I'm a Salesforce MVP. MVP's are not salesforce.com employees, but are officially designated leaders in the Salesforce community, recognized for providing support to other community members through leadership, knowledge, and ongoing contributions. I've been attending Dreamforce for a number of years, and have gained tidbits of information that are invaluable for attendees. For instance, attend Dreamforce and you might feel like you’re Dorothy in the Wonderful World of Oz. Here’s why:

1. Dreamforce is as eye opening as the big and powerful Oz.  The giant conference will amaze your eyes and ears with over 1,000 educational and informative sessions. 

2. You'll find your way as easily as the yellow brick road. Despite the large size of Dreamforce, you won’t get lost. The path from one location to another will be laid out with employees and signs as obvious as the yellow brick road.

3. Ruby slippers are fine (as long as you can walk in them.) When I say that the sessions stretch for blocks, I mean that literally.  If you forget to bring comfortable shoes, you’ll wish that Glinda the Good Witch would wave her wand and change your shoes.

4. You can peek behind the curtain. Spend time in the salesforce.com booth on the Expo floor.  This is your chance to look behind the scenes and see the latest developments that salesforce.com is offering. You’ll even meet some of the wizards behind the technological magic.

5. You'll meet helpful folks along the way. Just like Dorothy's adventure, you’ll meet lots of helpful people. These folks will share the same interests, help you find solutions and learn new things.

6. Like Oz, Dreamforce is like no experience you’ve ever had before. Just as Dorothy was amazed, you’ll be as well. With so many new technologies on display, you’ll be blown away by the types of applications and business processes from Salesforce and their partners.  

Despite all these similarities, there is one big difference: Unlike Dorothy in Oz, when you are at Dreamforce, you will not be anxious to click your heels and return home.

Bonny Hinners is a Salesforce MVP and has worked with Salesforce in nonprofit environments since 2004.  Bonny volunteers with multiple nonprofits in Northern California to customize Salesforce to meet their individual business needs. She creates custom data objects and develops Visualforce pages and Apex code to meet their particular needs. She also creates training materials and best practice documentation.  Even more sensational, she has been at every single Dreamforce, dating back to 2003 (and still uses that year’s bag to prove it). 

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