CRM FYI

Earlier this year, I wrote about being a hero to your users, and the gist of it was that through social media, you can surround yourself with fantastic people who will make you a hero to your users. I know for a fact that many of you have done extremely heroic things for your Salesforce users and have something that you should share with the rest of us.

The time has come for you to step up and share that spark of brilliance with the global community through the venue of Dreamforce. Right now is your chance to offer up your expertise through a presentation at the next Dreamforce event in December.

To gather all these ideas in one place, the Dreamforce Ideas site is now open. It’s not hard to browse current papers and submit your own.  People will appreciate that you shared what you’ve done. The time is now to step up and submit what you’ve got to share. Papers are being accepted through May 31. As a bonus, if you are chosen to present, conference registration for you, is free.

Step up and share. People like you are what make the Salesforce Community of users, administrators and developers strong. We want to hear from you.

The bags are almost packed.  I’m nearly ready to go.  Before I pack up the laptop for the trip, I thought I’d pass along some info on where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing at Dreamforce, just in case you’d like to find me among our newest 15,000+ friends.

New Attendee Orientation

Tuesday night at 5 PM in N134 is the New Attendee Orientation led by Tom Wong.  I’m going to be giving a few tips to the new attendees there and if you haven’t been to Dreamforce before, you really should plan to attend this session.  I’m not saying you should attend on account of me, it’s all the other stuff you’ll get out of it that I guarantee will be worth the effort to be there.

The Dreamforce TweetUp

Held in the Expo Tuesday at 6 PM, there will be a meeting of a whole bunch of Twitterers who have never seen each other in person before.  I’m excited because though I’ve been on Twitter for more than 2 years, it’s only in the last year that I’ve found it to be an invaluable business resource.  Yes, I said a business resource.  Come find out why Twitter is home to slew of activity about the Salesforce community.  If you don’t use or understand Twitter, stop by and see why you should consider trying it out.

Wednesday AM Keynote

Without a doubt, this is the keynote everyone goes to see.  I’ll be seated in the Press/Blogger section, madly Tweeting away.

“Increasing Speed to Value with the AppExchange”

Wednesday evening at 6 PM, I’ll be in the Campground Theater giving a half hour talk / Q&A about AppExchange apps that give some great value at no or low cost.

Speakeasy in the Cloud

My blog sponsor, Appirio, is pretty well known for the parties that they’ve thrown at the last few Dreamforce events and this year will be no exception to that.  This year, it’s being held at the Old San Francisco Mint.  If you don’t have an invitation to this event, there’s a waiting list you can add yourself to.

Birds of a Feather

Thursday at lunchtime, I’ll be found in the Insurance Industry area of the lunch room, specifically meeting with other Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliates who use Salesforce.  I’m really looking forward to meeting those folks.

Cloud Crawl

Salesforce threw a mighty fine gig at Temple nightclub last year and once again, I’m going back.  This one is Thursday night and will likely be a pretty late night.

“There’s an App for That; Boost Sales with the AppExchange”

This is a Sales track breakout session Friday at 9:00 that I’ll be on a panel for.  I’m sharing the stage with some great sales people who have found some incredible value from the AppExchange apps they use.  Come find out what those apps are.

Between all that stuff, I’ll be attending breakout sessions, stopping by as many of the Expo exhibitor booths as I can and hitting some other parties from great companies like Model Metrics, Informatica, Reside, InsideView, Genius, and others.  To add more content to the blog in the coming weeks and months, I’ve got numerous interviews planned with some interesting executives.  You’ll hear more about those later.

And now, I’m off to finish zipping up the suitcase and get some sleep.  If I’ve never met you before, I hope to meet you this year at Dreamforce.  If we’ve met before, it’ll be great to see you again.  And if you’re not able to make it to Dreamforce this year, fear not.  You can put Dreamforce 2010 on your calendar right now.  It’s December 6-9, 2010 and it’s once again in San Francisco.  I look forward to making your acquaintance there.

Anyone who knows me reasonably well knows I’m a Disney fanatic.  Whether it’s my coffee cup, my Goofy winter hat, reading blogs about it or going to the theme parks each year, I enjoy Disney all the time.  Their theme for 2009 has been “What will you celebrate?”  The goal is to get people in the park to celebrate anything; a birthday, wedding, anniversary, first tooth, or whatever.  This past summer, my wife and I went to Disneyland for our first trip without kids.  That was celebration enough, but since it was over my birthday, I got in the park free that day.  ($72 is worth celebrating if you ask me)

I felt inspired to take Disney’s question and adapt it to Dreamforce 09 in San Francisco this year.  I want to ask you, “What will you take home this year?”  While the trinkets and booth giveaways are great fun, that’s not what I’m talking about.  (Though I would like to thank Manticore for giving me a pen last year that has become my favorite)  What I want to know is what inspiration are you going to take home?  What seed of change is going to be planted in you that you’ll bring home and begin transforming your organization?

The inspiration for this question came from a video created by Jenna Baze (@Rather_Geeky) for the Dreamforce video contest this year.  Her premise; “Send me to Dreamforce so I can get my nickname back.”  She explained how she gained nicknames like AJ (Awesome Jenna) and Ozzie (Wizard of Oz) over the past year and half for the wizardry she did with Salesforce.  Business has changed though and maybe the systems haven’t changed to keep up with demand.  Jenna wants to go to Dreamforce to be inspired, learn a ton, and return to claim her nicknames back.

Jenna’s story is exactly why so many people need to attend Dreamforce.  I know in tough economic times, it’s hard to justify travel, time off work, and the cost of entrance to the conference.  Ironically, it’s in the toughest of economic times that people should be investing in sending people like Jenna to Dreamforce.  The insight gained, the connections made, the skills attained all add up to what I believe is one of the greatest returns on your Salesforce investment the whole year.

So while it’s great to hope for the nifty laser pen or the flying monkey to take home, there’s much more to be gained at Dreamforce than just that “stuff.”  Think about what you could bring home from Dreamforce that won’t run out of ink or batteries.  Think about what you can do to become a hero at your organization.  The ideas are there for the taking.  You in?

Interested in checking out Dreamforce 09 in San Francisco but tough times have you strapped for cash getting there?  The Dreamforce planning team has the answer for you.  It’s a contest they’re running on YouTube until September 25 and three lucky winners will be winning a fantastic VIP package that includes

• Entrance to the Dreamforce Conference
• Hotel Accomodations for 3 Nights
• $1,000 Voucher for Travel Expenses
• Front Row Seats for Keynotes
• Lunch with Marc Benioff and Colin Powell
• A Backstage Pass for “The Band”

This is a new thing this year and I’m anxious to see all the videos that get submitted.  It’s all happening on YouTube so head on over there and watch Tom and Jeanine describe the contest, click Video Response, and submit your reason why you want to come to Dreamforce.  It sounds pretty easy.  Good luck!

Dreamforce is the annual user conference of Salesforce.com, and even though it doesn’t start for another seven months, now is the time for a great deal on passes to this year’s conference.  The dates for Dreamforce 09 are November 17-20 this year, and it’s held in San Francisco.

Just contact your Salesforce Account Executive before the middle of July when registration for Dreamforce officially begins and you can pick up passes for just $599 each, half off last year’s regular price of $1,199.  I have to say that even at $1,199, it’s a great bargain for all the information you can take in, all the people like you that you can connect to, and all the insight into the next features coming to a cloud near you.

Unsure if you want to go or if you’d get anything out of it?  Check out some of the keynote sessions from last year and any of the 250 breakout sessions held last year.  I haven’t heard much of any details about the conference yet, except that they’re expecting 11,000 people this year, and they’ve changed which days of the week the conference is held.  I’ll certainly give you more info as I get it.  WIll you be one of those 11,000?  I hope so.  The experience is truly worth it.  

Salesforce has provided the Dreamforce 08 breakout sessions in record time this year.  Kudos to Erica Kuhl and her web services team at Salesforce tor getting them up so quickly.

Head on over to the Salesforce.com Community site and check out all the sessions you wanted to attend but couldn’t get to.  This year they have much better packaging of the content as the audio is synced to all the slides shown in the session.  Now you’ll see everything you would have gotten in the breakout (except for the speaker).

Didn’t attend Dreamforce 08?  No problem.  You don’t even have to log in to watch any of these great sessions.  Pick out your favorites and watch or even just listen while you’re doing your other work.  It’s a great way to get inspired and get more from Salesforce.

Stop by the Immersion Lab upstairs to get your own copy of the Force.com Workbook. It’s a great book of 13 tutorials to build Force.com apps in just 30 minutes. Need it today or not, stop by and take one home. You’ll be amazed what you cab do.

The online version can be downloaded here.

The countdown is rolling.  33 days left until Dreamforce 08 begins in San Francisco.  Now that we’re getting closer, I thought you’d like to hear some scoop on what’s shaping up at Dreamforce.  I had a great conversation with a Salesforce friend who is close to the planning for the event and here is a bunch of stuff you ought to know.  

• Registration at 4,000 already – Their goal was to hit 10,000 attendees this year and at the typical rate of registration, they’re well on target for that mark.  It could even be a few thousand higher…..be sure to get your seat early at the keynote addresses.
• Speaking of getting a good seat - Want reserved seating for the keynotes?  Get certified.  Now that Salesforce offers both Administrator and Developer certifications, if you’re part of the first 500 to get certified and go to Dreamforce, you’ll get some of the best seats in the house.  There’s also going to be a special Happy Hour for those first 500.  Nice touch.
• Speaking of getting certified – Did you know that with your full-paid registration to Dreamforce, you can get that certification for free?  That’s a $200 savings.  Nice chunk of change when it comes to helping justify your trip to Dreamforce.  
• 250+ confirmed speakers – It’s one thing to go to Dreamforce and hear what Salesforce has to say….but go there and hear what oodles of successful companies using Salesforce have to say.  The 250 breakout sessions will be the place to hear from those speakers.  They’re from almost every industry and organization size.  There’s also a better international presence this year too.
• The Un-Conference – Have a topic you’d like to hear about, but there isn’t a workshop for?  Go to the Un-Conference on Tuesday morning for a less formal, but very informative time of collaboration on the topics you’d like to talk about.
• Monday night Hackathon – There’s usually something big announced at Dreamforce that gets people’s creative juices flowing.  Well, whatever gets talked about Monday, the developers get to start coding on Monday night.  I guess it’s going to be a great time of pushing the envelope and coding on the fly to see just what a band of geniuses can do with Salesforce. 
• Journey – No more introduction really needs to be made, but after the Hackathon, the place to be will be hearing Journey perform.
• Another Legend of Rock – Journey won’t be the only legend we’ll see on stage at Dreamforce. It sounds like Neil Young wil be part of a keynote address to talk about his ambitious project called Linc Volt.  Essentially, Young is going to convert his nineteen foot long 1959 Lincoln Continental Mark IV into a 100+ miles per gallon driving machine.  He’s sure it can be done and wants to inspire a complete overhaul of the traditional propulsion of vehicles.  Sounds cool.
• Cloud Crawl – Based on the great success of last year’s App Crawl, the ante is upped this year with a Cloud Crawl.  If you don’t know it yet, Salesforce is big on “the Cloud,” or infrastructure you don’t need to concern yourself with.  Following Journey on Monday night, head out to each of the stops on the Cloud Crawl.  I’m sure we’ll se some great AppExchange partners there, but don’t get too comfortable, it’ll soon be time to move to the next place.  UPDATE – The venue for the “Cloud Crawl Club” party is actually one spot…..Temple Nightclub.  In order to get in, just visit the eight sponsors and get a stamp in your Cloud Crawl Passport.  The Passport needs to be exchanged for a wristband for admission to the club, but it sounds like it will be well worth it.  
• Speaking of Partners – 250+ Salesforce partners will be at Dreamforce…..that’s huge!  There will be no shortage of help to your business issues.  Be sure to use the Agenda Builder on the Attendee Portal to add those vendors you don’t want to miss to your calendar.  That’s a nice touch.  
• Lounges – Those of you who had “Lounge Envy” of the Developers last year, you’ll get your space this year.  They’ll be setting up lounges throughout Moscone Center that are centered on “types” of Salesforce users.  Those lounges will be a place to check your email, stump Salesforce gurus, relax, or even challenge someone to Wii Bowling.
• The Oh-Zone – This year, the “campground” is going to be the “Oh-Zone.”  (Nice tie in to all the Cloud talk)  It’s a place to go and be inspired and get that “Oh” feeling.   
• The Google Track – One of the cool new tracks this year is the Google workshop track.  Whether you want to get more out of your Adwords campaigns or whether you’re thinking of replacing that spendy “Office Suite,” this track will be a great place to learn what Google can do for your organization.  I think one of the interesting ones out there is the one on Increasing Uptime Offline with Gears.
• Tuesday Election Coverage – The buzz will be all about the Moscone Center Tuesday as the election will be covered in many ways throughout the day and night.  For those of you from the U.S., please remember to request an Absentee Ballot so you can vote before you go to Dreamforce.  It’s your right and your responsibility.
• Earthforce – Salesforce is working with the Moscone Center, the exhibitors, and many other people to try and make this conference as Earth-friendly as possible.  That’s everything from recycling to energy efficiency, from packaging materials to paper consumption.  Keep that in mind as you attend and look for ways you can save.

That’s my scoop for now.  Obviously I’m reporting to you what I’ve heard which is subject to change, but as I hear more, I’ll be sure to let you know about it.  If you get a great scoop, drop me an email.  

As Dreamforce 08 approaches, so does choosing a band for the Monday night Global Gala. Salesforce has asked a group of customers for their opinions on the entertainment choices. Though I’m sworn to secrecy as to who they’re thinking of, I’d like to open up a survey to you and see who you’d like to perform this year.

Last year they had INXS who put on a pretty good show. This year, who will it be? Maybe it’s just who you want. I can tell you it won’t be my first choice. I voted for the real U2 instead of just the CD at the opening Salesforce events. The CD is good, but I wanted the real thing.

Please take one quick second to nominate your favorite entertainment choice on my one question survey. I’ll pass the results along to the Dreamforce team and you’ll know that your voice will be heard.

Count on Salesforce to use their own tools to the n’th degree. They’ve launched a new Ideas portal that’s designed specifically for making Dreamforce sessions exactly what you want to learn about. They call it Help Create The Conference. It’s a new way they’re using their Ideas product for the conference and I think it’s a great idea.

Be sure to add the sessions you want and vote on those you feel passionate about. One thing to remember is that since you can’t possibly go to all 250 of the sessions, you’ll still be able to benefit from them after the conference. Almost every one of them is published afterwords on Google Video and Successforce.