Be sure to RSVP if you plan to attend the November 14th Kansas City Salesforce.com Users Group Meeting -- Details are below...

Send your RSVP to Jennifer.McDaniel@imagenow.com.

Questions -- Call Jason Kort at SoftVu at 913-233-8238.

Friday, November 14, 2008

11 AM to 2 PM

Perceptive Software Offices

22701 West 68th Terrace

Shawnee

,

Please click link below for directions.

http://www.imagenow.com/company/overview/directions.shtml

Agenda

11:00 to 11:15 - Check In and get your lunch -- FREE lunch sponsored by SoftVu.

11:15 - 11:30 - Introductory Comments

11:30 - 12:15 -- Break Out Groups - Dreamforce is Nov 2 - 5 and we wanted to learn what new and exciting information was discussed at the conference.  KC User Group members attending Dreamforce will lead each of the following breakout sessions. 

·         Sales, Marketing, Support, Administrators (Jarrod Kingston), User Adoption Tips & Tricks, Data Quality, Reporting

As in our last meeting we will break out into small groups for about an hour to work through various tips and tricks.  Be sure to bring your questions/problems AND solutions that you have found helpful.  Attending Dreamforce??? Please contact Jason Kort if you are interested in volunteering as a Break Out Group leader. 

12:15 to 12:30 -- General Discussion and Update

Each group will provide a quick recap of what was discussed and their 5 key learning points to share with the entire group.

12:30 - 2:00 – How Salesforce.com Uses Salesforce.com

Dixie Larson is a Senior Sales Engineer for Salesforce.com and she will provide the group insights on how Salesforce.com Sales Uses SF.com as well as an overview of Ideas and Winter 2009.

Be sure to bring your questions AND your answers to share with your peers.  Mark your calendars and save the date!

We look forward to seeing you on November 14^th!

I want to thank everyone who attended our September 17th meeting at American Century.  Brian Tolander from ACI was a great host at a great facility with easy parking.  We had about 54 people attending the event which is great for a fledgling group.  THANK YOU BRIAN.

In the light of thanking Brian's, I want to also extend a big THANK YOU to Brian Connell from Astadia for a great lunch and an insightful presentation from Chris Thompson during our Mini Admin Class.  Chris had some insight for us about some tips and tricks that I was able to come back and deploy almost immediately.  If you are having challenges with your SFDC launch Astadia is one of their largest partners.  It was apparent that they know what they are talking about.  You can reach Brian Connell at bconnell@astadia.com.

Additional thanks go out to Rob Hampton, Danny Wastler, Jason Kort, Tim Poolman, and Dixie Larson for their help in leading our small group discussions.  I will post the notes from each group as soon as I receive them.

I also want to comment about the great support we received for this meeting from the SalesForce.com team.  Tim Poolman, Dixie Larson, and Tyler Harnish were all from SFDC to support our event.

There are about 20 people (best that I can tell) from the area going to DreamForce in November.  Our plan is to come back from DreamForce and have a meeting in mid November.  Watch the blog and your email for the date, time and location. Of course those of you attending DreamForce be sure to check back to the blog for details on where we will be connecting for a little social time.

That is all for now... but keep your eyes peeled for more details and as always feel free to drop me an email or call.

Best wishes,

Gina M. Danner, CEO
ginad@mailprint.com

Mail Print, Inc.
816-459-8404
www.MailPrint.com

The Kansas City Users Group of SalesForce.com got off to a great start this week! If you weren't able to attend our inagural meeting let me tell you a bit about what went on...

I apologize. I personally hate long posts. This posting covers a lot of topics and I've tried to break them with a header.

• Opt In
  Framework for Future Meetings
• Opportunities to Get Involved
• Summer Release Notes
• Survey -- We need your input
• Future Meeting Date
• DreamForce 2008
• SFDC on LinkedIn

OPT IN

The very most important thing we need is for you to follow the link below and OPT IN to the Kansas City Users Group. SFDC requires this OPT IN process for us to continue to share information with you.

http://usergroups.salesforce.com/kansas_city/

Be sure to visit the BLOG page often so you can stay connected to the community. I suggest you create a shortcut on your desktop to the link above.

Framework for Future Meetings

We had 32 people in attendance. This is a great showing for our first meeting. I want to thank Jason Kort, Brian Vestle, Danny Wastler and Brian Connell for their help in getting things rolling.

Admittedly this first meeting was laying the framework for future meetings. We decided that we would plan to meet every other month. We will be targeting a three hour format that will allow us to really dig into some tough concepts, show examples and execute some real training.

There was a consensus for the group that we really wanted information. The challenge is that everyone is at a different skill level. As we plan programming we will want to be aware that we have beginner users as well as expert administrators. Our hope is that our experts will step up and share the knowledge.

Opportunities to Get Involved

The key to a successful users group is peer sharing. AND, that everyone gets involved. Remember that you get what you give!

As we talked I asked for help and several people offered assistance including Paul Eide, April Bowden, Kelly Hollowell, David Pease, and Dave Kressin. I will be reaching out to each of you for help in handling:

• Programming
• Communication
• Hospitality
• Membership
• Vendor Relations

I think the key thing we have to focus on is providing VALUE to our membership. If you are interested in doing more please contact me at ginad@mailprint.com or call me at 816-459-8404.

Summer Release Notes

Finally I want to thank Dixie Larson and Tim Poolman of SalesForce.com who were in attendence. Dixie walked us through some of the Summer Release Notes. If you aren't aware, SFDC regularly adds features to the platform AND allows you or your administrator to add those to your view of the application. You can review the new release notes by clicking on HELP & TRAINING after you have logged into SFDC. Be sure to spend some time with with the PDF that outlines all the notes and then talk to your administrator to see about adding those features you believe are valuable to your use of SFDC. There were several that I was surprised to learn about and that will be helpful.

Survey

Jason Kort of SoftVu was helpful in setting up a survey to give us a little more insight into the profile of our group. Please take a moment and follow the link below to take the short survey.

http://relay.softvu.com/cn/Relay/Relay2/viewItem.asp?itemId=ee2a7b08a7b54b00a6be9bdd3aae5317

Future Meeting Date

Look for a notice of our future meeting date... we are targeting August 13, but look for an email next week to confirm location and times.

DreamForce 2008

DreamForce 2008 is scheduled for November 2 - 5 in San Francisco -- Are you going? Learn more at www.dreamforce.com.

SFDC is on LinkedIn

If you are a part of the professional social networking group LinkedIn be sure to join the SFDC Community --http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/47390/25D51B54E354

SFDC Testing Opportunities

Salesforce.com wants to let user group members know there is an ongoing need for Salesforce users to participate in testing sessions. You don't even have to leave your desk! Sessions are run using Web conferencing software, so all you need is an internet connection, a phone, and a bit of time to spare. You're even rewarded with a gift card for your time and input.

If you are a Salesforce user and would be interested in helping out, please fill out the form at http://www.clicktools.com/survey?iv=b4118a9b965b6ef so they can put you on the list! Please forward this url to your sales, marketing and support users so they can participate too.

They appreciate the help to improve Salesforce and make it the best product it can be for you and your business. If you have any questions or concerns, direct them to their research department email address at: tester@salesforce.com.

THANK YOU

Finally... thank you for your support and I look forward to getting to know each of you better in the coming months. Remember, the best way to learn is to lead. If you want more from SFDC then I encourage you to raise your hand to help organize.

Have a great week!

G

Gina M. Danner, CEO :: ginad@mailprint.com

MAIL PRINT :: 816.459.8404 :: 800.660.0108 :: 816.459.8407 fax :: www.mailprint.com

8300 NE Underground Drive, Pillar 122 :: Kansas City, MO 64161

To ammend what I said in my previous blog entry, please RSVP for the initial SFDC User Group meeting to Terri Hahn at terrih@mailprint.com.

See you all on June 11th!

The first KC User Group meeting has been confirmed for Wednesday, June 11th from 11:30 - 1:00 at Brooks Associates, 10955 Lowell Ave, Suite 650 Overland Park, KS 66210. Lunch will be provided. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP to Danny Wastler at dpwastler@avazpour.com by Monday, June 2nd so we can make proper arrangements for food. We are all extremely excited to get this group up and running and expect a great turnout for this initial meeting.

If your company is interested in hosting a future user group meeting, please contact me at (816) 459-8404 ext. 238 or at brianv@mailprint.com so that I can add you to the list.

Be sure to check the KC User Group Blog on a regular basis for information on future meetings, important SFDC updates, and other events.

See you on June 11th!

We are very excited to announce the creation of a User Group for salesforce.com customers in Kansas City and that three local users have volunteered to lead it.  Gina Danner & Brian Vestle - both from Mail Print - will be joined at the helm by Danny Wastler of Avazpour Networking.  They will need your help to make this user group a lively forum where everyone can network, share ideas, and find creative solutions.  Just fill out the form on the left to get on the mailing list and look for information about the first meeting soon.

We hope you will get involved!