Why Community Matters
So far, I have covered what I plan to learn at Dreamforce. A large part of that education will come from the sessions, but equally important is what I will learn from the community. If you’re like me, it’s not all about hitting the books, but also what can I learn from others. That’s where the community comes in. So much of what we can do today is because of the amazing dedication of the many that make up our community!
Cool-laborating (it’s cool to collaborate) is an effective way to share, teach, and learn. It’s the community that fuels the Ideas and Answers. It’s the community that is usually the first to respond to #askforce questions on Twitter. The cream of that crop makes up the community MVP’s. I am looking forward to connecting with our community in the various sessions as well as in the Community Meet Up Lounge in the Marriot Marquis Atrium.
If you can’t make it to Dreamforce, that’s unfortunate, but it’s not the end of the road. You can attend a Cloudforce or even start your own community event. That’s exactly what my colleague and current two-time reigning community MVP, Jennifer Phillips did. As leader of her local user group, she and other leaders in her neighborhood decided to bring Dreamforce to You Florida and earlier this year celebrated its third birthday. It is for the community, by the community. If you’re not already involved, find your local user group and get involved!
Communities can make or break an experience. School, government, religion, team sports and many other areas of our life built around communities–people coming together for a common cause or interest.
According to Wikipedia, community is inherently social. All of these areas of life depend on its community to be successful. If you don’t have community then what do you have? Salesforce products are good, but it’s the community that makes it great. Radian6 Community manager Trish Forant says it best, “If content is king, then dare I say that community is queen.” If my house is the content and my neighborhood is clearly the community, then I am fortunate to have an #awesome kingdom. It’s the same here. I had an issue I hadn’t seen before this week and it was thanks to my community I was able to quickly resolve it and learn some new tricks.
I can’t wait to see new faces in new places and connecting the real people to their avatars. Technology has really made the world a “smaller” place because we can connect with each other over greater distances than ever before. As #awesome as that is, there’s nothing like an in person shared experience. If the sessions are the primary source of education at Dreamforce, then community is a close second. Not only that, but I might just come away with some cool new relationships. I can’t wait to meet, reconnect and expand my community! See you soon!
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