fairwarningbooth

FairWarning Senior Product Marketing Manager Mike Mason discusses how businesses can take Shield to the next level and get greater visibility into Salesforce by coupling FairWarning with Salesforce Shield Event Monitoring.

We are inspired by global adventure.

FairWarning’s values include “Growth,” and we’re inspired by challenges and adventures. For many years, we’ve had an internal Flag Program, where employees take a FairWarning Flag on their travels and submit photos of themselves in amazing locales (over 40 countries to date!). Recently, we opened the Flag Program to any customer who would like to take a piece of FairWarning with them. And FairWarning CEO/Creator Kurt J. Long is currently making his way across the Mediterranean for the 2018 Virgin Strive Challenge. The Challenge benefits Big Change, which works to give young people essential skills, opportunities, and support to grow within themselves and change the world. The five-stage challenge includes a duathlon across Sardinia, hike on Corsica, five-day cycling arm through the Southern Alps, Alpine hike, and scaling of Europe’s tallest mountain, Mont Blanc.

fairwarningflag

Customer Success Manager Megan Krieger displays the FairWarning flag while climbing the Salkantay Trek in Peru

(EFD – Wow! Now that’s a view that needs no warning!)

 

5 Things You Can do at Dreamforce Without Attending a Single Session

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Guest post from James Lloyd-Townshend, CEO of Mason Frank International. James Lloyd-Townshend is the CEO of Mason Frank International, a specialist Salesforce recruiter and long-time Dreamforce sponsor. He has provided us with the following insight into what you can get up to at Dreamforce 2018, the biggest Salesforce event of the year.

Dreamforce truly is a dream for Salesforce professionals. With 3,000+ sessions over the four-day event, there’s every opportunity to learn more about your specialism or focus product within the Salesforce ecosystem, and gather insights into the future of the technology.

Arguably the best thing about Dreamforce, however, is the volume of exciting activities you can engage in without even visiting a breakout session. Some of the most innovative technology companies in the world are exhibiting in San Francisco this year and, like any good festival, sometimes you have to venture off the beaten path to find the real magic.

Here are five things you can do at Dreamforce 2018 without attending a single session:

Discounted training and certification

Salesforce has a fantastic open education portal that encourages professionals to learn at their own pace, wherever and whenever they like. This extends to its certification routes, as it’s now easier than ever to take online-proctored exams, meaning you don’t even have to leave your house to become a certified Salesforce pro.

One of the perks of attending Dreamforce, however, is the discounts you can get on both training and certification. Trailhead Bootcamps, led by seasoned Salesforce experts, are being held early in the week, and you can receive up to a 50% discount on certification exams if you register via the online portal. If you’ve been weighing up whether you can justify the expense of certification, you’ve just found your answer.

Find a job

The Salesforce Partner ecosystem is rich with growing enterprises, while End Users are always on the hunt for new talent. If you’re looking for a fresh new challenge, or you navigate the contract market, Dreamforce could be the perfect chance to link up with your next employer. However, if you don’t fancy wandering around resume in-hand, you could always take the opportunity to speak to a recruiter exhibiting at Dreamforce.

Mason Frank International is the largest recruiter of Salesforce jobs in the world and, having sponsored Dreamforce five years in a row, is well equipped to advise you on your next career move; even if that’s just giving you a few tips on where to look for jobs or how to optimize your resume for prospective employers.

Customer Success Expo

Are you interested in exploring the latest solutions created by ISVs? Dreamforce’s Customer Success Expo offers the perfect chance to test drive an independent application that could make your life a whole lot easier. With more than 400 Salesforce Partners showcasing their expertise at this event, consider it a Comic Con for Salesforce geeks, only instead of comic books and movie memorabilia, you might end up coming away with an innovative solution that doubles your earning potential.

Give back to the community (and see Metallica!)

Salesforce co-founder, Marc Benioff, is no stranger to philanthropy, and the fundraising efforts at Dreamforce 2018 demonstrate that perfectly. Attendees are being encouraged to complete Dreamforce Quests via the mobile app or at Quest Towers located throughout the campus; each completed Quest unlocks a $50 donation towards local charities in the San Francisco Bay area, in an effort to help end homelessness.

If that wasn’t enough, Salesforce’s legendary Dreamfest benefit concert has been supporting UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals for several years now, and the 2018 show will push the boat out even further by featuring rock legends Metallica. So whether you want to seek and destroy free cocktails, fade to black in the mosh pit, or nothing else matters to you except learning more about Salesforce, register your place for this concert for an unforgettable experience while raising money for children in need.

Party…party hard

There’s a reason why Dreamforce is affectionately nicknamed drunkforce by the Salesforce community. As well as the event itself doing its best to create a party atmosphere, the number of Dreamforce after-parties being hosted by partners and user groups will almost certainly set you up for a sore head. Check out Salesforce Ben’s Dreamforce party guide for a better idea of what’s in store, but you’re likely to end up being invited to several parties once you’re at the event. These parties offer a great opportunity to network, but you could always just play ping pong; nothing wrong with that!

Enjoy your time in San Francisco, and be sure to cram as much into your Dreamforce experience as possible. This is the biggest Salesforce event of the year, and of all time, so make the most of every second, whether that involves learning more about your focus product or watching MC Hammer do his thing at an after-party. This is what being part of the Salesforce Ohana is all about—see you there!

The Dreamforce Newbie Survival Kit, 2018 Edition

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Dreamforce. The name says it all.

Thousands and thousands of people dream about attending, and once they get there, they feel this inexplicable force that draws them back year after year. 2018 will be my eighth year attending Dreamforce, and if I have my way, I will continue return every year, just like the Monarch Butterfly’s annual migration to Mexico, Florida and southern California, except that I use an airplane and BART for my modes of transportation, since I don’t have wings!

Here are a few tips that I think all first-time Dreamforce attendees should know:

1. Wear comfortable shoes – You will walk more than you think. WAY more than you think. Many of the sessions are held in Moscone Center, which is actually three different buildings each with at least two floors of convention space. There are also sessions scattered about the city in various other locations including a theater and many hotels. If you are not used to walking a lot, get on a treadmill or get outside and start walking now! You might even want to bring more than one pair of comfortable shoes…just be sure they are not brand new. Breaking in new shoes at Dreamforce is a recipe for sore and tired feet! Corey Snow walked a lot at Dreamforce 2017!

2. Leave the laptop at home – If you must bring it to San Francisco, leave it secured in the safe at your hotel room. You will quickly find that it becomes very heavy to carry around with you all day, even if it’s one of the ultralight laptops. Opt for a tablet if you have one or even just your smartphone if you are comfortable taking notes on a small device. (Please note – I do NOT always practice what I preach, and I usually pay the price for that. If you must bring your laptop, opt for a backpack or messenger-style bag that can cross your body, not just hang off one shoulder. You don’t want to end the week with a definitive lean.)

3. Wear comfortable clothing – Be sure to dress in layers or bring a light jacket. San Francisco has beautiful weather nearly all year. It never really gets terribly hot or very cold, but with the proximity to the ocean, the chances for a breeze are pretty good, and once the sun goes down, the air could get a little chilly. It will be a little warmer than last year, since Dreamforce is earlier by 6 weeks or so. Personally, being from the Midwest, I love the cool evenings!  It’s what I call camping weather. (Hmm…that fits in nicely with Trailhead!)

4. Don’t forget to eat and stay hydrated – Don’t get so busy with the event that you forget to eat. And by all means, keep drinking water too. (But please do so using a refillable water bottle to keep all the plastic out of the landfills and oceans!) Eating and drinking water is the best way to keep up your energy. Now I know what you’re thinking…if I drink a lot, I’ll need to use the bathroom a lot. That’s true. That’s also part of human nature. There’s time between sessions to find a bathroom, although the lines may be longer between sessions, so if you have a time-slot where you are not in a session, make a pit stop, even if you don’t feel the urge. I bet your body will thank you for it anyway. One thing to note: For those preferring gender neutral bathrooms, you’ll find one on the 2nd level of Moscone West, near room 2004, as well as in the Hilton Union Square and the Marriott Marquis.

 

5. Network –  a.k.a., talk to people. Don’t be scared. Talk to everyone you can. Talk to the person on your right when waiting in line to go into a session. Talk to the person sitting to your left once you get inside a session. When you take a break to eat lunch (included in your conference registration) be brave and sit near people you don’t know…and start a conversation! (Just don’t get so busy you forget about food and water! Remember tip #4 you just read? With all the walking and mental exercise you’ll be getting during Dreamforce, you’ll need all the nourishment you can find!) Back to talking to people –  Just do it. Outside your comfort zone is where the magic happens. You’ll never know who you’ll meet. Out of the 45,000 + people at Dreamforce 2011, I managed to sit down for lunch at a table with one of my brother-in-law’s co-workers. (Cue the Walt Disney music: It’s a small world after all!) If you are shy, take the high-tech approach to networking. Bring a surge strip with you and hang out at a charging station between sessions – one surge strip could mean five instant connections.

6. Dreamforce “After Hours” – Be prepared for some long days. This isn’t just an 8am to 5pm conference. Sure that’s when most of the keynotes and breakout sessions occur, but there are also many opportunities for networking before and after those hours thanks to many partners sponsoring parties. Your one stop shop for all the parties at Dreamforce this year is the Anaplan Party List. And don’t forget about the Trailblazer Community, with its many Dreamforce related groups like “New to Dreamforce” and “Dreamforce Newbie Reunion Breakfast” (Shameless plug number 1: That’s a group that I am organize, and it’s purpose is to help Dreamforce first-timers make a connection or two, while helping to raise money for Project Night Night. Want to attend the breakfast on Tuesday, September 26th from 6:30am to 8:30am? Register here.) One more point about “after-hours” – don’t overdo it on the alcohol! You will need to be well rested for the next day’s adventures at Dreamforce, and while alcohol may help you fall asleep, to much of it can make waking up in the morning more of a challenge. (Some people call me the “one-hit wonder”…one adult beverage, and then I’m onto water the rest of the night.)

6. Training – If you can, take advantage of the pre-conference training and certification opportunities, Dreamforce is the perfect opportunity for that too, and at a discounted price too! Once you get your certification, tweet it out with #ThisOneIsForYouTamiEsling, use the same hashtag in the Trailblazer Community and on Facebook too! Doing so will make your celebration of certification a tribute to the late Tami Esling, a Salesforce MVP who passed away on March 5th, 2016, who made it her mission to help people get certified.

7. Go Global – Dreamforce doesn’t just happen in San Francisco. Dreamforce happens all over the globe! Attend a Salesforce World Tour or Trailhead Live event in your area. Look here for an event near you. Join a user group in your area and attend the meetings regularly. Look for awesome regional, Community led Salesforce events, and attend those too! The Trailblazer Community is an awesome way to expand your knowledge and increase not only your network of people, but also the resources you can count on to help you solve problems.

8. All Year Long – Dreamforce isn’t just a week during the year. Thanks to the Trailblazer Community it’s a perpetual event. Get active on the Community and share your struggles and your successes. Get connected with the people you will meet BEFORE you get to Dreamforce and make friends that last a lifetime!

So why do so many people attend Dreamforce year after year? In a word, because it is AWESOME!

Want to meet up with me at Dreamforce? Tweet me!