We had a great meeting yesterday.  There were about twice as many people as the previous meeting.  Also, a few people canceled at the last minute so we are gaining traction.  I want to give a huge thanks to Windsor Windows for hosting and Astadia for presenting and providing lunch.  I am sorry that some of you were not able to make it you missed a very informative and engaging meeting.

To recap, we spent about an hour in 3 "birds of a feather" groups (Basic Admin, Advanced Admin, and Sales/Marketing).  After hashing out issues and raising questions to fellow users, each group reported back to the larger group what was discussed.  This was a great time oflearning and will be integrated into each of our meetings.  This is a perfect opportunity for you to bring co-workers to see how others are using the system and to gather ideas.  Just think, if you bring 3 people from your company you can get detailed insight into each group.  Free lunch and time out of the office is not a bad bargaining chip either.  As the group grows we will be able to break out into even more specific groups.  This will really help you get YOUR questions answered and dig deep in a short amount of time.

We finished up the meeting with Astadia providing a high level overview of some of the compelling new features in Spring '09.  In addition, techniques were discussed on how you can increase user adoption of Salesforce.com.

Like I said, the meeting was a great time of learning and I am sorry for those that missed it.  If you were at the meeting please post your comments to the blog so others can see the benefits of attending.  We will have our next meeting in the May/June time frame.  We will definitely have time for a birds of a feather session and I am still brainstorming what the learning/demo aspect will be.  Please send me any ideas you have for meeting topics as we want the group to be about what you are dealing with.  Also, let me know if you are interested in hosting the group at your place of business as well as helping to facilitate the planning and execution of meetings. 

Josh Van Heukelom (joshv@fostergrp.com)

The final location has been set for our March Meeting.  The location is below and link to map is below.  Please RSVP to me (joshv@fostergrp.com) by 5 PM Monday, March 2, if you haven't already.  Looking forward to seeing everyone.  Thanks.

Windsor Windows & Doors

900 S. 19th Street (off Fuller Road, south of Grand)

West Des Moines, IA 50265

Alternative access to facilities (if you are coming from I-35):  turn south onto drive directly off of Grand to the east of Chow's Gymnastics (east of Raccoon River Park entrance).  Once you turn into the drive next to Chow's, you'll see a Windsor building, but continue driving past that building to the next Windsor building.

We will be meeting in the brick front building.  It stands out amid the metal factory/warehouse looking buildings once you get back into the Windsor campus.

Josh Van Heukelom (joshv@fostergrp.com)

The location has been set for our March Meeting.  Windsor Windows and Doors has graciously agreed to host the meeting.  Their location is below and link to map is below.  I will update the blog with the exact building when it is available.  Please RSVP to me (joshv@fostergrp.com) if you haven't already.  Looking forward to seeing everyone and I know we will have a great meeting that will benefit all who attend.  Thanks.

Windsor Windows & Doors

900 S. 19th Street (off Fuller Road, south of Grand)

West Des Moines, IA 50265

Alternative access:  through drive directly off of Grand to the east of Chow's Gymnastics (east of Raccoon River Park entrance).

Josh Van Heukelom (joshv@fostergrp.com)

Our next meeting is set for Wednesday, March 4 from 11 AM - 2 PM.  Astadia has graciously agreed to have one of their Salesforce.com certified consultants teach a Mini-Admin Training course.  They will also be providing lunch.  In addition, we will have Birds of a Feather groups to discuss any questions or issues you have.  The location has not been set yet.  Please let me know if you would be willing and able to host.  It would entail having a room that could accomodate at least 25-30 people, a place to serve lunch, and a computer/projector that can connect to the internet.  Also, everyone needs RSVP to me directly so we can plan for lunch, joshv@fostergrp.com.  I will have a followup blog post when the location is set.  The rough schedule is listed below.  Don't forget to invite your co-workers as there will be value for all.

Agenda

• Network/Get Lunch/Opening Comments
• Break out into Birds of a Feather groups(Sales, Support, Marketing, Admin/Development, etc.)
• Discuss lessons learned from breakouts
• Free Admin Training and QA provided by a Certified Consultant from Astadia (Admin need to know items, Spring '09 Highlights, etc.)
• Plan for next meeting

Josh Van Heukelom (joshv@fostergrp.com)

We had a great meeting today.  Thanks for Relationship Marketing for hosting and to Salesforce.com for the food.  We missed a few of you due to weather and last minute scheduling conflicts, hope to see you next time.  There was a good discussion around people's questions and I think everyone walked away with new ideas and insights.  One item discussed was a free tool from Informatica that allows you to manipulate Salesforce data outside of the system. We will definitely build in time for open discussion into every meeting.  Brian Connell also gave a informative demo on how Astadia uses Salesforce internally.  Brian offered to do a mini admin training at our next meeting so we will work out the details on that.

I am thinking of having the next meeting the first or second week of March.  Specifically, that would make it March 4 or 11 over lunch.  What I need to know is if that will work for the majority of people.  Also, if you are able to host the meeting please let me know.  I have a tentative schedule below of what the meeting could look like. Please email me (joshv@fostergrp.com) if you are available on one or both of these dates and indicate as such.  Look forward to the next meeting and meeting more of you.

March Meeting Schedule:

Network and Lunch

Demo of Spring 09 Features/Mini Admin Training

Open Discussion (Potential to break out into functional groups, Sales, Marketing, Admin, etc.)

Josh Van Heukelom

Our next meeting is set for Wednesday, January 14 from 11 AM to 1:30 PM.  Lunch from Jason's Deli will be provided.  Relationship Marketing has graciously agreed to host the meeting.  We are going to focus heavily on learning from each other this meeting.  A bulk of the time will be spent in "birds of a feather" breakout groups.  Please remember to bring along your co-workers as we will have groups for end users as well as technical users.  If you decide to bring them along please have them register for the group on the left side of this page.  Doing this will be add them to the communication list for the group.  In addition to the breakouts, Brian Connell from Astadia has agreed to demo Astadia's internal Salesforce implementation.  It has been developed over the past 8 years and has a lot of examples of what is possible within the Salesforce platform.  Please come prepared to ask questions of your peers and ready to share what you have done in your system.  RSVP to joshv@fostergrp.com by Monday, January 12th at 5:00 PM so we know how much food to order.  Also, when RSVPing please indicate what breakout you will most likely attend or list a breakout that you think should be added.  I hope to see everyone there.  Thanks.

11:00 - 11:30 Arrive, Get Lunch, Network, Intro, Relationship Marketing

11:30 - 12:30 "Birds of a feather" breakouts (Sales, Marketing, Basic Admin, Advanced Admin, Others as attendees dictate?)

12:30 - 12:45 Report back findings from Birds of a feather groups to whole group

12:45 - 1:15 Brian Connell demo

1:15 - 1:30 Wrap up and Networking

Directions to Relationship Marketing:

Off of I-80 take the Douglas Street exit.  Travel east on Douglas until you reach the stoplight at 109^th Street.  Turn left (north) on to 109^th Street.  Go approximately 3 blocks north on 109^th.  On the left there will be a pond, after the pond turn left into the Aurora Business Park.  Take the first left at building 13 (green triangle on the corner of our building).  Our office is the first door facing the pond.

Relationship Marketing, Inc.

11122 Aurora Ave

Des Moines, IA 50322

515.276.5900

Josh Van Heukelom (joshv@fostergrp.com)

Sorry this followup is so late in coming.  With Dreamforce right after the last meeting and Thanksgiving close after that I have been extremely busy and have been putting this off and putting this off.  I am thinking having a co-leader (hint hint) would help keep me accountable as well as provide some backup.  Anyway, please consider if you might be able to help.  You don't have to be an expert just someone who excited to learn about Salesforce and can help with organization and communication.  A number of you at the last meeting said you were willing to help I just need one or two of you to affirm that to me directly.

The first meeting went well and we had about a dozen in attendance.  I think we had a great discussion and got a good idea of where everyone was at and what the group could provide for each one of us.  The most valuable part of the group is going to be sharing information with each other.  It is a great way to share ideas that we have and pick up good ideas from others.  Judging from the last meeting I think we need to extend the time a little bit as well.  We had about an hour and half and we used it all and a little more.  I think we should plan on at least 2 hours and then if you want to hang around and talk after you are free to do that.  Some other things that came out of the meeting are that lunchtime probably works the best so we will stick to the 11-1 time frame.

For the next meeting I am thinking sometime in the middle of January.  I know the weather can be all over the board but hopefully it will work out.  Another note from the last meeting is that we vary widely in terms of what our Salesforce responsibilities are.  Due to this I think we should break out into area specific groups for a good portion of the meeting.  After this the groups can report back about what was discussed so everyone can learn.  As a result please encourage other people at your company to sign up for the group.  I think we can provide great insight to people that are "power" users not just administrators.  I have put a rough outline below.

Lunch and Intro

Breakout Groups with Questions/Problems/Solutions (Sales, Marketing, Support, Administrators, Reporting, etc.)

Report Back

Training (Mini Admin? Whatever ideas anyone else has)

Please complete the following survey about meeting logistics, breakout group interests, and training ideas.  Also something that may help you in the meantime and that would be a good thing to review before the meeting would Dreamforce presentations.  If you go to the bottom of the page you can get to every presentation from Dreamforce.  So, if you weren't able to attend or missed a session while you were there check it out.

Once again, sorry for the tardiness of this post and I look forward to seeing some of you again and meeting others at the next meeting.

Josh Van Heukelom (joshv@fostergrp.com)

After evaluating the survey results it looks like the bulk of the people are able to attend on October 22nd.  The meeting location is going to be at my office.  Please click here for directions.  The address is 1001 Grand Ave, West Des Moines IA, 50265.  If you have any issues call 515-226-9000 and they will be able to assist you in getting here.  When you enter the building there will be signs directing you, but the meeting will be held in the basement.  Please fill out this survey to RSVP as well as give some info on what you would like covered during the first meeting.  Lunch will be provided and the meeting will last about an hour and a half.  A rough agenda of the meeting is below.

Welcome & Introductions

Discussion of Group Charter

Discussion of topics and logistics for future meetings

Deeper Dive on Winter 09/Discussion of Dreamforce Questions (Winter 09 Release Notes)

Finalize plan for next meeting (possibly December?)

Networking (if time allows)

There are a dozen people that have used the Join Now form on the left.  If you haven't done this yet please join the group so I can continue to build the mailing list of people that are interested.  Salesforce requires that you Opt In, they won't just give me a list of customers in the area.  I am thinking about having a meeting in the middle of October (15th or 22nd over the lunch hour).  The first meeting will probably be about an hour and a half.  For the second meeting we could do this in late November or Early December after the Winter 09 release and Dreamforce conference.  I have compiled a survey to gather more information about what people want out of the group and what knowledge people are bringing to the group.  Within the survey there is a question on what dates would work for the first meeting.  Please fill out the survey so we can make the group useful to everyone that wants to attend.  The survey can be filled out here Click Here to take survey.  Thanks.

Josh

Thanks to Salesforce for setting up the Des Moines user group.  My name is Josh Van Heukelom and I will be leading the group.  I work at Foster Group (www.fostergrp.com) a Financial Planning/Investment Advisory firm in West Des Moines.  As Jeanine said I am thinking about having a meeting in September depending on what kind of response I get.  The first meeting will be more a get to know one another/group formation meeting.  Hopefully from that we can get an idea of how often to meet, what the meeting structure will be, and what topics people are most interested in.  Please join the group, using the Join Now form on the left, so I can get a mailing list of people that are interested.  I look forward to meeting other Salesforce users in the area.