5 easy steps to create a Developer agenda for Dreamforce 2015
2015 may be your first year at Dreamforce, or you could be a regular attendee at this event. Whatever your situation, I’m sure that one of your priorities before arriving in San Francisco is to organize your personal agenda for this exciting and informative event.
With over 1500 sessions and thousands of live solutions, you may worry about missing a Dreamforce session that deals with your specific area of interest. Creating a personal agenda will help you find the sessions, keynotes, workshops and live solutions that are of interest to you as a developer. A personal agenda will also enable you to organise your Dreamforce 2015 attendance so that you can maximize your learning without experiencing information overload.
A great place to start is the Dreamforce Trailhead where you can find some excellent tips on developing your personal agenda, as well as lots of general advice that will help make your attendance at Dreamforce 2015 an enjoyable and memorable experience.
One thing the trailhead won’t tell you is which sessions to attend, which sessions will be the most relevant to you, or where you will learn the most. These are questions for you to answer, but I can help point you to the right agenda solution you’re looking for as a developer.
How to create a good Dreamforce Developer agenda
Here is some advice that should help you get the most out of Dreamforce 2015:
- One of the most exciting aspects of Dreamforce 2015 is that you will have the opportunity to learn some aspect of writing code. You can do this at workshops and mini-workshop sessions. You can choose to learn something from scratch, or enhance your existing skills in an area where you already have experience. Unfortunately seats are very limited, so registering for workshops should be a priority for you once the workshop agenda is available. Select a couple of workshops and get your laptop into learning mode!
- Consider an exciting new coding area that you may have been involved with or heard about during the last twelve months. Look for a couple of sessions that could help consolidate your understanding in that area. It could be by attending a Breakout session (40 minutes), or a session at the Developer Zone (30 minutes).
- Keynotes make you feel part of something really big and are great fun to attend, so please do try and attend a few. I can really recommend the Developer keynote because Salesforce may make a big announcement about an exciting feature for next year. During Dreamforce 2014, Salesforce1 Lightning was unveiled, and today, less than a year later, Lightning is very much part of our world.
- Once the Developer keynote finishes, check the available sessions again and look for any that are related to the latest announcement. I’m sure there will be some seats available, and you could be one of the first to access the most up to date information.
- Finally, look for a single session related to a topic that you already know well and have experience with. Sometimes listening to a fellow developer discussing a product you are already familiar with can give you a different perspective of the product, or one of its features. This can only increase your knowledge and understanding, further enhancing your capability and performance with the product.
At this point you will have listed the following on your personal agenda:
- 2 workshops
- 2 sessions about a hot topic
- 2 keynotes
- 2 sessions about a future release
- 1 session about a well known topic
Nine sessions over four days will not be too demanding for you, so go ahead and schedule a few more. Remember that it is also important to consider leaving a few gaps in your personal agenda so you have some free time to walk around the Moscone expo and other areas. You could grab a coffee, sit down and think about the sessions you have already attended. Revisit any thoughts, questions and ideas that you had while you listened to the speakers. Talk with someone at Community Lounge, question MVPs in their area and make sure to come to Certinia DevTalks to meet and learn from our team. Use your free time not only to consolidate your learning, but also as an opportunity to relax and absorb the atmosphere of Dreamforce 2015.
If, after your return home you realize you may have missed something important, take a look at the Salesforce YouTube channel. This channel will publish the recordings made at Dreamforce 2015 for your future reference.
I hope you will use some of the hints and tips I have given you to create your own personal agenda, which will help you to maximize your learning and enjoyment of Dreamforce 2015. Don’t forget to check out all of the developer sessions offered by Certinia at Dreamforce as well!
