​One of my goals for 2018 was to increase the number of speaking sessions that I will do. I had such a great experience speaking at Dreamforce last year that I wanted to make it a priority. Speaking at community events and user groups is a great way to share knowledge and give back to the Salesforce ecosystem. I figured that if I was going to do this I might as well combine it with another passion of mine, traveling, and speak in some really cool places. This led me to dreamOle’. Only speaking English, I wasn’t sure if this would be an event that would make sense for me to attend, but I had never been to Barcelona, and this was a great excuse to go. So, I submitted my session, “Advanced Reporting Tips & Tricks for New Admins”. Several weeks later I received an email for one of the event co-organizers, Pablo Garcia, confirming that I had been selected as a speaker. I immediately booked my flight, hotel and renewed my passport. Barcelona here I come. 

​The experience began the evening before the event at a speaker’s dinner. This was held at the hotel which was hosting the event, the Catalonia Barcelona Plaza. The dinner was held on the stunning rooftop deck overlooking the square. The views were amazing. Here I got to meet a lot of new people. I was able to have a beer with Chris Edwards and Ben Duffy (OK, maybe two. OK, maybe…). Both are really smart guys and we had a great conversation about our experiences speaking at different events and about the interesting healthcare work they are using Salesforce for at Mavens. I was also able to re-connect with Stephan Chandler-Garcia. He and I met at TrailheadDX at the Elements Cloud session he co-presented on GDPR, which was very informative.

The next day the event began with a great keynote by Holly Firestone focused on community. She spoke about the importance of sharing knowledge, being active in user groups, participating on Trailhead and attending events just like this. My session was scheduled earlier in the day. I ran through my presentation a few times and then headed to the room. I had a great audience that was engaging and had a very nice follow-up conversation on reporting with one of the audience members, Sheila Powell, during lunch. I should also note, that the event organizers pulled off something I have never seen before at one of these events during lunch. Not only was there great tapas, but they also opened the beer taps! (take note Northeast Dreamin’) After lunch I had a full afternoon of sessions. One of my favorites was “Build an App with Skuid for Salesforce”. Now I had heard of Skuid before, however, I really didn’t know what it does. The presenters Gary McGeorge and Jeremey Yearron did a great overview and demo. I now think of this tool as giving admins the capabilities of visual force, without code. I am definitely going to try this out. The event sessions wrapped up with a very entertaining and informative keynote by Zayne Turner focused on development. The event was capped off with a great reception and party that was tough to leave.
​
I want to give my sincerest thank you to the event organizers for selecting me as a speaker. The team  put on an outstanding program and I know it took a lot of hard work. In all, this was a tremendous event. I certainly glad that I attended and I hope to be back next year, if they’ll have me.

With my first ever blog post I thought I’d go big right out of the gate. I am proud to announcement the formation and launch of the Lowell, MA Salesforce User Group. The goal of this organization is to promote Salesforce community events within the Merrimack Valley to encourage learning, networking and career advancement. This group is open to admins, developers, users, vendors and anyone else that wants to contribute. We will run a variety of events including monthly/quarterly meetings, global gatherings and Salesforce Saturdays. Our presenters will include MVP’s, Awesome Admins and Partners and will cover a wide range of topics. Community feedback on areas of interest Would be greatly appreciated.
                                                            
We all know that the Salesforce platform is a tremendous business and communication tool. User groups are a platform for personal and professional growth and collaboration built around the Salesforce ecosystem. The Salesforce community and user groups in particular serve a great purpose. They allow participants to accelerate:

Learning: High quality speakers provide instruction and practical experience from a wide variety of industries, orgs sizes, and skill sets. Partners and Sponsors also showcase new products that can help make our jobs easier and our orgs more efficient. Learn about upcoming releases, new features and products. Stay up to date with the latest and greatest from the entire ecosystem. Put this learning to use with your newly acquired skills.

Networking: Connect with other admins, developers and users to share knowledge, offer advice and support. One of the strengths of the #ohana community is the willingness of people to share their time and knowledge to help others. Utilize user groups as times to develop relationships and get real access to some of the best and brightest Salesforce minds on the planet.

Career Advancement: This combines the first two points, but through continuous learning and connecting with others you’ll gain insight into which career path is best for you. Announcements about hiring opportunities and job postings are also common at most group events. After all, the best place to recruit top Salesforce talent is at an event filled with those who are truly engaged and enthusiastic about the platform.
​
Please join us on the Trailblazer Community and follow us @LowellSFDCUG. If you are interested in speaking, sponsoring or hosting an event please drop us a line. We will have information regarding our inaugural event in the coming weeks.

​

About the author : Aaron Crear is Founder & Principal at Hat-Trick Consulting. He is a Salesforce Certified Administrator, Sales Cloud Consultant and Platform App Builder. Aaron has been a Dreamforce presenter, leads the Lowell, MA User Group and is a Co-Organizer of Northeast Dreamin'.