Winter is in the air but we have key dates to share with you for Spring '16.  Go faster than ever before with the Customer Success Platform.  In the Spring '16 release, you can now quickly take action from your phone - online or off and rapidly gain insights to predict what customers want. You can also accelerate productivity for every partner and developer with new community dashboards and our secure and scalable platform.

December 17th - Our Spring '16 Pre-Release will be ready for you to "play". Why do I need a pre-release org? Glad you asked! It’s a special environment that's upgraded even before Sandboxes, giving you new features weeks in advance of the release. It's not linked to your production org, so it won't have the same data or configuration and you can test without worrying about breaking anything.  Don't forget to add the treasures you find to the Release Community right here #Spring16Treasures so others can learn from your experience.

Sounds good, how do I get one?  Sign up here and you'll get an email with a login to a new test org.

Let’s look at the rest of the key dates for Spring '16 so you can mark your calendars:

December 17th: Release Notes are available

Dive into Spring!  Don't forget that the Salesforce Release Notes now also come in HTML format so that you can read them on any mobile device and quickly find the sections you’re most interested in.

December 21st: Your ideas that are “Coming in Spring’16” on the Idea Exchange

You will be able to see which of your ideas are coming in the next release here. You can also check what’s going into pilot or beta in the next release.

December 23rd: Spring '16 Release Site

We switch the Release Site to the Spring '16 Release on this day. Check out the Spring '16 Release Preview or watch the Release Videos that demo the key new features.

January 1st: Sandbox Cut Off

If you would like your Sandbox organization to take part in the Spring ‘16 Preview, your Sandbox must be active on a preview instance by January 1st, 2016 to take part in an overall instance upgrade.  Find out more here.

January 6th: Join us as we discuss how to best manage new releases

How do you manage your release planning? Would you benefit from some best practices on the topic? Why not join us as we have a discussion about how to manage new releases.  Register for our New Releases: Mastering Your Readiness Strategy Webinar.

January 8th and 9th: Sandboxes upgraded

Check out our article about the Spring '16 Sandbox preview which gives you all the options if you want to take part in the Sandbox preview. Just like the pre-release program, the Sandbox preview gives you the opportunity to test new features without impacting your live environment.  It also allows you to test new features in a way that matches your production environment.

January 15th: NA1 upgraded

The first release weekend is when we here at salesforce.com and any customers on NA1 get upgraded.

January 19th and 20th: Release Readiness Live broadcast

Save the Dates! Our Product Management team will be back for Spring '16 discussing and demoing the new features live from our studio, so you'll see how those features work in real time.  Full details on agenda and timings will be posted in January on our Release Readiness & Feature Adoption Community.

February 5th: The second release weekend

This is when another set of instances - NA6, NA7, NA8, NA9, NA17, NA18, NA22, NA28, NA29, NA31, EU5 - gets upgraded.  Check out our Trust page to see when you’ll be upgraded.

February 12th and 13th: The final release weekend

All remaining Salesforce systems will be upgraded over this weekend.  This is also the upgrade weekend for any Sandboxes you’ve opted not to include in the Sandbox preview.

You can get more information on pre-release sign up and other release-related topics by joining the Release Readiness & Feature Adoption group on our Success Community site.