Oct 13, 2017 By Pip Morphet

Make the Most of Your Dreamforce Golden Ticket with Trailhead Learning

in Dreamforce, Events, Learning

You’ve got your golden ticket to Dreamforce ’17. Your golden chance to make your way to the city with the golden bridge. And you didn’t even need to eat a single chocolate bar to get it! But you will need to connect with your inner Willy Wonka genius to get the most out of your four days, where the Trailhead learning opportunities will flow around you like an awe-inspiring river of chocolate.

With an impressive 2700+ sessions at Dreamforce this year, you'll need a plan so you can trailblaze your way to your own personalized learning experience. The best way to do this is to set yourself three achievable learning goals. Do you want to delve deeper into your skill sets? Do you want to become Salesforce-certified? Do you want to skill up on a particular Cloud? Do you want to achieve your next Trailhead rank? Are you thinking of specializing as an Admin, a Dev, or even an Architect?

Also be sure to meet with your manager (or management team) before Dreamforce and ask them if there are any explicit business needs for you to solve or Clouds they want you to investigate. If you can nail down what you’re expected to get out of Dreamforce from the business side, it will make it a whole lot easier to justify your trip...and future ones (Dreamforce ’18, anyone?).

Here are our top tips for getting your learning on at Dreamforce:

1. Before: Build your agenda by mapping your learning goals to their relevant sessions.

If you haven't already, create your Trailhead profile. If you're a Trailhead newbie, the Learn Salesforce with Trailhead trail is a great place to start.
Take the Get Ready for Dreamforce trail.
Use the sessions tab in Agenda Builder to find the ones right for you.
- Use the filters to drill down by Category (such as “Certification”) or by Role or Product.
- Select the Trailhead learning theme.
- Use keywords such as “Hands-on Training,” “Learn with Trailhead,” or “Earn with Trailhead” in the Search bar.
- Many sessions will also have suggested Trailhead badges that go hand-in-hand—be sure to check these out, too.
Book a 3-day, expert-led, pre-conference training course specific to your learning goals.

2. During: Be early, take notes, do the Dreamforce Quest, earn a credential, and connect!

If you didn’t manage to secure your spot at one of your desired Hands-on Training sessions at the Trailhead Academy, be sure to turn up early, as you may be able to secure the spot of a “no show.” If you have already booked, a timely arrival will ensure a prime seat.
Keep your three learning goals top of mind and take lots of notes, especially as every Dreamforce attendee will receive a free trial of Quip! As a bonus, you'll also get a Quip Trailhead template that has links to awesome resources and content you can access during and after the event.
Conquer the Dreamforce Quest to win fabulous prizes. Dreamforce Quest is a fun, passport-style game that empowers you to learn new skills and win awesome prizes at Dreamforce. Campus-wide this year, the Quest brings all the magic of Trailhead's guided learning paths to the in-person Dreamforce experience. Plus, for every Quest completed, we'll donate to these amazing charities: Girl Scouts, College Track, and Upwardly Global—let's make it to our $1M goal!
Make your way to the Trailhead Zone on Moscone West level 1 to tackle your first, or 100th, Trailhead badge at Camp Quick Start.
As certification sessions are 50% off at Dreamforce, it's the perfect place to earn a Salesforce credential. You can easily add certification to your registration, or you can book on the spot if you’re feeling inspired. Check out our 4 ways to get certification-ready for Dreamforce '17 for cert prep hints and tips.
Dreamforce is the perfect place to plug into the awesomeness of the #SalesforceOhana. Be sure to stop by the Trailblazer Community Cove to network with community leaders and MVPs. Throughout the event, connect, collaborate, learn together, have fun together, and aim to leave with a ton of new friends.
Even more reason to earn more badges: $10 will be donated to the National Parks Foundation for every Trailhead badge earned onsite at Dreamforce. Roll up your sleeves and learn new skills to help us reach our $50k goal. Make your way to the Trailhead Zone on Moscone West level 1 to tackle your first, or 100th, Trailhead badge at Camp Quick Start.*

3. After: Continue to “Learn. Earn. Connect.” with Trailhead.

Keep the learning momentum going! Build your skills with more badges, take an expert-led course, schedule a certification exam, or strive for a superbadge.
Present your learnings and accomplishments back to your team and management—this will not only illustrate the value you got out of Dreamforce, but will also help to reinforce all you learned.
Join the Trailblazer Community, follow Trailhead on social, and encourage your co-workers to become Trailblazers, too.
Relive the magic of your favorite sessions, and catch up on the ones you missed.
- Post-event, keep an eye out for custom trailmixes covering the biggest highlights.
- Take in a local Dreamforce Global Gathering event (November 13 - December 15).
Psst, the fun and learning won't stop just because Dreamforce is over. There's an exciting new challenge coming with fabulous prizes...stay tuned...

The secret recipe of Dreamforce is to have fun while learning, and to learn together. This is the whole ethos of Trailhead and will get you far on your Dreamforce learning adventure. See where your trail takes you when you expand your expertise, earn skill-based credentials, and create brand-new possibilities. And with a golden ticket, it's a golden day.