I’ve been working with Salesforce for a long time now (more than a decade!), and in that time, I’ve been to a lot of Salesforce events – Dreamforce, World Tours in multiple cities, MVP meetings and User Group Meetings and they each provides value in their own different way. Today I want to list some of the reasons that you should clear your calendar on April 5 and come to the World Tour event in Boston.
- To Connect with the local Boston Salesforce Community: In my professional experience, I’ve never come across a business software company that produces such fanatical devotion among its users (and which is so focused on maintaining and deepening that engagement). Meeting fellow fans provides tremendous networking opportunities for everything from problem-solving to staff recruitment to job-seeking. Gather business cards, chat with the person next to you at a session or in line for lunch and you never know how that connection will help you in the future – or how you can help them!
- To Learn about the areas of the Platform that Salesforce sees as a priority: World Tour events are a great opportunity to better understand where Salesforce is placing its bets regarding platform functionality without waiting for the annual Dreamforce announcements. It also shows how they’re moving forward with announcements made at previous events. Looking at the session listing (https://www.salesforce.com/events/worldtour/boston/sessions/), I see a lot of focus on expanded capabilities in Einstein AI, Marketing Cloud and Community, all of which are key areas for nonprofit admins to explore.
- To Explore some of the great products in the AppExchange ecosystem: One of the key benefits to using Salesforce is being able to take advantage of the rich ecosystem of partner applications available on the AppExchange. Each World Tour event includes a Customer Success Expo and many of the major vendors will have booths, just like at Dreamforce. There you’ll have a chance to view demonstrations and ask questions of their employees. Check out the list of sponsors (https://www.salesforce.com/events/worldtour/boston/customer-success-expo/) and there’s a pretty good chance that an application you use or have thought of using is represented there. In addition, I’ll be co-hosting a Demo Jam in the afternoon where you’ll get to see some new applications demonstrated by their creators and then you can vote on the winners!
- To hear presentations from organizations that are facing challenges just like yours and how they’re using the platform to overcome them: One of the best things about these events is the opportunity to attend sessions and hear in more detail about how different organizations are solving problems. Although these sessions won’t give you all the answers, they’re a great starting point and you can (and should) always reach out to the presenters to find out more. There are also sessions that will be presented by Salesforce employees and in my experience, they are always helpful if you go up and talk to them afterwards or connect via email after the event is over.
- To come away invigorated, inspired and empowered to change the way that your organization connects with constituents, manages its operations and leverages technology to deliver on its mission: Finally, and perhaps most importantly, stepping away from your day-to-day job to listen to other perspectives, meet new people and bask in the fellowship of community is a fantastic way to come back to your work with a fresh mindset. Salesforce does a great job of making these events feel fun and lively (who knows if the Dropkick Murphys will play again this year?) and I always come away from them tired but feeling like an empowered to innovate. I think that this is particularly important after this long and stormy late winter! Let’s just hope it doesn’t snow on the 5th!
To sum it up, come join the Community, whether as a returning member or a newcomer, learn, have fun and return to your organization as a Trailblazer! I’ll be around the event all day and would be happy to meet with anyone to talk about Salesforce in general or how Cloud for Good can help your organization. Stop by after my session or submit the form below. I’m looking forward to seeing all of you in Boston!
