Wednesday 13 August 2014

Why you should absolutely let your employees attend Dreamforce

Dreamforce, the Salesforce flagship annual event is slowly getting closer and closer, and no doubt if you employ Salesforce administrators, developers, or anyone who engages the platform on a regular basis, they are probably just itching to be able to attend.

Trouble is, it's a long event, a long way away (from anywhere that is not San Francisco) and not a cheap ticket... so how can you justify sending them?

You could use this "ROI of Dreamforce" calculator and it'll probably tell you your staff will be 28.3% more productive, or profitable, or something.. but if you want to really know why you should let your employees attend Dreamforce, here are a few hints..

They will absorb knowledge, inspiration and enthusiasm from some of the greatest minds on the planet. Entrepreneurs and world leaders, talking to a room of tens of thousands of delegates. They will see demonstrations of products and platform developments they can hear no where else on Earth at that time.

Your staff will high-five strangers mid presentation, and they will come back to work and they will high-five you.
Learning directly from their peers.. there are literally thousands of sessions going on at Dreamforce, the schedule planner is a heartbreaking exercise of realising there is only one of you to go to Dreamforce! You want to be everywhere. If you do choose to send people to Dreamforce, buy them extra notepads. Hell buy them iPads, and they will come back with more knowledge and tricks of the trade than they will get from a dozen "Pop up workshops" in awkward working lunch breaks...
Win a car! Why not. No-one leaves Dreamforce without at least some cool swag. I got some Dre.Beats Headphones last year, for winning a challenge.. a challenge which taught me a world about DocuSign. I have now implemented this in my working life a number of times, and would never have been as capable to if it wasn't for Dreamforce. DocuSign also gave me a hoody, so I even look like a bad-ass professional now too.

You want your staff looking like bad-ass professionals? Of course you do!
Memories. You know that sighing noise some people make at 5:15 when they realise there is still quarter of an hour to go in the day? We don't have that at Desynit, we do things like smiling, fist-bumps and sometimes Shaun does a handstand walk across the office. This is all because we get to share in the awesome experience that is Dreamforce, and every time we tell people about it, they say "Wow, where you work must be really cool"

And I just say "Hell yeah".

Be that boss.

Do not delay, get booked in and en route to Dreamforce today!

Why you should absolutely attend Dreamforce - For you

This is one of a pair of Blog posts, branded "for you" and "for your boss" - this is the "for you" edition.. "For your boss" can be found here:

Why you should absolutely let your employees attend Dreamforce

So why would you want to attend Dreamforce? Well, let me explain it to you with a couple of pictures...

Dreamforce turns downtown San Francisco into a technology playground. Every corner has a Salesforce flag, and almost every hotel can be dropped into to catch a session on Case Management, Community, Development, Certification and so on. You might think you'd get sick of seeing the logo at every turn, but trust me, you actually slowly fall in love with it.

You become literally surrounded in Salesforce knowledge and enthusiasm.

The bits of San Francisco that Dreamforce doesn't turn into a technology playground, it turns into a music festival! Metallica, RHCP, Green Day, Blonde, and this year Bruno Mars all rock out 40ft stages, with free food and drink at the Dreamforce gala, where you will make more friends and connections than any stuffy "Speed Networking" event at your local town hall...

Ever wondered why there is no heavily publicised "VIP" pass for Dreamforce? Everyone is a VIP!!

You will learn like, a thousand new things - and that is not hyperbole! Every corner, every desk, every wall is plastered in screens, books and projectors. If you can carry them, there is a library of workbooks and the latest Fundamentals up for grabs (whilst stocks last) and with three main stages in the Developer Zone, and about 8 break out rooms, there are more sessions and presentations going on that you could see in a month, let alone 4 days.
At my first Dreamforce I didn't leave the Developer Zone all conference!
Make your dreams come true, meet influential people, maybe meet some idiots who  make you feel better about how good you are at what you do(!!) but get on it and have a good time. If you try to attend every session in your schedule you will leave with a notepad full of notes. If you spend more time in the breakouts, you'll meet tonnes of amazing people (get a sweet photo with SaaSy) and STILL leave with a notepad full of notes, contacts and developer friends for life..

Your face will hurt from the smiling by the time you are on the plane home.

Do not delay, get booked in and en route to Dreamforce today!