We would like to thank Sally Atsalis and Jason Hanley of Model Metrics and the folks from Salesforce.com for making the trek from Detroit or Chicago, depending, and putting on a very informative and effective presentation. The "walk-aways" from this event were incredible! Members will be receiving an email with links to the handouts provided by Model Metrics.

The Winter '09 Release features were discussed by Kevin Smith of Salesforce.com. He, Tom Roth, and other Salesforce.com experts will be attending our meetings on a consistent basis in the future, and having that kind of inside perspective is really helpful. Kevin Edelmann reflected on the Dreamforce experience, which, based on his description is the only way to describe it.

A few notes:

Steering Committee - We have had some volunteers step forward that will do a great job of assisting in making sure these events continue to develop more and more as an invaluable resource for area Salesforce users. If anyone else is interested, please let me know. Here they are:

* Kevin Edelmann of Delta Dental
* Todd Smithee of Conrin
* Coke Irwin of Irwin Seating Co
* Tom Fox of GFT
* Chad Griffeth of Actium

Remember to Use Help and Training - Kevin Smith of Salesforce made a great point that when trying to figure out how to approach a problem, do not forget to use this constantly updated feature.

LinkedIn Group for Members - The new features of LinkedIn Groups such as Discussions (asking questions to the group members), posting articles, has really turned this rapidly evolving web 2.0 platform into an everyday resource. You can now post links to articles, reach out to group members with ideas and questions...check it out if you haven't joined yet! If you have yet to join LinkedIn, you can do so by clicking here.

Sincerely,

Chad Griffeth
Actium LLC

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We are all set for the Nov. 18th meeting and I am excited to learn from the presenters that will be there.

Date/Time:
Tuesday, November 18th from 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM - Refreshments and snacks provided by Model Metrics

Agenda Topics:

DETAILS:

Location:
Irwin Seating Co.
3251 Fruit Ridge Ave NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49544

Click here for map 

Due to how many people are coming, there will not be enough room for parking in Irwin Seating Co.'s normal parking lot in front of their building. For those that find it to be full, please follow the directions following to park in the appropriate lot behind the building.

Heading North on Fruit Ridge Ave from US 96 Irwin Seating’s front entrance will be on your left but to proceed to the back lot simply continue about 100 yards and the main parking entrance will be on your left. The double door entrance will be unlocked and we will provide signs to direct everyone to the Auditorium from the back entrance. If anyone has issues that morning please have them call our main phone # (616) 574-7400 and have Coke Irwin paged.

Click here to RSVP!

See you on the 18th!

Chad Griffeth
Actium LLC

Ping - The W Hotel - Sunday

PingIdentity is hosting an after party on Sunday Nov 2nd at the famous W hotel. Click here to get a copy of the invite.

Cloud Club Crawl - Temple - Monday

After the Journey concert on Monday head to the Temple for the Cloud Club Crawl. To get in you'll have to have your passport stamped by the sponsors first.

Astadia - Thirsty Bear - Tuesday

Brian of Astadia has invited us to join him at the Thirsty Bear on Tuesday night where Astadia hosting has rented out the whole club. Visit http://www.astadia.com/dreamforcemainevent/ to RSVP.

Still want more information? I found this site that claims to have the 'scoop' on the exciting Dreamforce conference agenda items. http://crmfyi.com/?tag=dreamforce-08

Brian Connell of Astadia, who presented in June, informed me they are hosting a huge party with a number of their partners. If you are planning on going, here is the link to attend the event:

Astadia Party

Also, on Sunday night, there is a party with Ping, with the invitation attached.
Download ping_identity_party_invitation.pdf

For those of you that were unable to attend, you missed out on a great meeting. Here are some of the highlights:

• Kevin Edelmann, Delta Dental - Kevin walked through workflow and process examples as well as web integrated links that were fantastic to learn about during the meeting, so I have attached his presentation for good measure.
  
• Randy Rodriguez, Bluewolf - Randy provided some examples of integrating data from outside sources with Force.com in order to establish new workflow processes and dramatically increase efficiency.
• GR User Group Steering Committee - In an effort to add more value to the group and its members, I am creating a steering committee to help lead the group going forward. If you are interested in participating, please let me know.
• LinkedIn Group Discussions - In the June meeting, it was recommended that there be an online forum for members to reach out to one another to ask questions and gain from one another's experiences and expertise. After looking at a couple of different options, LinkedIn's Group Discussions was selected due to the ability to control membership to only those in the group. If you are not registered on LinkedIn, click here. Then go to Groups and search Grand Rapids Salesforce.com User Group and join. You will be notified via email once I authorize your membership.
  
• NEXT MEETING: November 18th from 8:30am - 11:30am. Agenda, location and presenters will be confirmed soon.
  

If there is anything else you need, do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Chad Griffeth
Actium LLC
616.871.0751 x102
cgriffeth@myactium.com

Okay, so we are still getting used to all of the new Google Apps programs...this registration with FINALLY work.

My apologies for the lack of communication over the past few months, the summer got the best of me! Here are some details regarding this month's meeting.

DETAILS:

Location:
Irwin Seating Co.
3251 Fruit Ridge Ave NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49544

Click here for map 

Date/Time:
Tuesday, September 23rd from 8:30 AM - 11:30 AM - Refreshments and snacks provided by Bluewolf

Agenda Topics:

Click here to RSVP!

See you on the 23rd!

Chad Griffeth
Actium LLC
P: 616.871.0751 x102

The meeting last week was, based on the feedback received, a success! We had 17 people in attendance with at least 6 people that emailed me throughout the day to inform me they would be unable to attend due to last minute issues. Not bad after having only 4 at the first meeting! The following are some highlights from the event:

Google Apps/SF Integration Case Study- Actium LLC
We demonstrated the Google Apps integration as our organization utilizes it, as well as some of the Appirio applications that sync Google Calendar with Salesforce as well as Contacts. The feedback was pretty consistent, as we were the only company in attendance that had migrated from Microsoft Office/Outlook to Google Apps, which in large part was due to us being a small company. Obviously the larger the entity, the more challenging such a transition would be. However, it is really getting the attention of some larger entities based on the cost savings and collaboration capabilities, read more. Official Google Blog: Google Apps continues to build in Europe

Astadia: Mini-Admin Class, Review of Spring/Summer '08 Releases
This was truly fantastic! Brian Connell and Chris Thompson of Astadia discussed the various features that have been released and demonstrated how to integrate them into your organization. The majority of the audience frantically scribbled notes as we, like many organizations, read about the releases, but cannot figure out how to "turn them on" until we find the checkbox/link in the Setup page.

Chris even went through some of the benefits of Visualforce, which quite frankly had my head spinning with all of the potential applications it could provide us. The questions came in a flurry and while some people had to leave at 5pm, we essentially had Astadia continue until they had to leave to catch their flights. I am hoping they will be willing to come back again in the future.

Updates:

User Community for Questions:
One of the members suggested, and the rest of the group concurred, that it would be nice to have an online community/forum for which to ask each other questions. I am considering a couple of different things (blog/Google or Yahoo Group/etc) but have yet to come to any conclusions, as I just haven't yet had the time to do it. The LinkedIn group already exists, and you can join it and connect with other members right away by clicking here. Any other ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Time of Meetings:
I was informed by a couple of members (we are the 30+ strong already) that the late afternoon doesn't work for them, as there are people wanting to drive in from Lansing, S Bend, and Ludington among others. Also, the two hrs this month definitely wasn't enough. I am seeing that a lot of groups meet in the morning instead, which I think we'll try in future. Maybe 8:30 - 11:30? Just thinking out loud. Again, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Location:
Bill McLeod informed me that Irwin Seating Company would be happy to host the event whenever we would like. I must say, the "stadium" layout was fantastic as a presenter and participant alike. That being said, if there are other companies that would be interested in hosting, here are some factors that would need to be considered:

• Wireless access for attendees
• Enough seating for 25-35 people or more as the group grows

Thanks to the feedback from everyone that attended as well as those whose schedules changed at the last minute. Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions that would benefit the group.

Have a Happy 4th!

We are all set for the meeting this week at Irwin Seating Company, on Thursday the 26th beginning at 3:00 PM. We have a lot to cover, so I would highly recommend showing up a bit early so to not to miss anything. A couple of things to remember:

• Mini-Admin Training Session- Brian Connell of Astadia was excited to inform me that due to the interest level of the group (over 20 RSVP's so far), his colleague, Mr. Chris Thompson, Astadia's Director of Global Operations for Consulting and Delivery Services will be available as well. Brian said, "Chris is probably as knowledgeable as anyone as I have ever seen/heard.  And more importantly, he is able to think on his feet and translate any concept so that anyone CEO, CIO, IT programmer, SFDC Admin, or any end-user) can really "get it"." With Salesforce being used most often by non-IT people, the communication of the benefits and how-to-do-it are critical, so I am very excited about he joining the meeting.
• Google Integration Case Study- My colleagues and I will be presenting the experiences, pros/cons, and efficiency benefits we have experienced since becoming "Googlized" about 60 days ago. It has really reinforced our belief in being 100% SaaS (Software as a Service), as the Google Apps integration has gotten better and better even in the short time since we have been using it. We will also be discussing the Appirio integration applications we have put into place, which help Salesforce and Google Apps work together. The best part, we have had a total cash outlay of $0 to do everything we have implemented.
• Wireless access will be available, provided by Irwin Seating Co.

If you have not already RSVP'd, please do so by joining the group (fill out the form to the left) if you have not done so already. If you are already a member, just drop me an email at cgriffeth@myactium.com.

See you Thursday!

Chad Griffeth
Actium
616.871.0751 x102

In order to make it as simple as possible for SFDC users to find us, we have decided to rename the group the Grand Rapids User Group. The fear was that users perusing the community site would not think to look for Western Michigan. Simplicity is bliss. I hope to see you at the next User Group mtg. at Irwin Seating Company on June 26th. Please spread the word with other orgs that are salesforce.com users or potential users. Don't forget to RSVP and have a great holiday!