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Get ready, Atlanta! Because Salesforce and Pardot Trailblazers from across the southeastern United States will soon be making their way to your city for the third annual Southeast Dreamin’ community event.

Hosted on March 15-16 by the local Trailblazer Community, this conference welcomes Admins, Developers, and Salesforce users across all sectors for a day and half of learning and networking. Attendees get access to a full schedule of speakers and keynotes, over 20 community-led breakout sessions, a “Trailhead-a-Thon” for Trailblazers to earn all the badges they’ve been putting off, plus a Sponsor Expo to learn about new AppExchange options.

“We give attendees action-focused sessions so they walk away with knowledge on how to improve their org, or their life,” says Stephanie Foerst, one of 9 event leaders for Southeast Dreamin’ and Senior Administrator at GreenSky Credit. “We’ve received great feedback on our sessions in the past.” Stephanie is also the Community Group Leader for Atlanta’s Women in Technology and Pardot User Groups, plus a Salesforce MVP.

 

So, how did all this get started?

Chris Whitehead, a Senior Salesforce Engineer at RelationEdge and another event leader, has been a part of this conference from the beginning. “Three years ago, a question was posted in the Trailblazer Community saying, ‘Do you want to be a part of a Midwest Dreamin’-like event in the Southeast?’” He signed right up, and so did other Trailblazers from the region.

“Planning Southeast Dreamin’ is not our day job and most of us are running Community Groups and other Salesforce events in addition,” added Stephanie. “We break up the responsibilities so no one person feels like they have to carry the huge burden of planning this event on their own.”

When it came to planning Southeast Dreamin’, teamwork really does make the dream work. Leading up to the conference, members of the event planning team meet weekly to identify the immediate and long-term tasks that need to be completed, share an open dialogue about ideas, and ask for assistance. Each event leader understands that life gets busy, so they’re all ready to lend a helping hand. It’s the “Ohana” way in action.

 

What’s new to Southeast Dreamin’ this year?

The planning teams favorite new addition to this year’s event is the introduction of mini-keynotes that allow each attendee to personalize their experience based on what will be more beneficial for their role and knowledge level. This year’s featured keynotes include:

And since the event is taking place in Atlanta — the hometown of Pardot — there will be a special emphasis on the tool across sessions and breakouts, helping Admins to expand their knowledge of how the tool helps companies built more meaningful relationships with customers.

“If everyone learns just one new thing and meets just one new person, then it will all be worth it,” says Kristi Guzman, event leader and Senior Administrator at ACN (she also runs the Charlotte Women in Tech User Group, and is a Salesforce MVP).

 

There’s still time to sign up!

If you aren’t already attending, there’s still plenty of time to register for this year’s event by purchasing a ticket here. And if you can’t make it to Atlanta this year, you can still follow all the action from home using the hashtag #SED18.

 

Meet the Leaders:

The following group of dedicated and dynamic Trailblazers help make Southeast Dreamin’ a reality — huge kudos to them!