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The feeling in the main keynote room at TrailheaDX ‘19 wasn’t that of your typical conference where attendees are strangers getting to know one another for the first time. It felt like a family reunion as Trailblazers greeted one another with hugs and bright smiles. Salesforce admins, developers, and nearly 60 MVPs could be spotted throughout the crowd, many of them sparkling in their Golden Hoodies.
As the crowd of thousands waited in anticipation for Salesforce Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Parker Harris to take the stage, they were treated to a cover of “Sweet Child of Mine” by LT Smooth called “Sweet Code of Mine.” Thanks to an app attendees were encouraged to download, everyone was able to view the lyrics on their phones and sing along. It was an ode to “Trailshred,” a new feature on Trailhead that gives learners the ability to add sound effects to their Salesforce org.
After a few choruses of the audience serenading each other, Parker Harris took to the stage fists pumping while donning a sleek black Astro t-shirt. He asked the audience to celebrate our six million developers and 240 developer groups in over 50 countries. “Look at how big this community is ... and together, we’re more than just a company. We’re more than just a community. ... You’re taking the technology that we build at Salesforce and you’re innovating in your communities and at your companies. And through that innovation, you are leaders in your community and you’re paving a path to the future.”
Trust stole the show with Salesforce Blockchain
“What is blockchain and how can it help [build trust]?” asked Harris after explaining how blockchain technology is distributed, verified, and secure. “Implementing blockchain is hard,” he conceded. “But what I love about Salesforce is that we take complex technologies, like blockchain, and make them super, super easy.”
Harris welcomed Salesforce Senior Director of Trailhead Evangelism Leah McGowen-Hare to demo the new product. “Are you ready to have a block party?” she asked among cheers from her many fans. She explained how Arizona State University is using Salesforce Blockchain to maintain the integrity of their data.
“Once that block has been built, it can’t be changed. It would be like trying to take a chicken nugget and turning it back into a chicken.” She left everyone in the audience psyched to get their hands on the new product and achieve their #CodeGoals with Salesforce Blockchain and the other announced new products.
RAD Women showed us how to close the gender gap in tech with Trailhead
Salesforce Executive Vice President of Developer Relations and General Manager of Trailhead Sarah Franklin took the stage to discuss the equality gap in tech. “Women make up half the population of the world and only 18% of the population in tech and it’s worse for Hispanics, African Americans, and other underrepresented minorities like the LGBTQ community.
Franklin welcomed Angela Mahoney, the Co-Founder of RAD Women, an organization dedicated to helping women administrators upskill with Trailhead to become developers. “You obviously have a lot of fans here,” said Franklin before asking her thoughts on how each of us can help narrow the gap.
“See what you can do to amplify other people’s voices,” answered Mahoney. “Whether that’s volunteering in schools to help young people learn how to code or donating your time to an organization like RAD Women to upskill women on the Salesforce platform, we can all help.”
“RAD Women lift you up,” she continued, directing her message towards the administrators and developers in the room. “The Trailblazer Community is incredibly kind. I see only people who are trying to lift each other up. ... Coding is about falling down and getting up, falling down and getting up. It’s not too late to learn.”
Lightning Web Components innovated with open source
Parker welcomed Ryan Ellis, Salesforce Senior Vice President of Product Management for Lightning, to talk about the power of building modern apps fast with Lightning Web Components. “I’m so pleased to announce the next step in our customer journey, which is that we’re open-sourcing Lightning Web Components.”
The audience learned about the ability to create AI-powered apps using Einstein Platform Services, which give users the power to create:
Custom predictions using Einstein Prediction Service
Scan and upload business cards using Einstein Optical Character Recognition
Translate text into any language of your choice using a single line of APEX code with Einstein Translation
Excitement grew when attendees learned they can use these technologies on their local machines. “You can run this entirely offline if you wanted to,” explained Ellis, prompting more claps from the crowd.
ASICS helped us understand the power of integration
Among several Trailblazer spotlights, ASICS’s story reinforced the importance of integration. ASICS Senior Director of Engineering Phillip Connaughton explained the challenge the company faced when they decided to migrate to a new ecommerce platform. It involved bringing in a lot of data — including product, pricing, and customer data.
“We realized we didn’t have the time or the resources to build it from scratch,” he said. “We all decided we were going to learn MuleSoft to integrate all of the backend systems that ASICS has with Commerce Cloud.”
Salesforce Principle Developer Evangelist Zayne Turner explained that MuleSoft can integrate any app, data, or device to help build an amazing experience for customers. He then showed the crowd how to build an API ecosystem using the new MuleSoft API Community Manager and deliver commerce experiences anywhere using Commerce Cloud.
The Trailblazer Community welcomed three new Golden Hoodie winners
To end the keynote with a bang, Harris and Franklin brought three Trailblazers — Angela Mahoney, Susannah St-Germain, and Phillip Connaughton — back on stage to surprise them with a coveted Golden Hoodie, making them the newest members of a select Trailblazer group who have made significant contributors to the community at large.
