by Sarah Kelleher 
On Friday 17th May 2024, Chris and Sarah from #teamnebula headed out to Prague for CzechDreamin 2024. This is the fifth edition of this Salesforce community conference and it did not disappoint! Here are their highlights:
Community Spirit
From the moment we landed in Prague the day before the conference, we were surrounded by friendly faces looking to connect with fellow Trailblazers. The content is, of course, a huge draw for these events. But the networking opportunities and chance to meet like-minded folks from across the continent is also very valuable. The organisers made sure there were lots of chances to mingle, from the speaker’s dinner the night before, to refreshment breaks throughout the day. They even organised a tour of local sights the day after. To meet new folks and re-connect with old friends really adds to the value of community conferences, even Mr Nebbles took the opportunity to network!
Sarah’s Content Highlights
Entering the “world of weird”
The opening keynote for the day was delivered by Domenique Sillett Buxton, also known in the ecosystem as Astro’s mom. Domenique began her career as an illustrator and shared the power of creativity, fun and a little bit of weirdness in creating powerful brand messages that really connect with audiences and stand out. As a marketer, I found this session a real reminder that shaking things up a bit is no bad thing. Salesforce have really pushed the boundaries of what you can do with a business tech brand, with huge success! This session gave me so much food for thought. Ultimately, it was a real delight to see the passion and creativity of the team behind such a dominant brand.
The importance of Product Owners
I probably looked like a nodding dog in this session by Georgy Avilov. So much of the content resonated with me and I sat there nodding along to every bit! The key message was to view a Salesforce implementation as a long-term story, driven by your business strategy and business objectives. This is a topic we are talking about with our customers all the time. Having a Product Owner who really understands the business and understands Salesforce as part of the bigger picture is such a key driver to seeing real value and ROI more quickly from your technology. There’s a lot to share with the team and with our customers from this one. Plus, it was excellently delivered by a great speaker!!
Chris’s Content Highlights
The difference a great project manager can make
I’m sure everybody has been involved in some sort of project where things did not go to plan. Pei Mun Lim has a wonderful delivery style, which helps deliver a topic many may find dry in a fun and engaging way. It was full of great tips, including the iron triangle of project management and the different activities a project manager carries out vs a project admin. I have already ordered my copy of “Salesforce Discovery 101: How Salesforce Experts Execute Discoveries to set Projects up for Success” as I look to learn more from Pei.
DevOps is a cultural shift, not a toolset
In recent years in the Salesforce ecosystem, there have been a few buzzwords, one of them being DevOps. Most conversations start off talking about tools and features. Pablo Gonzalez brought his DevOps Manifesto to CzechDreamin to help teams focus on improving their processes. It should not be a case of ticking a box without adding value. It was great to hear some real world tales and having plenty of time for questions allows a deeper dive into specific examples.
Sharing our Knowledge
Chris – Screen Flows: The Underdog Hero of Salesforce
When many talk about Flows in Salesforce, they often only refer to record-triggered flows, but there are many types of Flow available. In my session, I wanted to inspire others to look at how they use Screen Flows and consider if they could be used to help optimise business processes, enhance data quality and increase user engagement. I used some real-world examples of how Screen Flows can achieve this and offered some practical advice on how you can enhance your Flows. Don’t worry if you weren’t able to attend, as I have provided some really useful and super practical resources here. Or you can catch my next session on this subject on the 19th of July at London’s Calling.
Sarah – Customer Journey Mapping: The Secret Sauce for Salesforce Success
When you’re in the depths of a Salesforce project or busy managing day-to-day admin, it’s easy to forget that the customer should be at the heart of your strategy. In my session, I shared the value of being truly customer-centric for any business. It’s all about telling the customer’s story and not making your brand the centre of attention. If you missed out, there are some resources and a recording of my session for you to catch up on here.
Summary
To round up, Czech Dreamin 2024 was an incredible event, full of learning, networking and new experiences. A huge thank you to the organisers and sponsors for making all of this possible. We found the trip so valuable and are now looking forward to the next events in the 2024 calendar: London World Tour on June 6th and London’s Calling on July 19th. Let us know if you’ll be there too!