Dreamforce Diaries

This is my Ninth Blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “Dreamforce Diaries” #DreamforceDiaries.

Dreamforce is the biggest and the most awesome event organized by Salesforce.

A lot happen at Dreamforce you learn, share your knowledge, and make connections, memories, and friends that you may cherish a lifetime.  This may surprise you; this Dreamforce had the biggest number of attendees of all time, so I reached out to some of the lucky people who got the chance to attend this year’s Dreamforce about their experience.

Here I share Awesome!! Dreamforce Experience of:

Amanda Malloy

 

 

Your experience at Dreamforce 2016?

Dreamforce 2016 was my third Dreamforce and I have to say that this year I finally felt “prepared”, much more so than the first two years. I had a solid plan going into it. I had spent time creating a schedule that wasn’t too overwhelming but would keep me on track and also allowed for down time to meet people- because meeting people is one of the BEST things about Dreamforce!

Funniest moment of Dreamforce 2016?

 

 

 

I don’t know that I have a funniest moment. However, as I think back at the whirlwind of activities that week, one thing that always makes me smile is that I got to attend Dreamforce with several people that were there for the first time. Seeing the look of “awe” on their face and excitement in their voice the entire week was great! Until Friday, then it was a look of pure exhaustion. J But it reminds me of how lucky we all are to be on this path, to be able to share experiences like this and to be able to meet so many incredible people that share the same passion. Cant’ wait for #DF17!

 

I Hope you liked my blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “Dreamforce Diaries”.

In case you missed the first blog:

In case you missed the second blog:

In case you missed the third blog:

In case you missed the fourth blog:

In case you missed the fifth blog:

In case you missed the Sixth blog:

In case you missed the Seventh blog:

In case you missed the Eighth blog:

If you also want to share your experience with Salesforce Community, please contact me.

If you like my Blog, please share it on Facebook and Twitter.

I will be introducing other ambassadors soon and will be sharing their stories too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

MVP Vibes

This is my first blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “MVP Vibes”. 

MVP Program by Salesforce include so many benefits but biggest of all is an invitation to speak at Dreamforce where it sounds so awesome, becoming MVP is not that easy, it takes continues contribution in Salesforce Community and real-time efforts.

Salesforce MVP is the one who guides community and recognizes for their Passion, Integrity, Knowledge, Courage, Vision and Awesomeness.

Today I am introducing one of our new WINTER 2017 MVP

James Goerke 

MVP | 5X Certified | Leader of Mentorship Central | Co- Leader of Raleigh SFUG

How did you start your Journey?

I started my Salesforce Journey in 2008 with Salesforce Support. I actually had no Salesforce experience before joining Salesforce but was able to quickly learn the product and gained experience along the way. Fast forward till 2015 and I moved over to a Salesforce Partner, Vlocity, to start and run their Global Support Team.

How do you feel?

I’m really excited about it. I know it’s an awesome recognition but it doesn’t really change anything for me. I’m still going to be a dedicated community member because that’s what makes me happy.

What have you been working on?

Right now it’s all work all the time! I’ve recently re-launched a new Salesforce Community and we’re looking to launch a new Support Console and Lightning internally.

I’m hoping to make some changes to Mentorship Central to include mentor and mentee training so that the relationships that we connect can start off from a good spot.

When you first got involved in Community?

I think my first community involvement was with the Idea Exchange. I have no idea how many ideas I’ve created over the years but I know it’s a lot. I used the Idea Exchange as a routing tool when I worked with customers. As we all know, Salesforce doesn’t do everything, and we can’t expect it to. So when I was with Salesforce Support and a customer issue would come up that we couldn’t do, I’d create the idea for them. It’s a simple thing but having a tool in place to listen to your customer and allow others to see that seems simple and obvious today but many companies still don’t do it.

What do you find most challenging after becoming MVP?

I can’t say there have been any more challenging situations after becoming an MVP than before. For me, it’s the same. I was a good community member before and I hope to be a good community member in the future. It’s that simple.

What can Community Expect from their MVP?

I’m going to remain dedicated to the Mentorship Central platform I’ve put together. As we go along we’ll continue to gain momentum and continue to connect volunteers together. We’ll hope to have more training released this year and some platform improvements as well.

If you like my Blog, please share it on Facebook and Twitter.

Soon I will be Introducing other MVPs.

MVP Vibes

This is my Fourth blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “MVP Vibes”. 

MVP Program by Salesforce include so many benefits but biggest of all is an invitation to speak at Dreamforce where it sounds so awesome, becoming MVP is not that easy, it takes continues contribution in Salesforce Community and real-time efforts.

Salesforce MVP is the one who guides community and recognizes for their Passion, Integrity, Knowledge, Courage, Vision, and Awesomeness.

Today I am introducing one of our new WINTER 2017 MVP

Ohad Idan

Salesforce MVP | 5x Salesforce Certified | NYC Developer User group Leader

 

 

How did you start your Journey?

My name is Ohad Idan and I’ve been a Salesforce aficionado since late 2010.

I started, like so many others, as an accidental administrator when my boss handed me off the keys to the company’s Salesforce Org without neither him or I knowing what it is.

I quickly realized the potential to impact our company and started to teach myself how to get the most out of the platform, and when I reached the end of the declarative capabilities, started to teach myself to code.

I was able to single-handedly drive tremendous business impact by using Salesforce to automate so many of the company’s manual processes – which is a testament to the power this platform holds.

The local Salesforce community in NYC was a phenomenal tool for me to network, learn, and interact with others, and a few years ago I joined the leadership of the NYC Developer User Group.

How do you feel?

I was surprised and extremely honored to be named an MVP. I’ve always enjoyed contributing to the local and online community. The sense of satisfaction I get by helping people reach new places in their journey is extremely fulfilling, so I never really expected to get anything beyond that.

To me, being an MVP doesn’t mean that I’m in any way special, since there are so many others in the community who contribute their knowledge and time. To me it’s just a spotlight that allows members of the community to identify some users who have helped others in the past and that they should feel comfortable enough reaching out to with questions.

What have you been working on?

The timing of my MVP nomination was crazy, I received my MVP in March, and just a month later, in April of 2017, I started my own consulting company. I’ve been working on creating relationships with new customers, and starting to build what I hope will one day become a prominent Salesforce consulting company. It’s been a wild ride already!

I am planning to start cranking up more certifications (I only have 5) in the next few months.

 

When you first got involved in Community?

I got involved in the NYC Community a few months after I started administrating Salesforce. I used to come to the morning sessions that the NYC User Group had. I honestly had no idea what I would learn there when I first started coming, and I knew no-one. It didn’t take long to start making friends, though.

I just wanted to learn what others are doing, how they are doing it… figure out what I don’t know that I don’t know. The community meetups were a great place for that. There was always someone sharing something they’ve done, and I always came back to work with a bunch of new ideas to try out.

On the User-group side, Cheryl Feldman has always been an unstoppable force, kind, friendly, and happy to help in any way she can. On the Developer User Group, Luke Cushanick has been guiding me and helping me grow as a developer and as a member (and later a leader) of the community.

What do you find most challenging after becoming MVP?

I’m not really sure how to answer this question… My biggest challenge has been keeping up with all of my existing commitments while working on creating and establishing my new business.

It’s easy for me to contribute when I’m at a UG Meetup or any Salesforce event, but it’s been harder to find time to contribute online.

What can Community Expect from their MVP?

The local community is where I shine. I love the face-to-face conversations, getting to know local Salesforce users or developers, talking to them about their journey, and helping when asked. I will always be at any UG Meetup that I can join, and will always continue to contribute.

Over the next couple of months I plan to redirect a lot of my energy back to my blog. It was a lot of fun when I started it, but once I started my business it was hard to keep writing – I want to get back to that.

I Hope you liked my blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “MVP Vibes”.

In case you missed the first blog:

In case you missed the second blog:

In case you missed the third blog:

If you also want to share your experience with Salesforce Community, please contact me.

If you like my Blog, please share it on Facebook and Twitter.

I will be introducing other ambassadors soon and will be sharing their stories too.

 

 

 

 

Dreamforce Diaries

This is my Eighth Blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “Dreamforce Diaries” #DreamforceDiaries.

Dreamforce is the biggest and the most awesome event organized by Salesforce.

A lot happen at Dreamforce you learn, share your knowledge, and make connections, memories, and friends that you may cherish a lifetime.  This may surprise you; this Dreamforce had the biggest number of attendees of all time, so I reached out to some of the lucky people who got the chance to attend this year’s Dreamforce about their experience.

Here I share Awesome!! Dreamforce Experience of:

Gillian Bruce

 

 

 

Your experience at Dreamforce 2016?

Dreamforce 2016 was amazing! It was the first year where the whole campus adopted our Trailhead theme, and it was magical to see our new mascots Codey, Astro, and Einstein walking around the conference. I was blown away by all the great content our #AwesomeAdmin community shared on the Admin Theater stage and in the Admin Track breakout sessions. My personal highlight was being able to demo some fantastic new Admin features on stage during the Admin Keynote to thousands of my favorite Salesforce Admin friends.

Funniest moment of Dreamforce 2016?

 

 

Dreamforce has a ton of great content, but there is also a little room for fun and celebration. One of the funniest moments was watching the Lip Sync Battle on the Admin Theater stage. I had no idea how much the contestants were going to get into it, but WOW their costumes and performances had me cheering and laughing for a solid hour! I mean, Amy Oplinger’s MJ routine was as killer as her outfit – some might even call it thrilling. And the mysterious appearance by TSwift / Tay-Tay / Swifty was shocking! Who knew Shannon Hale had such a famous alter ego. Dreamforce never disappoints. I’m already excited for Dreamforce 2017!

 

I Hope you liked my blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “Dreamforce Diaries”.

In case you missed the first blog:

In case you missed the second blog:

In case you missed the third blog:

In case you missed the fourth blog:

In case you missed the fifth blog:

In case you missed the Sixth blog:

In case you missed the Seventh blog:

If you also want to share your experience with Salesforce Community, please contact me.

If you like my Blog, please share it on Facebook and Twitter.

I will be introducing other ambassadors soon and will be sharing their stories too.

MVP Vibes

This is my Third blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “MVP Vibes”. 

MVP Program by Salesforce include so many benefits but biggest of all is an invitation to speak at Dreamforce where it sounds so awesome, becoming MVP is not that easy, it takes continues contribution in Salesforce Community and real-time efforts.

Salesforce MVP is the one who guides community and recognizes for their Passion, Integrity, Knowledge, Courage, Vision, and Awesomeness.

Today I am introducing one of our new WINTER 2017 MVP

Justin Barss

Salesforce MVP | Non-Profit Technologist Cheerleader & Coach

 

 

 

How did you start your Journey?

The experience of “community” has been the water I have swum in since I graduated college and started my first internship at an urban ministry – living in the cross-cultural community providing services to youth and families in Wilmington, Delaware.  Through several community connections, this organization began using Salesforce in 2010 and I was offered the job to import our Donor and Volunteer information and grow it there.  It was one-quarter of my job at the time (like most nonprofit staff) but I loved the idea of Salesforce and building my own ways to measure and track important data.  Since then, I’ve helped build apps for legal tech, have done my own independent consulting, and finally, have found a home at Now IT Matters for the last four years.  I have grown incredibly through my positions there and love the constant challenge of finding ways to help clients and nonprofits leverage Salesforce to fulfill their mission.

How do you feel?

I was honestly surprised when I received the email about the MVP award.  I had tried to get it the year prior and “focused” on it as a career goal, but when I was promoted to Director of Sales and needed to learn a brand new skill set to help clients, then the idea of “becoming MVP” didn’t seem that important anymore.  At the time, I was traveling to Nonprofit Success Pack sprints, attending & helping at User Groups, however, I could, and meeting folks in person to talk through Salesforce.  I was honored and flattered and have found a brand new group of “co-conspirators” to try new ideas and build up our #Ohana.

What have you been working on?

I’ve had an incredible time developing more friendships with the awesome Women in Technology group in Washington, D.C.   Getting to know MVP Toya Gatewood, MVP Rebecca Lammers, and the User Group Leaders Rakia Finley & LeAndria Streeter has been a privilege and an honor.  As a husband, a father to two daughters, and a peer to some incredible female leaders in technology – I have a lot to learn in how to continue to support women’s voice in our community.

Apart from that, I’m stirring up some “Trailhead oriented” ideas after seeing how many resources are available to lower the learning curve for Users, Admins, and Devs to learn Salesforce more effectively.

When you first got involved in Community?

When I first heard about User Groups from attending a local World Tour, I immediately signed up for the Philadelphia Nonprofit User Group in 2011 or so.  The things I learned there from Dean Graham and a number of the Nonprofit Admins transformed the way I looked at solving Salesforce problems and coming up with solutions.  It also got me hooked – once I started learning better ways to do Salesforce through real people at User Groups and in person, I always wanted to meet with others to compare ideas and learn from each other.

What do you find most challenging after becoming MVP?

It feels a bit like the title and the MVP community offers you access to an entire network of “Ohana capacity” that you can develop your own “MVP path” in how you want to create value and drive people towards learning and development.  I’m looking to choose wisely and invest well with the relationships and people I know.  It’s hard drinking from the “firehose” when it comes to learning Salesforce, but it’s even more exciting to consider how “little old me” from small town Virginia can help folks throughout the Power of Us Hub and the Success Community with their learning.

What can Community Expect from their MVP?

I’ve begun to focus on select meetings with nonprofit Admins when I travel – looking to connect personally, hear their vision for Salesforce at their nonprofit, and help develop their abilities their abilities to do “more good, better” with their CRM and their data.  This has been my “community experience” over the years – especially at Now IT Matters – and I’m looking to have an exponential impact on Salesforce’s 1-1-1 model through investing well in the future.

 

I Hope you liked my blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “MVP Vibes”.

In case you missed the first blog:

In case you missed the second blog:

If you also want to share your experience with Salesforce Community, please contact me.

If you like my Blog, please share it on Facebook and Twitter.

I will be introducing other ambassadors soon and will be sharing their stories too.

 

Dreamforce Diaries

This is my Seventh Blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “Dreamforce Diaries” #DreamforceDiaries.

Dreamforce is the biggest and the most awesome event organized by Salesforce.

A lot happen at Dreamforce you learn, share your knowledge, and make connections, memories, and friends that you may cherish a lifetime.  This may surprise you; this Dreamforce had the biggest number of attendees of all time, so I reached out to some of the lucky people who got the chance to attend this year’s Dreamforce about their experience.

Here I share Awesome!! Dreamforce Experience of:

Erica Kuhl

Vice President, Community at Salesforce

 

 

Your experience at Dreamforce 2016?

Dreamforce 2016 was a big breakthrough year because of the focus on our amazing community.  Among many other things, we rallied over 150+ community viewing parties and had a few highlighted on stage at the keynote kick-off.  One very proud moment was when Marc Benioff himself talked about how the community has changed his perspective and he highlighted and welcomed User Groups.  This was huge for our community because it’s such an amazing program that’s really hit full steam in the last few years.  Big thanks to Holly Firestone who really spearheaded this momentum and was instrumental in getting Marc’s awareness of this special Program.  We also had community members present everywhere around Dreamforce – including posters, booth staffing, breakout session speakers, hands-on training instructors, volunteering, and the list goes on and on.  Some other incredible highlights of Dreamforce ’16 but two more to focus on was 1) the first ever joint User Group and MVP appreciation party dubbed the “Awesome People Party”- including great food, great networking, great demo jam and great swag!  And 2) Steve Molis was given 2 VIP tickets by our Vice Chairman, President, and COO, Keith Block for his incredible contributions to our Community and he picked little ole me to join him!  What is so special about this (beyond just VIP U2 tickets alone!) is that all other Salesforce employees were there hosting their customers and it was the other way around for me.  This is so representative of our amazing Community #Ohana.

 

Funniest moment of Dreamforce 2016?

 

 

By far my funniest moment at Dreamforce ’16 was a 250+ person sing along (led by LT Smooth) to “Harvest Moon” while we waited for Marc Benioff to join the stage and kick off a Community Q&A.  I was sitting next to Tony Prophet, who I had met moments before, and the next thing you know we are belting out Harvest Moon together.  Definitely, something I will never forget.

I can’t imagine how I’ll top my Dreamforce ’16 experience because it definitely goes down in history as a very memorable one….and I’ve been to EVERY SINGLE Dreamforce so that’s saying a lot!

 

I Hope you liked my blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “Dreamforce Diaries”.

In case you missed the first blog:

In case you missed the second blog:

In case you missed the third blog:

In case you missed the fourth blog:

In case you missed the fifth blog:

In case you missed the Sixth blog:

If you also want to share your experience with Salesforce Community, please contact me.

If you like my Blog, please share it on Facebook and Twitter.

I will be introducing other ambassadors soon and will be sharing their stories too.

Dreamforce Diaries

This is my Sixth Blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “Dreamforce Diaries” #DreamforceDiaries.

Dreamforce is the biggest and the most awesome event organized by Salesforce.

A lot happen at Dreamforce you learn, share your knowledge, and make connections, memories, and friends that you may cherish a lifetime.  This may surprise you; this Dreamforce had the biggest number of attendees of all time, so I reached out to some of the lucky people who got the chance to attend this year’s Dreamforce about their experience.

Here I share Awesome!! Dreamforce Experience of:

Eric Dreshfield

Salesforce MVP | Founder of Midwest Dreamin | Southern Indiana Salesforce User Group Leader | Advocacy Manager of Apttus

 

Your experience at Dreamforce 2016?

Dreamforce Experience: 2016 was my 6th year to attend Dreamforce. This year was just like the first year I attended. I met some awesome people in real life that I have known through the community and Twitter for a while. 2016 in-person meetups included the likes of Atul Gupta; Vinay Chaturvedi; Monica; Lauren Touyet; Kevin Phelan & Laura Boggs from Allsalesforce.com, and a whole lot more. This year was just like every other Dreamforce I’ve attended in the past. I walked too much and slept too little. This year was just like every other Dreamforce I’ve attended in the past. I saw amazing speakers present great sessions & I was nearly overwhelmed by the massive crowd of people and by Peter Coffee (Video) as well. (Nearly…my first DF saw attendance about 30,000, which I thought was a lot. This year it was about 170,000, and to be honest, the crowd didn’t feel any bigger.) This year was just like most other years I attended in the past. I co-presented a session with Salesforce MVPs Kyla Longe and David Liu. It was titled “Building your Career and your Personal Brand with the Salesforce Ecosystem.” It was a great session with a lot of interaction from the crowd attending. It’s also where my funniest moment of Dreamforce took place.

 

Funniest moment of Dreamforce 2016?

 

 

Funniest Moment of Dreamforce 2016: As many people may recall, I went clean-shaven for Dreamforce. I had not been without a full beard since graduating high school, over 35 years! I wondered if people would recognize me. Most did, but when I was standing at the front of the room where I was to present my session, I saw someone in the audience, who I have known personally for about 5 years.I knew she was attending my session because she wanted to talk to me during Dreamforce, and meeting after my session seemed like a logical thing. She was looking around the room, looking right at me from time to time, as if I wasn’t even in the room. She totally did not recognize me!  Once the session started, she got this silly grin on her face as she realized who I was. It was definitely good for a laugh with her after the session ended.

I Hope you liked my blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “Dreamforce Diaries”.

In case you missed the first blog:

In case you missed the second blog:

In case you missed the third blog:

In case you missed the fourth blog:

In case you missed the fifth blog:

If you also want to share your experience with Salesforce Community, please contact me.

If you like my Blog, please share it on Facebook and Twitter.

I will be introducing other ambassadors soon and will be sharing their stories too.

 

 

MVP Vibes

This is my Second blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “MVP Vibes”. 

MVP Program by Salesforce include so many benefits but biggest of all is an invitation to speak at Dreamforce where it sounds so awesome, becoming MVP is not that easy, it takes continues contribution in Salesforce Community and real-time efforts.

Salesforce MVP is the one who guides community and recognizes for their Passion, Integrity, Knowledge, Courage, Vision and Awesomeness.

Today I am introducing one of our new WINTER 2017 MVP

Melinda Smith

Salesforce MVP | 5X Certified | Co-host of Two WIT Podcast | Member of #GifSquad

 

 

How did you start your Journey?

Admin to a consultant byways of the community. User group lead in So Cal and Two WIT co-host.

 

How do you feel?

I feel honored and privileged to be among so many people that I admire. The community is everything to me in this career. I wouldn’t be where I am without them.

 

What have you been working on?

Working towards Service Cloud then I want the new field service lightning certificate.

 

When you first got involved in Community?

I found the community through my first user group meeting but only really understood the power of the community at the Trailhead Beta kick-off in LA. That’s when I got my first dev org and started asking questions in the community.

 

What do you find most challenging after becoming MVP?

Really the only challenge is time…..there is always so much more I want to do or learn and all the while juggling a career and family.

 

What can Community Expect from their MVP?

I’m helping kick off Salesforce Saturday in Denver. I want to find another non-profit and teach trailhead again. I want to continue to lift other community members up & help newbies see how amazing our Ohana is!

 

If you like my Blog, please share it on Facebook and Twitter.

Soon I will be Introducing other MVPs.

Dreamforce Diaries

This is my Fifth Blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “Dreamforce Diaries” #DreamforceDiaries.

Dreamforce is the biggest and the most awesome event organized by Salesforce.

A lot happen at Dreamforce you learn, share your knowledge, and make connections, memories, and friends that you may cherish a lifetime.  This may surprise you; this Dreamforce had the biggest number of attendees of all time, so I reached out to some of the lucky people who got the chance to attend this year’s Dreamforce about their experience.

Here I share Awesome!! Dreamforce Experience of:

Jennifer Davis

Salesforce MVP | Salesforce Admin since 2002 | Certified Admin since 2008 (First 250 Certified)

Currently working for Dazeworks as a Salesforce SME & Consultant

A long time ago, in a land far far away, there was a Salesforce Admin who traveled to San Francisco for Dreamforce in November 2004. There were about 800 people, and they all fit at the top of the Hilton for the gala during the 2004 election. Marc and Parker roamed freely among the crowd to chat with their newest customers, including her! her memories were mostly of the following:

• This event is HUGE & who are all of these people? She wondered many times if She was the only Salesforce admin in the room!
• She was terrified to the point of passing out at the thought of speaking in a session in front of 50 people about being a new Salesforce customer.
• She really really loves Salesforce as a product, her new Salesforce Admin career, and this event called Dreamforce.

Fast forward into 2016 – The last Dreamforce (#13 for her) can only be described as traveling to the island of Salesforce where everyone who loves Salesforce as much as she does, was here! It was as if everything she had ever lost had been found in one place. Every few steps she took once she arrived at Moscone were filled with squeals, hugs, and even a few tears as she reunited with her people and met new members of her ‘Lost Tribe.’ The overall feeling was of being home where she belonged! Ohana is the definitely correct word for Salesforce employees, customers, partners, and newcomers to join together in a united passion for the platform!

Wandering through the vast sea of people over many past Dreamforces, She was always trying to figure out where she should go as an admin. Well, this Dreamforce, she couldn’t even see and do everything she wanted to that was geared towards admins! Since there was so much knowledge to be shared, activities to participate in, and oooh shiny things to see. Out of everything she did participate in, her highlights were:

• Visiting with the Monks from Plum Village in the Dreampark and remembering to take care of herself on such a busy week! The monks were so kind and uplifting – if she felt tired or overstimulated, it was fantastic to have a quiet area to reflect with them. They constantly reminded her to stay on her path of being in service to others!

• Participating in the (RED) community service activities, wearing their shirts, and helping to spread the word of the lives they save! This is a cause close to her heart, so she even bought one for her 5 years old for Kano Developer Kits!

• She felt Moscone West was like walking onto a movie set! The decor was phenomenal, and there were so many activities to do both entertaining and educational that she lost herself in the ambiance. She loved the concept of Trailhead uniting Admins and Devs! She even had the opportunity to bring a few USF students with her to their first Dreamforce. She reveled in their excitement to see Trailhead brought to life and the future career opportunities available to them.

• The Ambassadors of Aloha Opening Dreamforce 2016 & The Aloha Song at the main keynote – how very lucky that they were as Salesforce customers at Dreamforce to receive blessings from the Aloha Ambassadors! As stated before, she felt a very strong connection with her lost tribe at Dreamforce. She had so much love in the heart when they sang the Aloha song, She even broke down and actually cried from all of the love She felt in the middle of this presentation. She has never been to Hawaii before, but felt very grateful that she could experience the roots of the word Ohana was right in front of her!

• She had the privilege of visiting with Salesforce’s Karen Mangia after her session and had her sign a copy of her book Success with Less. This book literally changed her life & Jennifer highly recommends it especially for anyone in a Salesforce career crossroad and/or admins that have been in the ecosystem a long time like her!

• The Admin Keynote – when Zac Otero received the gold jacket and award, She was so happy that she cried! He has been part of their Springfield user group and a friend for quite a while. To watch him blossom from wanting to learn Salesforce to featured Admin, She is so proud!

• The Marc Q&A on Friday was the pinnacle of her Dreamforce memories! If she could bottle the feeling in that room to bring home, she would! The whole audience danced to ‘Harvest Moon’ as a unified community. Then, she was able to watch her Salesforce community peers speak freely to Marc and see how he very much cares about each and every person in that room, it was surreal. What other CEO does that? He actually wants feedback and ideas about the product he created from the people that work with it every day. Other companies could take a few lessons from him!This is the favorite pic of her and Selina Suarez in the audience before she stepped up to the mic for her question to Marc!

 

I Hope you liked my blog post as part of the series of articles I am writing called “Dreamforce Diaries”.

In case you missed the first blog:

In case you missed the second blog:

In case you missed the third blog:

In case you missed the fourth blog:

If you also want to share your experience with Salesforce Community, please contact me.

If you like my Blog, please share it on Facebook and Twitter.

I will be introducing other ambassadors soon and will be sharing their stories too.

Get Pardot Specialist Certified

Salesforce offers various certifications where Pardot is Marketing Automation by Salesforce. I had two options in front of me Marketing cloud or Pardot and I choose pardot. It was an excellent opportunity for me to learn Pardot and boost my career by demonstrating my Pardot knowledge along with my Salesforce experience. It took around 3 months to learn Pardot and prepare for the Pardot Specialist exams, and I thought it would be more awesome to share that how I prepared for my exam and what materials I used.

If you are new to Pardot, let me give you a quick summary:

Pardot is a B2B marketing automation solution that allows marketing and sales departments to create, deploy, and manage online marketing campaigns from one central platform. Pardot deals with, email marketing, tracking visitors and prospects to your website and subsequently turning them into Leads/Opportunities in the Salesforce platform. Pardot does this with a number of techniques, including scoring rules based on how they interact with your website and emails.

The Pardot Specialist Certification focus on ensuring that you are qualified to run the platform for your organization, including integrating it with various other vendors, including Salesforce Sales Cloud.

Important things you should know about this exam

I had no prior experience with Pardot but, all the material which anyone needs to pass the exam is available online for free links are given below.

If you are new to Pardot and want to learn more about this awesome tool, then Pardot Specialist is right certification you can focus on it. There are so many training resources (Videos, Knowledge base articles) available online, but I will suggest you, use the recommended reference materials i.e. Study Guide.

To know more about exam details and exam objectives browse Salesforce Certification site.

Here are some things you should know about the exam:

• Certification Name: Salesforce Certified Pardot Specialist Certification (SP17)
• There are 60 multiple-choice/multiple-select questions
• You have 90 minutes to complete the exam
• You must score at least 67% to pass the exam
• The registration fee is USD 200
• The retake fee is USD 100

Resources Available

• If you are beginner Pardot eLearning Modules is the place to start. There are a huge amount of eLearning videos which will help you to get started with Pardot Specialist. It’s my suggestion to spend at least 4-5 hrs per day to watch these videos, make notes which will help you on the day of the exam, and work on at least 3-4 pardot projects before scheduling for the exam.

• Once you have the proper understanding of Pardot, then open the Pardot Specialist study guide and visit Pardot knowledge base, this may help in troubleshooting also.
•  Pardot Offers both ‘in-person’ & ‘Virtual’ Training and certification.

• You can also look or visit Pardot Client Services Calendar page and signup for free, virtual training webinars.

• You can also join Salesforce Success Community group for Pardot.

Training environment

Pardot is offering training environments to existing clients studying for their certification upon request. There are a number of restrictions on these Orgs that you can read in the Training Environment FAQ.

SAMPLE EXAM QUESTIONS

A. If a prospect clicks on a custom redirect after filling out a form, will the prospects assigned Pardot campaign change?

Choose one answer

1. No, it’s not possible to change a Pardot campaign by clicking on a custom redirect.
2. Yes, but only if the Pardot completion action for the custom redirect is set to change the campaign.
3. Yes, the Pardot campaign will change based on the page the custom redirect links to.
4. D. No, a Pardot campaign will always stay the same since it’s a first touch point.

B. How can an Administrator find the number of mailable prospects in their database?

Choose one answer

1. Navigate to the Overview section
2. View the Sync Queue
3. Navigate to the Prospect List and select “Mailable Prospects”
4. View all Segmentation Lists

Tips

Understand the exam concept and format.

For References and study material:

Jenna Molby: http://jennamolby.com/pardot-certified-consultant-practice-test/ (For Pardot practice test)

StudyBlue: https://www.studyblue.com/notes/note/n/salesforce-pardot-consultant-certification/deck/13627827

Rakesh Gupta: https://automationchampion.com/2016/05/04/preparing-for-salesforce-certified-pardot-specialist-certification/

Mayank Srivastava: http://succeedwithsalesforce.com/preparing-for-the-pardot-specialist-certification-exam/

Ben McCarthy:  http://www.salesforceben.com/pardot-specialist-certification-guide-tips/

 

Good Luck! And share your success below in comments.