MVPs are asked all the time “How do I get to be an MVP?” Well, the path is simple - you have to participate, you have to have passion and you have to be prepared to step in and help out even when there’s nothing in it for you . . . perhaps especially when there’s nothing in it for you.

If you have decided that your goal is to be a Salesforce MVP in the coming seasons then jump in and join us - we need people from across the globe to help customers and users and to spread the Salesforce lurve.

The Community Leaders at Salesforce are always on the lookout for people who meet the following criteria:

• write intelligent and up-to-date blogs which teach others tips, tricks or just give useful Salesforce info 
• active members who answer questions on LinkedIn, in the Dreamforce app, using #askforce on Twitter, or on the Answers boards with expert knowledge and insight;
• people who organize User Groups, promoting learning Salesforce.

And here is a bit more about what it's like to be an actual MVP:

“I get by with a little help from my friends” - MVPs Are Team Players

Imagine  . . . it’s Tuesday and you get a reminder that you committed to write a blog post for a pal. Not any old pal; a mega, huge, giant-sized pal called salesforce.com. You are snowed under at work; drowning in a sea of Salesforce admin-ness, clients and projects. Oops. Never fear, if you happen to be a Salesforce MVP some other helpful, ever-so-slightly-less-busy Salesforce MVP pals will help pick up the slack. That’s one of the traits we all share as MVPs. Two of the team were busy so a couple of us stepped in to write this post.

Lesson One: Play Well With Others - Salesforce MVPs Are Team Players.

“We can work it out” - MVPs Contribute to The Community

It’s exactly the same scenario as the Twitter snapshot to the left.
Someone in the community was stuck with a Salesforce question so they posted it to Twitter using #askforce. Even though I didn’t know the answer I knew a couple of guys who might. Fab! Lucky old @benhoulihan gets two of the smartest Salesforce consultants around to immediately answer his question. (Even though he’s an Arsenal fan.)

This is what it means to be an MVP.  As I mentioned earlier, you help others out even though there is nothing in it for you and they’re not directly on your team. You contribute to the Salesforce community by leading User Groups. You really, really know your stuff. You overcome your fear of public speaking to spread the Salesforce lurve by talking about how you’ve solved common problems using clicks, not code. You are someone everyone seems to want to sit next to so that they can pick your brain. And you absolutely cannot believe that you are engaged enough or smart enough to have been nominated by someone in the Salesforce community to be a MVP.  

Lesson Two: Collaborate - Salesforce MVPs Contribute to the Community (You may not know the answer but chances are you know someone who does!)

"The long and winding road" - MVPs Contribute to Dreamforce

There’s this little conference happening in September in San Francisco with an anticipated 70,000 attendees. There are people like Richard Branson, Gen. Colin Powell and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers speaking along with hundreds of business and industry experts, analysts and Force.com gurus, code monkeys and architects. It is going to be amazing and as Salesforce MVPs most of us get to go. Better yet, we get to be the face of the community and most of us get to speak at a session or two (or six!).

The MVPs built these sessions based on common questions people ask us such as:

• “I’m a beginner but how do I implement security?”
• “How can I make my work environment social and safely implement Chatter?”
• “How can I keep my data clean without frustrating my users?”
• “What’s the worst mistake you’ve ever made?”
• “How can I make myself a marketable admin?”
• “How can I be more “Social”?”
• “How can I move along in my Salesforce career?”
• “How can I learn to write kick-butt formulas?”

How did we come up with this ideas? The MPVs gathered together in the Dreamforce app, discussed our ideas, and then submitted their ideas to our beloved Den Mother/Brown Owl Erica Khul. We collaborated in a google doc to ensure each session was staffed with the experts, after all, you can’t have a formula session without the brainiac @SteveMoForce, the every popular Stump the Chump/Answers Live without quick-fingers @mattybme or a discussion on which @AppExchange apps will give you #Apptitude without @crmdr and @judis217. We also made sure that everyone will be able to speak on a subject which they are passionate about.  

Lesson Three: Volunteer Your Strengths - MVPs Work Well Together, Play Well Together, And Serve The Community

“Come together, right now” - We’re Exclusive But You’re Invited

The best part of being a Salesforce MVP is not that your LinkedIn profile will go into overdrive with job offers, nor that you get a free pass to Dreamforce and super-duper front row seating at events, or even the ever-so-coveted red bag. The best part is that you will be welcomed into the fold as one of the gang, your opinion will be sought after by Salesforce managers, and even if no one outside of the Salesforce ecosystem understands what you do for a living they will all understand that you are special if you are a Salesforce MVP.

So, Marc Benioff will be seeing you at Dreamforce, the Community Leaders are watching you for participation and all the current MVPs are encouraging you to go for it as there’s always room for more. Please join us!

And one last point, which really illustrates the words above; I didn’t write this on my own - I had quite a lot of help from my friends @remjones and @mariaignatova.