Somewhere between the start of school, the late summer heat, and Labor Day, we found ourselves at Mile High Dreamin’ (MHD), Denver’s annual Salesforce user group conference.
Besides simply being in our backyard, MHD uniquely positions itself amongst the other Dreamin’ conferences by creating a community-building and engaging environment for local and regional companies and individuals in the ecosystem.
So, what did we think of this year’s sold-out event? We’re glad you asked.
The Denver Salesforce community proved to be vibrant, energetic, and inspiring. Sessions and hallways were brimming with consulting partners keen on cutting-edge creativity and collaboration. The keynote speakers were outstanding, even if Idalia made it impossible for some to be there in person.
This year’s Mile High Dreamin’ was brought to you by the letter ‘A’—as in AI and Apps
AI is at the forefront of people’s minds and the world at large, and it was no different here. There were several sessions focused on the subject, each with their own perspective on its power and potential, but also trying to allay fears concerning people’s jobs and the potential for Hal from “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “The Matrix,” or “The Terminator.”
The overwhelming tone was more in steering into AI’s potential and learning how to use it to further our own potential, not solely in the Salesforce environment, but in how we problem-solve and think. By using AI much like we do with automation in Salesforce, we can expedite some of the rigmarole of basic tasks and free time and space in our heads to see and understand beyond resolving a singular issue and, perhaps, solve the problem.
Whetting Our App-etites
Operating in the same vein as the AI discussion, it was hard to miss the relevance of Apps, building upon the vast Salesforce foundation and simply making it better and more versatile rather than building out something wholly new. From files, location, and event management to data cleaning, language translation, and, of course, AI, there were numerous iterations of platform integrations to help any org up their game.
Besides AI and Apps, learning sessions touched on a variety of other valuable topics ranging from technical learning opportunities in flow building, reporting filters, and mastering scrum retrospects to other areas of thought leadership, such as overcoming imposter syndrome and how to pivot your career into the Salesforce ecosystem.
No matter your cup of tea, there was something for everyone.
Women at the Forefront
On Day 2, our CEO and Founder, Stephanie Hagan, participated in a Female Founders Panel with Blakely Graham (Co-founder of TaskRay), Jenn Knight (Co-founder of AgentSync), and Veronica Hugh (Founder of SFE Partners).
These pioneering executives spoke candidly about their experiences branching out on their own and navigating the tech space. The panel collectively agreed on how these endeavors “take a village” to nurture and build and how trying to shoulder that burden independently is not recommended.
Each, in turn, applauded their trusted and talented teams. Furthermore, they spoke about what an invaluable resource it is to have a coach and mentor to aid in traversing the tricky waters of leadership and management within a male-dominated vertical.
Our Thoughts on Sponsoring
We decided to co-sponsor this year’s event as both The CRM Firm, our Salesforce Consulting Firm, and as our sister company, FirmWorks, where we develop Salesforce-native apps to improve user’s experience and functionality inside Salesforce.
As event sponsors, we are always keenly in tune with the audience at each conference and how that stacks up with our event marketing goals.
At Mile High Dreamin’, there were roughly 400 attendees ranging from Salesforce admins and consultants to more technical roles like architects and developers. We found the audience highly engaged and the conversations at our sponsor booth meaningful.
We hosted a Demo Jam to showcase our Salesforce App— FirmWorks Files— and teach attendees about the enhanced functionality of Salesforce Files with the addition of our app.
We also participated in Alon Waisman’s session: Awesome Lightning Web Components You Can and Should Use Right Now (AKA free stuff you’ll totally want), where we shared about another of our Salesforce native apps, FirmWorks Geo, which provides Salesforce users a lightning experience to work with geographic data.
We found that at each of the three speaking engagements we participated in, we were met with an eager audience. The opportunities to educate these attendees drove more connections at our sponsor booth and helped increase brand awareness among Denver Salesforce users.
All in all, we had a fantastic time at Mile High Dreamin’ and enjoyed meeting and participating in the Colorado-based Salesforce community. We walk away from the conference feeling really positive about our experience as attendees and sponsors, and looking forward to the relationships and partnerships we take away from our time there!
