DreamForce ‘09
I’ve spent the week in San Francisco at the heavily attended DreamForce conference of SalesForce.com, doing my best not to get sugar poisoning from drinking the company kool-aid. It’s a substantial event, an impressive system that keeps getting better, and my vocal cords and feet and hands are sore from networking, hoofing it between events, and pumping handshakes.
Steve Andersen (formerly of OneNW and now of the SalesForce Foundation) found time to chat with me – I offered to help out with the development of the Nonprofit Starter Pack, VolunteerForce, and the other offerings that help get nonprofits off the ground with SalesForce.
I met the founder of Idealist Consulting and had an incredibly candid conversation about his path (and mine) into the world of SalesForce, nonprofit consulting, and small business growth.
Several SalesForce Foundation people shared some wisdom with me, and drilled home the message that yes, it’s time to grow up and get certified and become an official partner. Working on it!
It has been fun running into people I knew only electronically, like Larry Deckel, Sonny Cloward (@sonnycloward), Julie Loyd (@julieloyd), some clients, some partners, and many others. I’m lucky to know you, one and all.
I’ve skipped most of the sessions. After a year in the trenches with several projects the Advanced Developer track is only slightly informative – a good chance to catch up on email and sit down for a bit – which really means I should be meeting people instead.
Tonight is the Foundation’s party down at the Ferry Terminal Building. It will be hard to beat last year’s on the eve of the Presidential Election, trolley drivers ringing Ding-Ding-Ding…..Ding-Ding-Ding.
