Austin/SA User Group Meeting - May 12th

USER GROUP MEETING - POWER LUNCH
Understanding & Developing VisualForce pages!
Tuesday, May 12th
11:30pm to 1:30pm

LOCATION
The MCC Building, 3925 West Braker, Austin, Tx 78759
For directions, click here

We will be in the HILL Country Room, 3rd floor - 3.1004

CONTACTS
Luis Paez, Market Intelligence Analyst - 512.852.7327 - direct line, luis_paez@qauntumdigital.com, Quantumdigital.com

David S. Franklin, Marketing Analyst - 512.682.9672 - direct line, david.franklin@solarwinds.com, SolarWinds

FOOD & DRINKS
Longhorn Lunch: Turkey, Ham or Vegetarian Sandwich, Chips, Cookie and Soda or Bottled Water

SCHEDULE (being this is lunch we will try to finish by 1pm)

11:30 - 11:45 Sign in/Meet & Greet

11:45 - 12:45 Presentation by Ram Majji, CTO @ Buvelo Solutions*

12:45 - 1:00 Code Share Demo, David Franklin

* Buvelo Solutionsis a management consulting and technology services firm that specializes in Salesforce.com. As a Salesforce Certified Consulting partner, Buvelo consultants bring years of sales, marketing, operations, and technology experience to each engagement and has led hundreds of successful implementation projects to date. The company is headquartered in Dallas, Tx. For more information, please visit them at www.buvelo.com.

Ram Majji, CTO at Buvelo Solutions, is responsible for the delivery of professional services and for creating the development roadmap for Buvelo applications. Ram has extensive experience in leading project teams, product development, software engineering, infrastructures, business process re-engineering and enterprise software development and package implementations.

I would like to announce our new co-lead, Luis Paez!

Luis actually joined the group April 21, 2008 so he's been active for 1 year and 2 days now.

He currently works with Quantum Digital as a Market Intelligence Analyst. Luis posses a unique sales/technical background: 5+ years sales experience, 10+ years web development exerience and a Marketing agency background.

He's been a Salesforce Admin since August 2007 and is interested in SFDC integrations with social media tools. 

Please contact either of us concerning user group meetings in the Austin area. Our next meeting is scheduled for May 12th and we will have an updated posting here in the coming days.

Luis Paez, Market Intelligence Analyst - 512.852.7327 - direct line, luis_paez@qauntumdigital.com, Quantumdigital.com

David S. Franklin, Marketing Analyst - 512.682.9672 - direct line, david.franklin@solarwinds.com, SolarWinds

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to give you and update of our upcoming events. I'm currently working through an application process for the group so we can get outdoors and work with each other performing some community
service in helping out a local non-profit.

I think this will be fun for us and it will allow us to give back as a group to the wonderful city we live in.
Stay tuned as I will provide an update with everything is in place. Because of this we may not meet this
month but I will continue to work this avenue as well as our next formal meeting. It could be that we have
two opportunities to meet next month if the volunteer event slips from April.

I always welcome your feedback and any suggestions to continue a strong group that we've created. We are over 220 persons now since starting in Nov 07 but our journey continues just as with each release we receive from salesforce.

Also, look for a splash in the non-profit pool in the coming weeks as Salesforce Austin will an announcement soon.

Take care and I look forward to seeing you soon!

David S. Franklin
Marketing Analyst
SolarWinds
512.657.4525 - cell
david.franklin@solarwinds.com - email

Austin/San Antonio User Group Leader
AppExchange Customer Advisory Board Member

To get everyone ready for the craziness of SXSW, the Austin/San Antonio Salesforce.com User Group is hosting a happy hour on Tuesday, March 10th.  Over the past year, the user group also added over 200 new members and we wanted to take a moment to celebrate that too.

There are limited seats at the event location so please contact Alice Held at aheld@bulldogsolutions.com to receive your ticket for a free drink and appetizers.  There are only 35 tickets available so don't hesitate.  

We look forward to seeing you there!

The Leadership Team

Austin/San Antonio Salesforce.com User Group

With Dreamforce behind us and the New Year ahead, we're all looking for cost effective ways to do more with Salesforce.com.  Join us for this information-filled event to learn more about free applications and funtionality currently available through Salesforce.com and the AppExchange.  In this meeting, we will cover:

* How to Identify & Implement AppExchange Applications
* Salesforce Best Practices
* Free AppExchange Products

BI-MONTHLY USER GROUP MEETING
Making the Most of Salesforce
Thursday, December 11th
6:00pm to 8:00pm

LOCATION
UT Commons Conference Center
JJ Pickle Research Campus
Braker Lane (one block east of Mopac and across the street from The Domain entrance on Braker Lane).
For directions, click here.

CONTACTS
Alice Jones: ajones@bulldogsolutions.com
David Franklin: david.franklin@rackspace.com

DOOR PRIZES
The theme for our door prizes this month is 'Tis The Season to be Jolly'.

FOOD & DRINKS
Chicken Taquitos, Grilled Vegetable Quesadillas, Chips & Salsa
Brownies & Lemon Bars
Bottled Water, Iced Tea & Lemonade

SCHEDULE
David Franklin, in his previous position with GenBand, evaluated and implemented more than 20 different AppExchange applications.  As the Salesforce.com Systems Administrator for RackSpace since Spring 2008, David continues to expand his knowledge of the AppExchange.  David will share with us how to effectively identify and implement AppExchange applications.  He will also highlight a free Project Management tool that has been implemented at RackSpace to help manage Salesforce.com requests within his company and department.

Alice Jones, Systems Analyst and Salesforce.com System Administrator for Bulldog Solutions, will present the Informatica Data Loader.  The Informatica Data Loader, which is a free service to Salesforce customers, is a SaaS alternative to the APEX Data Loader currently available through Salesforce.  The Informatica Data Loader offers some exciting enhancements such as integration with local network servers/databases and task schedules.

For User Group Members.  The leadship team will be collecting user group feedback to determine event format and content for the upcoming year.  Don't miss this opportunity to voice your preferences for future meetings and events.

For AppExchange Partners.  The leadership team encourages you to bring product collateral so user group members can learn more about your products.  Additionally, we are always interested in your local customers attending our meetings and presenting their AppExchange success stories.  This provides an invaluable service to our users by providing firsthand knowledge of and experience with your specific AppExchange products.

Are you looking for an effective way to qualify, manage and communicate with leads using Salesforce?  Then join us for this information-filled event focused on Effective Lead Management and learn some useful tools and tips from your fellow user group members and AppExchange partners.  In this meeting, we will cover:

* Effective Lead Qualification
* Lead Management & Email Communication
* Salesforce Best Practices for Lead Management

BI-MONTHLY USER GROUP MEETING
Effective Lead Management
Thursday, September 25th
6:00pm to 8:00pm

LOCATION
MCC Building
3925 W. Braker Lane (located on the southwest corner of Braker Lane and Mopac)
For directions, click here.

CONTACTS
Alice Jones: ajones@bulldogsolutions.com
David Franklin: david.franklin@rackspace.com

DOOR PRIZES
Door prizes will be provided by Vertical Response.

FOOD & DRINKS
Chicken Taquitos, Grilled Vegetable Quesadillas, Chips & Salsa
Brownies & Lemon Bars
Bottled Water, Iced Tea & Lemonade

SCHEDULE
Paul Fox, an active user group member from the very beginning and Salesforce expert, will share how Shadetree Technology uses and customizes Salesforce to collect the information we really need to know in order to improve the quality of our leads within Salesforce.  Shadetree Technology is launching its new product this month, so we'll all have an opportunity to view it first and through the eyes of an expert.

Alvaro Tijero, Salesforce Channel Manager for Vertical Response, will share how Vertical Response can help us better manage and communicate with leads using their application available through the Salesforce AppExchange.  We selected Vertical Response as a featured partner this month because of the positive feedback we received from our members.  According to our members, Vertical Response offers an affordable and powerful lead management tool for the small to midrange customer-base here in Austin.

Courtney Pena, Director of Sales for RackSpace, will share valuable Salesforce best practices around lead management.  Last year, RackSpace processed approximately 50,000 leads.

Networking opportunities. As always, user group members have the opportunity to network and share information both before and after the scheduled presentations.  For AppExchange partners, we encourage you to bring product collateral so our user group members can learn more about your products.

Want to know more about the Summer 2008 release and upcoming features?  Then join us for another information-packed meeting featuring Paul Underbrink.  Paul Underbrink is a local Salesforce rep and Principal Sales Engineer for enterprise accounts.  In this meeting, Paul will cover upcoming features and latest developments, including the Summer 2008 release.  Paul's Spring 2008 presentation back in February was a huge success.  I believe everyone who attended the February meeting will agree - you don't want to miss this!

Also don't forget to bring your most pressing Salesforce.com questions for the Q&A session.

We look forward to seeing you there!

BI-MONTHLY USER GROUP MEETING
Summer 2008 Release / New Features / Q&A
Thursday, July 24th
6:00pm to 8:00pm

LOCATION
UT Commons Conference Center
JJ Pickle Research Campus
Braker Lane (one block east of Mopac and across the street from The Domain entrance on Braker Lane).
For directions, click here.

CONTACTS
David Franklin: david.franklin@rackspace.com
Alice Jones: ajones@bulldogsolutions.com

DOOR PRIZES
The door prize theme this month is "Staycation".

FOOD & DRINKS
Chicken Taquitos, Quesadillas, Chips & Queso, Fresh Vegetables
Browines & Lemon Bars
Bottled Water, Iced Tea & Lemonade

SCHEDULE
Paul Underbrink covers Salesforce.com Summer 2008 release and new features.  Following his presentation, Paul will also answer any questions you have regarding Salesforce.com.

David Franklin, assisted by Kyle Freeman, introduces you to the "Birds of a Feather" group leaders.  Since the issues you face when using Salesforce.com are often specific to your role, the "Birds of a Feather" program is designed to align you with other users, administrators, developers, partners or managers.  If you didn't attend the last event, please be sure to stop by the registration desk to get your "Birds of a Feather" sign-up form so the appropriate group leader can contact you for any role-specific break out sessions or meetings.

Networking opportunities.  As always, user group members have the opportunity to network and share information both before and after the scheduled presentations.  For AppExchange partners, we encourage you to bring product collateral so our user group members can learn more about your products.

Salesforce.com Exclusive Event in San Antonio! 

Salesforce.com and Lucidera is hosting a breakfast to discuss SAAS (Software-As-A-Service) and the variety of applications used across any size company to help drive sales, track marketing, deliver high ROI, and streamline customer service. Also, Rackspace will present how salesforce.com became the foundation for rapid sales growth over the past year and how it is delivering continued success within the company.

You will have the unique opportunity to:

- Get an introduction to Salesforce.com applications, including SFA, Content, Marketing, and Service & Support

- Learn how to leverage Platform-as-a Service (PAAS) to focus on innovation, not infrastructure and solve business issues plaguing your company

- Meet the leaders of the Austin/San Antonio User Group

When:

Tuesday, June 24th

7:30 am – 9 am

Location:

Rackspace

5000 Walzem Road

(former Windsor Park Mall)

San Antonio, Texas

Space is limited and early registration is encouraged. To reserve a space, please contact Nina Allara directly at 650.653.4624 or nallara@salesforce.com. We look forward to seeing you at this exclusive breakfast!

You asked for it, so we're giving it to you!!! Quality content focused around best practices and processes, Salesforce.com capabilities, future enhancements and available add-ons from AppExchange partners. Come join us for this fun-filled instructional meeting, where you can connect with and learn from other Salesforce.com users, administrators, developers, managers, developers and employees who feel your pain. You won't want to miss it!

Users and vendors will have an opportunity to network and share information both before and after the presentations. We will be giving away door prizes, so be sure to come early so you get a chance to win. We look forward to seeing you there!

MONTHLY USER GROUP MEETING
Business Intelligence and Reporting
Thursday, May 29th
6:00pm to 8:00pm

LOCATION
UT Commons Conference Center
JJ Pickle Research Campus
Braker Lane (one block east of Mopac and across the street from The Domain entrance on Braker Lane).
For directions, click here.

CONTACTS
David Franklin: david.franklin@rackspace.com
Alice Jones: ajones@bulldogsolutions.com

FEATURED PARTNER
DreamFactory
For website, click here.
For AppExchange link, click here.

FOOD & DRINKS
Yummy finger foods, snacks and beverages will be provided.

SCHEDULE
Rita Jhaveri, a local Salesforce Customer Service Manager, will provide useful tips & tricks and answer your questions regarding Salesforce.com. Rita has been with Salesforce for 8 years and has also served as an Account Executive and Premier Support representative.

Alice Jones, a Systems Analyst for Bulldog Solutions (a small start-up company), is always looking for ways to do more with less. In this meeting, Alice will show us how she creates reports that can't be built within Salesforce. She will also describe how Bulldog Solutions uses Microsoft SQL reporting services to email these daily and weekly reports to Bulldog Sales Executives and other decision makers within the company.

Ken Neff, Director of Engineering Services, will show us all the recent upgrades to DreamFactory's Carousel Reporting & Dashboards, as well as, SnapShot. Ken will demonstrate how DreamFactory can help us understand and diagram the relationships between the various Salesforce.com objects, thus enabling us to better understand and create meaningful reports and dashboards.