What To Expect At Down Under Dreaming Sydney

With a stellar lineup of speakers and heaps of hands-on learning opportunities, Down Under Dreaming events are rocket fuel for your career.

Whether you’re an event veteran or making your debut at Down Under Dreaming Sydney next week on 28 August, you are in for an amazing day. It’ll be bigger than ever, with four streams of breakouts across the fabulous Sydney Cricket Ground venue and sessions covering admin, developer, architecture, business and equality. You can expect inspiring speakers, hands-on experiences, interactive learning, limited edition swag, and plenty of opportunities to have a laugh and a chat with your fellow Salesforce admins and developers. 

And if you’re just starting our your career as a Salesforce admin or dev and you’re wondering what kind of potential it has, this is a great way to find out what’s possible. It will be more than you could have imagined.

Networking for newbies

Some people take to networking like fish to water but for a lot of us it can be a real challenge. You natural networkers will be in your element. But for those who find it palm-sweatingly nerve wracking, here’s a few things to bear in mind:

• You’re among friends!
• The people in your sessions are interested in the same things as you – so there’s plenty of common ground right there. Having a quick chat with the person sitting next to you is an easy way to start.
• Feel free to reach out to any of the leaders from the User and Developer groups or the Women in Tech group. We will happily introduce to other people you’re interested in if you’re feeling a little shy. 

And if you need a bit more inspiration, check out Trailblazer Lorna O’Callaghan’s story of overcoming imposter syndrome and say g’day to her on the day. She leads the awesome Women in Tech group.

The Golden Hoodies are in the building

We are very excited to have three Aussies living #lifewithgoldie in the house! Rebecca Aichholzer, Heidi Prowse and expat Zarina Varley Scott will talk about their Salesforce journeys and the crucial role the Trailblazer Community has played in their careers. 

The panel with this trio of rockstar Trailblazers is a must-see for anyone wondering what a career built on Salesforce might look like.

Architecture is so hot right now

Architects look at technical challenges from a holistic perspective – they are our big-picture thinkers who can build high-performance technical solutions. 

There’s a lot of interest in architecture tracks this year from admins and devs preparing for the CTA certification, who are curious about what an architect’s role looks like and keen to expand their knowledge of architectural best practices on the Salesforce platform. 

I’m looking forward to hearing from Chris Baldock, a CTA who is going to talk through how to prepare for and pass the CTA review board, and Jannis Bott whose hands-on session will walk attendees through drawing a system landscape. 

Zayne Turner’s ‘Think and Act Like an Architect’ session will look at the patterns, habits and approaches to problem-solving that distinguish truly innovative architectures, and how to apply them in your daily work. It’ll help admins and devs build the mindset that allows great architects to take a holistic view of problems and systems to find the right solutions.

There’s a common theme through these architecture sessions: the key to architecture is an ability to simplify very technical concepts and communicate them clearly with non-technical people. It’s a key skill that anyone should focus on. 

Budding architects will certainly walk away with helpful tools and approaches to use in their journeys to CTA. 

Jump out of your box

One of the best things you can do at Down Under Dreaming is expand your horizons. If you’re an admin, take yourself along to some dev sessions, and vice versa. You don’t have to understand everything that’s said but you’ll definitely expand your knowledge to do your job better. 

Learning the language of another function, for example, makes it much easier to communicate about a project. The more devs and admins understand about each other’s roles, the more effectively they can work together. 

Five must-see sessions

It’s a stellar lineup but there’s a few I’m particularly excited about:

1. Our keynote Kris Lande, VP Trailhead Marketing, will share the secret to her career success – great marketing! Kris is a Trailblazer admin from way back, and jumped from sales ops to admin in a startup, then to events and Salesforce. Throughout her career, she’s learnt some heavyweight lessons, tips and tricks on how marketing can make a difference to career success – whether you’re in marketing or not. 
2. Alicia Lykos on building high-performing teams from a scientific point of view. Beyond certifications and skills on paper, what are the attributes of a high-performing team? How do they collaborate successfully, deliver the goods and work effectively with business stakeholders? You’ll get insights into what you are like to work with and a take-away report.
3. Suri Chandramouli’s ‘Superior Customer Service with Einstein Bots’ session is not just a ‘bots 101’ – although he’ll cover the basics, Chandramouli will also run a live demo and share implementation best practices. As Lead Architect on Australia’s first Einstein Bot implementation, for Kayo Sports, Chandramouli will no doubt have plenty of lessons and insights to share.
4. Erin Soo Kee on where product ownership and product evangelism meet. With more and more product owners coming through, learning how to get the balance of passion and practical just right will be especially useful. 
5. ARIA-award winner Kevin Wilkins on the importance of customer research and storytelling through his experience in the music industry. Sometimes we can get a bit lost in the technical side of CX and this will be a great opportunity to hear different insights into what makes customers respond. 

Come with an open mind and a willingness to venture outside your comfort zone, and Down Under Dreaming will be one of the best things you’ve ever done for your career. Look forward to seeing you there. 

Don’t miss out! Down Under Dreaming Sydney is at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 28 August – Register today. And if you’re not in Sydney check out Down Under Dreaming in Melbourne and Brisbane.