Datablazers Unite: One Year of Mastering Data Cloud Together

I’m a dancer — waltz, swing, polka. I love discovering new techniques, but more than anything, I love helping someone take their very first step on the dance floor. Every strong dance community I’ve ever been part of shares one thing in common: They make the first lesson easy, fun, and welcoming. Instead of thinking dancing may be scary, you get a taste of what’s possible‌ — ‌and then, as you come back, you grow through focused practice, shared experiences, and connection.

Learning a new technology isn’t all that different. One year ago, we launched the Datablazer Community around a simple idea: that data matters to all of us. None of us have all the answers, but together we can assess and tackle any problem and achieve business success faster.  Now, just twelve months later, the Datablazer Community has grown to 70,000 members. It provides monthly meetups focused on learning and networking; co-hosted virtual events on how to tackle different data challenges; exclusive gatherings at strategic global events like World Tours and Dreamforce; and our hallmark Datablazers Mastery Onsites (DMOs).

The DMO program is one of our biggest success stories, onsite, day-long workshops where practitioners with real-world experience share what to do, what not to do, and how-to strategies to deliver business value faster and with confidence.  It builds upon the introductory trails — the fun taster lessons  – and shows people how to assess and tackle real-world challenges using the full power of the Salesforce Platform and the ecosystem.  While Data Cloud is at the center of it, we use the full portfolio of products as well as leading AppExchange solutions.  We create our content, both presentations and hands-on-exercises, and we share our insights with internal enablement teams to multiply our impact. 

Delivering a program in five global cities is a strategic undertaking that demands both amazing content and meticulous execution. Kaela Altman, Sr. Salesforce Community Leader and DMO Co-Creator, handles all operational complexities to empower practitioners to focus exclusively on solving complex data challenges. Frankly, without her belief and operational leadership, this program couldn’t have happened.

The Datablazer Community drives the DMO curriculum

The Datablazer Community wasn’t just the audience for the DMO — it was the catalyst for its creation and evolution. Our curriculum is 100% practitioner-led. We design every DMO based on ‌conversations we’re having in the ecosystem — listening to what practitioners are struggling with today, where they’re getting stuck, and what their stakeholders are demanding.

In the early days, questions were basic (e.g., What’s Data Cloud?). Today, they are highly nuanced and strategic:

• When do I use zero copy?
• How do I explain my narrower scoping decisions to my stakeholders?
• How can I prove we implemented it correctly‌ — ‌without wasting time or credits?

What to expect during a Datablazers Mastery session

Effective AI, analytics, automation, activation, and business applications need complete, consistent, contextual, correct, current data.  Most organizations struggle with data that’s  disconnected and siloed across data sources, Data Cloud provides the foundation capability to tackle a challenge that has impacted Salesforce customers for years.

While the DMO originally launched for Data Cloud practitioners‌ to learn Data Cloud implementation strategies, the scope is expanding to tackle data challenges within the data source (e.g. Salesforce CRM) and avoid data reliability challenges during activation.

If your goal is to activate a use case‌ — ‌be it across Marketing, Agentforce, Tableau, or multi-org consolidation — our sessions help you achieve mastery in five critical areas:

• Ask the right questions
• Find and focus on the right scope
• Design with confidence
• Deliver verifiably reliable data
• The DMOs are typically hosted in-person.

Attendees learn to assess CRM data for potential risks before ingestion into Data Cloud — mirroring the real-world wisdom shared by Suzie Campbell, director of Start Early, at our very first DMO:  “Every Data Cloud project starts without Data Cloud.”

Our most popular most popular agenda topics include:

• Confessions of a Datablazer: A customer-focused presentation detailing why Data Cloud was selected and how they approached implementation. The presenter remains throughout the day to share real-world experiences and best practices.
• Architecture dos and don’ts: A deep dive into best practices related to unified profile data modeling, mapping, and transformation.
• Explaining & modeling Data Cloud credit needs: Enabling customers to better understand consumption-based pricing with confidence.

The power of peer-to-peer learning

From hallway chats at TDX to planning calls across time zones, this community has grown thanks to passionate contributors, regional leaders — including Vlad Silak (APAC), Sara Hernandez (EMEA), and Angelica Buffa (AMER) — and dozens of speakers who have volunteered their time.

Practitioners need to hear from others on how they’re solving problems for their organizations, and the community provides that essential context that Salesforce itself can’t always deliver. This inclusion of community voices helps practitioners optimize Data Cloud for their unique use cases.

Our mission is unwavering: to empower Salesforce professionals across roles and industries with trusted guidance in data strategy, data management, Data Cloud, and AI readiness. Whether it’s connecting the community to help bring Data Cloud use cases to life or offering Datablazers opportunities to become thought leaders in their fields, we’re better together.