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Welcome to APAC Trailblazers, a series highlighting individuals who are blazing trails to great platform and career development within our #SalesforceOhana. These blogs shine a spotlight on the 1,000s of stories in our Salesforce community that, we hope, will inspire you to take your own Salesforce career to new heights.
This is a special edition of the APAC Trailblazers series, focusing on a five time Dreamforce Trailblazer and his advice on how you can blaze your own trail through Dreamforce!
Megan: Thank you for talking with me John. When it comes to Dreamforce, it starts with getting approval to go in the first place. How do you ensure you get there each year?
John: I write up my justification to the business and send on April 1st. But it’s no April fools day joke! Getting approval is never a fast process, so I give myself a lot of lead time. Actually next year I might do it on March 1st!
My justification doesn’t change too much from year to year but the short of it is, money can’t buy what’s offered at Dreamforce. You get a huge return on your investment. If my boss were to ever argue the reasoning, I would add that it’s embarrassing not to go as all of our competitors and partners go.
Megan: How do you prepare for Dreamforce?
John: Once I get approval, I buy my ticket and book accommodation as soon as possible to get a room where I want to be. I join the Dreamforce Chatter groups in the Salesforce Success Community so I’m across any announcements and developments. I then go through my business card pile to reach out to Salesforce friends that I met in previous years to see if they are attending. If they are I set up times to connect. And yes, I still collect business cards.
I make sure to complete the Dreamforce ‘16 Ready Trailhead Badge. I spend time reviewing my roadmap to identify key areas for fact finding requirements, development areas and knowledge gaps to help me prepare for Agenda Builder to go live. I can then link these key areas to what’s on offer at Dreamforce. I check the date and time Agenda Builder goes live so I can get in early to book all the sessions/time to address the above. Trust me it’s worth it! I generally book more sessions than I’m interested in but batch them together to avoid wasted time walking between sessions. I always opt out using the Dreamforce App if I think I am over committed on the day. Lastly, on the flight over to San Francisco, I review my ‘printed’ agenda and pencil in a minimum 3 hours of time to take a breath and become familiar with the Camp Ground and through the Expo.
Megan: What do you pack?
John: Some of the necessities would be:
iPad. I don’t even bother taking my laptop. It’s heavy and there is no time to sit and use it anyway.
Backup (battery) charger for my devices.
International power adapter and power board to charge all of my devices at once. They will run out.
Comfortable shoes.
Megan: What are your top three priorities for Dreamforce?
John:
Gaining insight into the latest thinking for management of the Platform.
Networking.
Some fun!
Megan: What are your main areas of interest this year?
John: Currently I’m interested in user adoption and the latest developments in gamification and mobile. I’m keen to look at what products are available within Salesforce to achieve gamification for sales easily. I’ve found some great sessions on how people have succeeded and failed with gamification that I’m looking forward to.
So how does the above dovetail into mobile you ask? Salespeople need instant gratification and we need our solutions to be mobile ready.
Megan: As a tenured Salesforce customer attending your fifth Dreamforce, what sessions provide you the most value?
John: When it comes to Dreamforce, the whole experience is unsurpassable you can’t afford not to attend. But if I had to pick, my big favourites are the Circles of Success. They provide value money can’t buy. Sitting with 5-6 other Salesforce users with the same problem and brainstorming with an expert is a high value activity. Additionally, in my experience the expert followed through after Dreamforce if there was any action items or extra information to share. Absolutely priceless. The connections you make at Dreamforce can keep providing value for years to come.
The Hands on Training sessions run by Salesforce University are brilliant and the only time you can do these is at Dreamforce. Lastly I’ve heard Cloud Services are running Ask the Expert sessions, where you get 1:1 time with an expert on a specific business challenge or question. Make sure you get in quick to register as these spots go quickly.
Where else can you get all of that in one event? And everything above is absolutely free!
Megan: What specific tips or advice would you give to your fellow Trailblazers around Dreamforce?
John:
Get to the keynote early so you can line up and actually be in the room and experience the live atmosphere. The vibe is electric!
Don’t feel bad about taking a break. I sit in Union Square between the Hilton and Moscone if I need to take a breather from it all. A tram trip to Fisherman’s Wharf for a wander or some clam chowder is also a good idea
Don’t sit in silence, talk to the person sitting next to you in sessions. You never know what you might learn and ice breakers are easy because you have a common interest. I usually open with “Hi, are you an Admin or Developer?”
Have one or two late nights – not every night.
Avoid Starbucks for meetings with your contacts, they are too crowded. Meet in Moscone Park or Union Square.
If you miss a session or are cutting it fine for the next, don’t stress and give it a miss. You can watch it on YouTube about two weeks after Dreamforce.
Megan: So what are the first things you do after Dreamforce?
John: I pick up all the admin and developer guides I can get, as well as swag, and I give that to all the people that didn’t go from Virgin. I also write up a debrief back to the business on what I learned and what I’m looking to bring to the business. If you don’t report back on the value, it makes it harder to justify your trip the next year. Finally, I prioritise following up with the people I met. Even touching base about 3 months later to check in on how they are going with what they were trying to achieve at Dreamforce. I’ve made some lasting connections through Dreamforce and I’m still in touch with Salesforce users that I met 5 years ago at Dreamforce 2011.
Megan: Thank you so much for sharing with me how to plan, prepare and survive Dreamforce John. Have a great time
Not attending Dreamforce? Find out how to avoid FOMO by rocking the event from a distance.
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