by Mel Cawkell 
London’s Calling was a true testament to the nations “keep calm and carry on” mentality when faced with times of adversity. Despite a bit of a bumpy buffering start, the virtual conference was underway with 5-6 different sessions at a time. There was plenty for admins, developers, consultants, architects, and marketers alike.
At Nebula we were very excited not only to gain insights and be inspired during the day, but also as 3 colleagues were presenting. Their sessions spanned admin, developer and marketing tracks. It was fantastic to see that each one was well attended, making the speakers’ preparations totally worthwhile.
Here are some of the key highlights, and where you can find out more:
Chris demystified the power of Einstein Analytics dashboards for marketeers
He provided the following key tips for building them out.
- Plan – Sketch out on a whiteboard, involve stakeholders to get a good idea of what they are trying to visualise and align with the purpose.
- Design – Eliminate ambiguity, label, emphasise and be consistent with design across dashboards.
- Build – Prioritise KPIs as the star of the show. Don’t cram everything in, let people explore the information. Take advantage of the dashboard inspector to maximise efficiency.
Chris has covered all you need to know in this blog. Take a read to learn how to set it up for yourself. You can watch the full session here.
Aidan shared the benefits, pitfalls, and lessons of Unlocked Packaging
This is an absolute must watch for any Salesforce developer!
Unlocked Packaging lends itself well to modular development. It breaks down the ‘big bang’ method of developing an application and makes it a more streamlined and incremental method of development. Although Unlocked Packaging is not a silver bullet, it can go some way towards unpicking the ‘bowl of pasta’ that your Salesforce org might be.
Aidan explained some key features of Unlocked Packaging, letting us know where it should and shouldn’t be used. He offered real world examples of how Nebula have used it. And he provided great advice on using custom metadata to get around dependencies within trigger and test data when using multiple packages.
We can see how some of the main challenges of working with Unlocked Packaging can be eased with the help of Nebula’s own open sourced package, Nebula Core.
You can watch the full session here.
Doug emphasised when it might be time to move to CPQ
You can get a long way with standard Products, Price Books and Quotes. However, there is a point where you need more functionality and ability. This is when CPQ can be extremely powerful.
Doug brought our attention to the tell-tale signs that indicate when to make the move to CPQ. Those being:
- Manual price calculations have margin for error and limited visibility and control into the derived price.
- Selling the wrong products.
- Sales reps using their own documentation or unsure of the correct T&C’s which can result in arduous approval processes.
- Products not adaptable to customer needs.
CPQ can be configured to eradicate these issues with price rules, waterfall discount structures, and product bundles. As well as in guided selling, multi-dimensional grouping, and dynamic quote documents. All of this allows for more intelligent control, which will certainly please the Finance dept. And makes it much easier to work in a more productive way.
Doug explains more in this blog. Check to see if any of these signs resonate with you… and you can watch the full session here.
Even More!
In addition to these, there were sessions that helped to develop your career as an admin or consultant, as well as expanding your knowledge from an architect’s perspective, you can see the full line up here. Muhammad Abrar Ul Haq informed us about the game changing new object framework for Cross-Object Entity Interfaces, due for GA in the summer 20 release. View the launch from Dreamforce 19 here.
Wrapping up London’s Calling was the excellent sound and communication expert and 5x TED talk speaker, Julian Treasure. Talking aptly about how the way we speak can influence how an audience listens and engages – very apt in this time of social distancing!
Swag and fun were not missed out on at this virtual event. Doug indulged in the free caricature portrait on offer and is also the proud winner of some SF socks!
This virtual event not only allowed attendees to learn something new but it encouraged connection, camaraderie, and a touch of fun along the way. This was the case for everyone at Nebula as we shared our thoughts via chat messaging and supported our speakers during their sessions. Proving that during this turbulent time, we don’t have to miss out on events like London’s Calling and we can remain connected.