We are all set for the User Group meeting next Wednesday at Biggby's (see on map). Here are a few updates:

• Lunch provided - please RSVP to ensure you get some!
• Biggby's coffee drinks sponsored...for you latte lovers...by Xede Consulting

Steering Committee -

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

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,

Grand Rapids SFDC User Group Steering Committee 

Hi Everyone,

We are excited to announce the next Grand Rapids user group meeting.  Based on the success and positive feedback from the last meeting we have decided to keep the format the same as last time.  The format of the meeting is now designed to:

1. Engage more key people from throughout your organization who may have an interest in learning more about Salesforce.com
2. Provide a better forum for exchanging ideas with peers across the region
3. Elevate our education/knowledge sharing component by bringing in experts in and around the SFDC ecosystem for your benefit!

Here is the best part.  Thanks to the generous support of the Anuitas Group, a local company and member of the Grand Rapids user group, we're able to offer this totally new experience, at no cost to you.  That's right, you will have the opportunity to learn best practices from an expert in the industry... for FREE!

MEETING DETAILS
When:  Tuesday May 19th, 2009
Where:  Irwin Seating, Co
Time:  11:00 - 2:00 Est
Cost:  FREE (lunch will be provided)

AGENDA: 

* 11:00  Check-in and grab lunch buffet style (lunch provided free of charge)

* 11:15  Opening Comments

* 11:30  Break out into Birds-of-a-Feather style small groups based on your primary area of interest (ie New Admin., Adv. Admin, Sales, Services/Support, Marketing, Data Quality, etc.) Identify what you would like help or information about, exchange ideas within the groups, etc.

* 12:15  Return to the larger group and review activities from the break-out groups with general discussion that may include expanded discussion

* 1:00  Feature training presentation:

 Developing Effective Processes – A Case Study in Lead Management

Jay will show how The Annuitas Group helped a client

·         Define an effective process

·         Develop qualification rules

·         Develop a lead score model

·         Develop lead routing protocols and SLA’s

·         Develop feedback for sales to “throw back” leads that weren’t qualified

·         Measure the effectiveness of all the above.

* 1:45  Q & A, and plan for next meeting

RSVP Required: 

Irwin Seating has agreed to provide the meeting spaces for our group. Due to constraints on space and lunch arrangements all attendees MUST pre-register in order to assure themselves space and lunch. Click here to register.

Please also register everyone with the Grand Rapids/Western Michigan SFDC Users Group here at this link:  http://usergroups.salesforce.com/western_michigan/

PLEASE RSVP!!! by clicking here

Before the meeting I'll send out a reminder e-mail with the address and driving directions to those that RSVP.

Feel free to register co-workers for this free educational event. You'll get the most out of having other users at the break-out sessions.

To your success!

The Grand Rapids Leadership Team

-       Kevin Edelmann

-       Tom Fox

-       Coke Irwin

-       Todd Smithee

After evaluating what is driving the fastest growing SFDC User Groups in the country and with your input, we are excited to announce that we have expanded the Grand Rapids Salesforce User Group meeting format to:

1. Engage more key people from throughout your organization who may have an interest in learning more about Salesforce.com
2. Provide a better forum for exchanging ideas with peers across the region
3. Elevate our education/knowledge sharing component by bringing in experts in and around the SFDC ecosystem for your benefit!

Here is the best part.  Thanks to the generous support of Astadia, a Premier consulting and implementation partner for Salesforce, we're able to offer this totally new experience, at no cost to you.  That's right, you will have the opportunity to learn best practices from an expert in the industry... for FREE!

MEETING DETAILS
When:  February 11th, 2009 (note: this is a Wednesday, not Tuesday that I had in the email)
Where:  Irwin Seating, Co
Time:  11:00 - 2:00 Est
Cost:  FREE (lunch will be provided)

AGENDA: 

* 11:00  Check-in and grab lunch buffet style (lunch provided free of charge)

* 11:15  Opening Comments

* 11:30  Break out into Birds-of-a-Feather style small groups based on your primary area of interest (ie New Admin., Adv. Admin, Sales, Services/Support, Marketing, Data Quality, etc.) Identify what you would like help or information about, exchange ideas within the groups, etc.

* 12:15  Return to the larger group and review activities from the break-out groups with general discussion that may include expanded discussion including hot topics from Spring '09 release items

* 1:00  Feature training presentation

* 1:45  Q & A, and plan for next meeting

RSVP Required: 

Irwin Seating has agreed to provide the meeting spaces for our group. Due to constraints on space and lunch arrangements all attendees MUST pre-register in order to assure themselves space and lunch.

PLEASE RSVP!!!  (just fill out the form above)

Before the meeting I'll send out a reminder e-mail with the address and driving directions to those that RSVP.

Feel free to register co-workers for this free educational event. You'll get the most out of having other users at the break-out sessions.

To your success!

Kevin Edelmann
kedelmann@deltadentalmi.com

About Astadia:
Astadia (www.astadia.com) is a global business consulting and SaaS solutions company.  They help clients of all sizes improve results by transforming business processes and technologies.

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

Sign up and take a Salesforce.com Administrator Class in December and get a $100 American Express Gift Card just in time for the holidays!
Promotion applies to the following classes:

ADM 201 Classes
Dec 8-11 Detroit
Dec 15-18 Chicago
Dec 15-18 Minneapolis
Jan 5-8 Indianapolis

ADM 301 Classes
Dec 8-12 Detroit

ADM 201 for Enterprise Edition and Unlimited Edition-4 Days
$3,000** The Certification Exam is included in the price of the course
Who Should Take this Course?
Administration Essentials is designed for new system administrators responsible for the setup, configuration, and maintenance of their organizations' Salesforce applications. Other groups that benefit from this course include power users, sales operations, and IT managers. Administrators of Unlimited or Enterprise Edition should take ADM 201; administrators of Professional Edition should take ADM 202. Register here . Remember to include the promo code: MMAGC1209

ADM 301 for Enterprise Edition and Unlimited Edition-5 Days
$4,000** The Certification Exam is included in the price of the course
Who Should Take this Course?
This hands-on course is designed for advanced administrators who have used Salesforce for at least 3 months and/or have completed the ADM 201 Administration Essentials course. Although the course covers advanced Salesforce components that require coding at a high level, no coding experience is necessary for the hands-on exercises. Register here . Remember to include the promo code: MMAGC1209

Need more info? Call 312-587-3037 or visit www.SFDCtraining.com .

** promos cannot be combined with any other offers.