5 #DF14 Resources (my short – and in no way comprehensive – list)

What 5 resources should I have in my digital back pocket as #DF14 gets underway?

I thought you’d never ask! Here are 5 things I’d recommend to anyone (especially my nonprofit and higher ed brethren) interested in staying looped in at Dreamforce 14.

• The Dreamforce App iOS or Android: Stay in the know on sessions and more while on the go. Added bonus? This year the app is built off of the Success.Salesforce.com Community – which means all your awesome community connections are at your fingertips at #DF14!
• How to give back at Dreamforce: With activities every day, take a peek at how you can join the Dreamforce community and give back at Dreamforce 14.
• Dreamforce Agenda At-A-Glance: A one-page guide to major speakers and keynotes.
• Streaming LIVE from Dreamforce 14: All the details you need to enjoy Dreamforce from afar – much of the content will be streaming LIVE from the event.
• Connect: Nonprofits at Dreamforce and Connect: Higher Ed at Dreamforce : Salesforce Moderated Chatter groups in the Dreamforce / Success community.

Keeping up on Ze Twitters @Dreamforce

Yes, there are a TON of Dreamforce-related Twitter hashtags and handles…

…but these are the biggies. If you keep up with these hashtags and handles, you will MORE than stay in the know!

• @CRMjen:  (Yep, this is my Twitter handle) Not that my handle is necessarily a top ‘Twitter @Dreamforce’ resource, BUT I’d love to connect with you @Dreamforce and Twitter is a GREAT way to make that connection happen!
• #DF14: THE official Dreamforce 14 hashtag
• #DFGives: THE official hashtag of the One Million Meals Dreamforce Community food drive
• #DFCoS: Official Dreamforce Circles of Success tweetstakes hashtag.You can win some pretty snazzy prizes  (right up to a premium #DF14 pass) just for sharing packing tips. I mean, why even think about it? Tweet to win? Yes, please.  
• #DF14NGO: For all things Nonprofit at Dreamforce 14, use this hashtag!
• #DFHED: Stay in touch with the Higher Ed crowd at Dreamforce 14 by searching for and Tweeting with this hashtag.
• @Dreamforce: Official Dreamforce Tweets
• @SFDCFoundation: Official Salesforce Foundation handle.
• @Salesforce: Official Salesforce handle for the host of this shindig
• @Exacttarget: Official ExactTarget Marketing Cloud handle

I would rather …

I would rather die of passion than of boredom — Vincent van Gogh

March 30, 2014 marks Vincent van Gogh’s 161 birthday. March 29 marks my considerable lower number birthday. I

Vincent van Gogh, Self Portrait, 1889, Oil on canvas

didn’t know that van Gogh was also a “March Baby” until I was doing a bit of research about him after being taken with the quote which prompted me to write this post. But the timing, coupled with the inspiration, seemed an appropriate opportunity to write.

Dear readers, if you’re still there for me, know that in my absence I have been working hard to come up to speed in my newest endeavor. For those of you who may not know, I’m honored to be working with the Salesforce Foundation supporting the world’s best nonprofits and higher educators with their digital and social media programs. My only purpose at the Foundation is to help organizations – amazing, inspiring, and excellent organizations – be even more amazing, inspiring, and excellent.

I’ve had many “I can’t believe this is my life” moments in the short time I’ve been working with the Foundation, and the promise of many more to come. But here’s the thing, I am also getting to feed my customers’ thoughts, challenges, and feedback to the incredible product team who is equally up for the challenge of building the future. It’s a thrill ride. It is the junction of my passion and my skills.

It is – simply – a #DREAMjob.

My involvement with my customers has already profoundly changed the way I view time. I’ve never had more to do – never – and yet I feel more invigorated than ever. Somehow, I’m also finding the time to give back to my community more than ever, taking up hobbies, learning a language, and enjoying my family deeply. Time has expanded in this even more deeply passion-driven version of my life.

In previous (and also awesome) roles, I was always busy. Hell, anyone who knows me knows I prefer to be at least a bit over-committed in my professional life. But this is a different level of busy, this is the kind of busy that is impossible, but worth trying. Worth really, really going for it. Why? Because I get to work with the people who are literally building the future.

I am honored. I am challenged. I am up for it.

Happy Birthday, Mr. van Gogh. And to you, whoever you are, may your day shine brightly and your talents expand to reach the challenges in front of you.

Learn more about the Salesforce Foundation, their 1/1/1 philanthropic model, and how their customers rock it out. And then spread the word. 

Have a thought, feedback, inspiration, or comment? Do tell!

We love our Sponsors!

I’ll be reblogging all #DF2UFL posts to my site & hope to see you there (http://df2ufl.eventbrite.com/) on Saturday, March 31, 2012

Dreamforce to You - Florida!

It’s true. We just simply couldn’t do this without them. We’re bringing Salesforce.com users together for an entire day of content, best practice, learning what’s new and how to use it in your company. We’re custom building the agenda based on the attendee preferences, AND we’re not charging people to attend. So, without the funding the Sponsors provide, we literally wouldn’t be able to make this event happen. Most of these Sponsors are active with our User Groups already, and all of these Sponsors are dedicated to helping to promote the event so we can meet our Event Team goal of building up the core User Group community which benefits us all.

Thank you from the Dreamforce to YOU – Florida Event Team to our 2012 Sponsors for supporting the Florida Salesforce.com Community!

Take a minute to get to know our dedicated 2012 Sponsors

View original post

Fast and FABULOUS

Well, I can’t tell you how much time I’ve been devoting to all the amazing twists and turns happening in the SCRM (see that? I’ve even adopted the ‘S’!) world since last we met on these virtual pages.

Some undeniable truths:

• Social is the new black. Got that?
• Another thing…Analytics that used to take me 6 months of hard work, mental gymnastics, and sleepless nights now happens in an instant. Prettier than I could have ever done it back in the day.
• I have to say things like ‘back in the day’ more and more.
• The Cloud is ubiquitous.
• Mobile and Touch are just ‘how we do it’ now.
• Your Mom is on Facebook. Your Mom (it turns out) is likely an early Pinterest adopter.
• Business is struggling to keep up, to make sense of it, and to use their budget wisely.
• Shiny-Thing Syndrome is rampant. RAMPANT! It is one of my least favorite corporate maladies. Of course, ‘That’s Simple-itis‘ is worse, but I really want to stay on track so I’ll just move on.
• This post is meant to serve as my quick but exciting (to me) return to my blog as well as to let you know where I’ve been.

Hi. I’ve been reading, thinking, talking, implementing, and researching in the middle of this incredible time. At least once a day I feel so excited that I either pick up the phone, compose a tweet, start a chat, or – if I have to – craft an email to let another colleague know how AWESOME it is to do what we do. They know it already, of course, and are very likely kind of getting sick of these interruptions but I just can’t help it. This is hands down the most fun I’ve ever had doing my job. That’s coming from a person (read: nerd) who lists her professional pursuit as a hobby lo these many years.

At any rate, the customer is getting heard. The constituency and community is being recognized. Why? Because we created the equalizing tools that foster this channel. As a result, business needs to LISTEN (and that is just about the MOST exciting opportunity to amaze and delight there is). As I dive into some of the more effective ways to weave listening into traditional Sales, Service, and Community efforts, I just get more blown away. We are really starting to be able to connect with our customers and colleagues and fans and detractors. We’ve got lots to learn from each of these connections and can finally dive into the Big Data (another shiny thing? Not a chance.) with elegance and speed.

So if this is interesting in the least, keep reading! I’ve got a few of my favorite sources below to get your motor running!

• Paul Greenberg on ZDNet. I’ve said it before but this guy just GETS it. In a big way. Kind of my Yoda, he is.
• Radian6 Providing TONS of really useful strategic and tactical content via many channels. Like everything they do: AWESOME
• Kelly Craft Blogs on Social CRM, Gadgetry, and getting it done. Very sharp lady.
• Christopher Barger MAY be the Yoda of Social Business planning?! Read his blog on Forbes, you should.
• Salesforce.com Blog They’re taking a ton of big guns’ ammo and making it available to you. Really pretty and very actionable.
• HubSpot puts a TON of content out for your consideration. I highly recommend their Webinars as well.

Occupy Wall Street = Corporate Spring?

No matter which side of the issue you’re on, Occupy Wall Street is empowered by the same technology that sparked the Arab Spring. It was just August when Marc Benioff stood on the keynote stage at Dreamforce 11 and said onstage: “The technology is creating the change and the transformation…It’s not so long from now that we’ll start to hear about a Corporate Spring…an Enterprise Spring…When will the first CEO fall for the same reason?… I think about that myself every day… It is more important to listen than ever before…That’s the Social Revolution.”

Yesterday we lost a legend in our time, one of the visionaries truly responsible for pushing the development of the technology that facilitates these movements. While watching the inimitable Steve Jobs’ commencement address of the 2005 Stanford University graduating class last night, it hit me: Occupy Wall Street has the potential to make change happen and its spine is Social.

Source: Occupy Wall Street… is [a] leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants.

Strangely, a fair bit of the social sentiment last night regarding Occupy Wall Street (#OccupyWallStreet) focused on losing a “member of the 1%” as a scene-stealer to the press coverage of the movement. Indeed, to say Steve Jobs was remarkably successful is a huge understatement. As a result (and rightly so), his passing garnered tremendous press. But the Occupy Wall Street movement is fueled by technology sprung from Steve Jobs’  imagination and the imagination of the people inspired by the possibility of “what’s next”.

As my today begins, I redouble my dedication to being a virtuoso implementor of Social technology for business and non-profits, because people deserve the transparency. That’s all people. The 99% and the 1%. Let’s face it, for the 1% dead set on believing that Social is about “kids on Facebook”, the Corporate Spring may just be devastating.

Every organization should be absolutely clamoring to understand what their advocates love about them and what their detractors don’t. And the impact of both to the health of the organization. Every organization should tap into their most valuable resource (the 99% of the workplace) if they expect to get the real skinny on what’s working and what isn’t. Social insights and collaboration tools not only give you the arena to have that conversation, but the dedication to building that arena tells employees: Your voice is important. Listening and acting on what you think, say, and feel about us helps us become better. That dedication, if backed by honesty, will help to retain your top talent. Even when the unemployment rates begin to fall. In the interim, there is something wonderful about rewarding good people for innovative ideas that drive success. It’s not about sides or percentages. It is about communicating and respect.

Talent is rare, and expensive to acquire (nice, plain-english blog entry here from Jeff Kortes). Not listening to your talented team drives attrition rates up. Quite possibly, your  Customer Service, Sales Efficiency, and product quality rates decline in parallel. Engaged employees, like engaged customers, like an engaged constituency are highly effective marketers of your brand / message.

What does this have to do with Occupy Wall Street? Maybe Everything.

That’s Social. And I like it.