Salesforce + Skiing = Snowforce

Calista Carter, Director of Professional Services at Idealist Consulting, recently attended Snowforce, the annual gathering of Salesforce Administrators and Developers for all things Salesforce and skiing in Salt Lake City, Utah. Here are excerpts of the highlights of her experience from her blog.

Hosted by the Salt Lake City Salesforce User Group, Snowforce is an annual gathering of Salesforce enthusiasts for sessions, networking, and generally sharing the stoke for our favorite platform — and snow sports. Wait, what? Salesforce + Skiing = Like?! Sure! Salesforce folks like to kick back like everyone else, and there’s no better way than Snowforce to rub shoulders with Salesforce MVP’s and VIP’s, hear inspiring and informative sessions, get excited about new features and essential apps, meet other Awesome Admins and Developers, and then (bonus!) spend a day shredding some of Utah’s finest powder.

Over 200 people registered for this year’s Snowforce, the fourth annual. The SLC User Group is strong and meets regularly, but there were some out-of-towners as well (like me — believe it or not, SLC is my closest user group , even though I took a plane to get there). Salesforce sent their Awesome Admin team, and the number of MVP’s and long-time Salesforce users in attendance made it a real who’s who of Salesforce superstars: Steve Molis (aka Steve Mo), Mike Gerholdt, Brad Gross, Geraldine Gray, David Schach, Angela Mahoney, Brent Downey, Becky Webster… (Did I miss anyone? Sorry!).

Day One was held at the University of Utah and was basically a mini-Dreamforce. The Salesforce Admin team kicked off the day with some high-energy music and a nice kick-off/pep talk, reminding us all how awesome we all are and how awesome Salesforce is. Then things really got going with a keynote by the co-hosts of the Button-Click Admin blog - Mike Gerholdt, Salesforce Admin Evangelist, and Salesforce Program Manager, Gillian Madill. Gillian warned us that she was going to use the word “super” about a hundred times in her presentation - and she did not disappoint.

Then we got down to business with some break-out sessions. The sessions were divided into Admin-focused and Developer-focused. I mostly attended the Developer sessions, not because I’m writing code, but because I need to be able to talk to people who do, and that’s where my head is this month. All of the sessions were excellent and slides are available in the Snowforce Chatter group in the Success Community. Some highlights…

• Nate Lipke, a senior member of the Salesforce developer team, showed off VF Fiddle — a new tool he’s built that will allow developers to share and collaborate on VF code.
• Brad Gross did a great session on using the Power of Habit (i.e. Habit > Cue > Reward) to be a Successful Admin.
• Angela Mahoney and Larry Latimer co-lead a great session on how Admins and Developers can work together for successful projects.
• Steve Mo’s "Formula Analytics Tips and Tricks" session was every Admin’s dream, and who doesn’t love a Safe Harbor slide that looks like this:

• David Schach’s session, "Cat-skinning," reminded us that clicks <> code and gave a great overview of what to use when, and then got into some terrific detail of his code methodology — a must see for anyone who’s getting started writing code or wants to see how a real pro approaches coding.
• Brent Downey shared tips for Elevating the Role of the System Administrator and becoming a Change Agent — an excellent reminder that Admins have an important role to play using three simple steps: 1) Identify the Pain, 2) Prioritize & Execute, and 3) Turn Skeptics into Advocates.

The day closed out with a Demo Jam, hosted (and heckled) by Brad Gross and Steve Mo. This is now my favorite way to learn about new apps — 10-12 minute presentations in rapid succession. Brad and Steve even did a Game of Thrones/Gladiator-style thumbs-up/down at the end of each vendor’s presentation, although we were all too polite to give anyone a thumbs-down. Sponsors presenting at the Demo Jam were:

• Outbox Systems
• InsideSales.com
• SteelBrick
• Invoca
• CRMfusion
• Drawloop

Day Two was a ski day at Solitude Mountain Resort. Seriously, this place was made for a bunch of Salesforce geeks…I can honestly say that networking is much more fun on a chairlift or in a lodge with a beer in your hand.

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