When you get a large group of Salesforce users and Trailblazers together in a room, something incredible happens. That’s true all over the world, but businesses and leaders from across Canada got to experience the power of those connections first-hand on April 11 at the Salesforce World Tour in Toronto.

If you’ve never been to a Salesforce World Tour, it’s like a mini-Dreamforce that brings the best of our product innovation and learning to local communities across the globe. There’s almost as much to look at as there is to listen to and learn.

Here’s a recap of the themes and key points most attendees were talking about:

 

1. Business is the greatest platform for change

Plenty of attendees had important business objectives they wanted to achieve at the event. And they did. But Sarah Franklin, Executive Vice President of Developer Relations and General Manager of Trailhead, challenged attendees at the opening keynote to think more broadly about the impact their work has on the wider world.

You don’t have to be as big as Salesforce to align your values with a focus on the public good. It’s something any business can do. "We believe we can do well and do good at the same time,” she said, encouraging attendees to join Salesforce in a commitment to giving back.

This includes using the resources and capabilities that come with successful growth to make a meaningful contribution towards things like education, equality, environment, and whatever causes are important to your business and values.

 

2. Customer experience comes first

Great customer relationships start with great customer experiences, and Canadian companies showed their interest in how Salesforce’s latest product innovations help to achieve this. Onstage, speakers demonstrated how retailers are using Salesforce products to create more connected experiences for their employees and customers. In one demo, attendees saw how a sales rep for Unilever is using Einstein Voice to work more efficiently. They also saw how Best Buy Canada is using a suite of Salesforce products to deliver a 360-degree experience across retail, online, service, and other customer touchpoints.

 

3. The future of business starts with skilling up

Being successful in the Fourth Industrial Revolution starts with an understanding of technology and how businesses can use it to better serve their customers. Trailhead, the fun way to learn Salesforce, is one tool that learners can use to get up to speed on major technology trends as well as to learn how to use Salesforce. Tools like Trailhead can help people get jobs in technology and business professionals better tackle the challenges of the twenty-first century.

 

4. Trailblazers lead others to success

The most inspiring moments at World Tour Toronto were about Trailblazers, those who blaze new trails for those around them, all while making the world a better place. Zarina Varley Scott was one of those Trailblazers honored at the event with the coveted Golden Hoodie to recognize her achievements and how she’s enriched the larger Trailblazer Community. She used Trailhead to grow her career from an administrative role to become a technology and project manager. But she didn’t stop there.

“It wasn’t just about the skills. It was about the people that I met,” she said. In fact, Scott has since taken on the leadership of a local women-in-tech group and will be participating in TrueNorth Dreamin, a Salesforce community-organized event that will take place on July 11 in Ottawa.
 

Upcoming Salesforce events

World Tour Toronto is just one of the many events that bring the goodness of Dreamforce to our community across the globe. To learn more about our upcoming events and how to attend, click here.