2017 - A Big Year
My last post of 2017 was all about the importance of setting ourselves goals. If you missed it please check it out here. The final paragraph was entitled Take Time to Look Back and Celebrate Successes, so I am now taking my own advice and publishing (and celebrating) my 2017 highlights.
Though 2017 has sped past at Lightning speed (do you see what I did there?), when I cast my mind back to the beginning of the year, it seems like an absolute age ago. So much has changed, yet so very much has stayed the same.
However, each month there was something to celebrate:
January saw me make the trip to Leicester to speak at the User Group there. It was the first time I had attended a user group outside of London (where we have 8), and it was a great experience to see how other groups are arranged. I sat on a panel as well as delivered a presentation on end-user training.
I was also thrilled to be featured on the Salesforce Admins' website in their Admin Stories series here. I was interviewed by the lovely Gillian Bruce and was proud to be the first representative from the UK.
February meant the 2nd edition of London's Calling. Not only had I been selected to speak again, but I had been given an extended 45 minute slot, at 10am, directly following Peter Coffee's opening keynote. I presented Tackling the "We've always done it this way", it went well and then I got to enjoy the rest of the day. I wrote about it at the time here.
Later in the month our London Women in Tech group paired up with the Stemettes for our February user group. The work they do is so inspiring and we are always pleased to work with them.
Just when the month was ending, the last day in fact, I got an email that topped all emails, from a certain Mrs Holly Firestone. I had been given the ultimate accolade, the Salesforce MVP award. My reaction post is here.
As you can probably guess, March was rather hazy after February's parting gift and I was relieved to decompress with a fortnight in Costa Rica. Once back in the UK, I was proud to be immediately asked to represent the MVP community by attending the EMEA Analyst Summit. It was an extremely interesting experience and I was happy to contribute my perspective as a customer and community member. I wrote about the day in two posts here.
After a phenomenal Q1 I was happy with a quiet April. I took part in my first beta exam, it was interesting being a guinea pig but a big time commitment, especially since the team have since discontinued the exam and certification.
As I mentioned in my 2016 retrospective, May is by far my favourite month, not just because it is the month of my birth, but it is normally a fun month full stop. 2017 was no different. It started off well as I passed the Advanced Administrator certification in the first week, then I had a big week lined up -
As you can see, it was a fun-packed week which ended in my 40th birthday but World Tour on the Thursday held its own as the key note was particularly noteworthy. I met Tony Prophet, and found myself featured as an example of a Trailblazer by the CMO. I later presented at the Admin Theater, which was, of course, another highlight. My full write up of the day is here.
I was on the road again in June as I travelled to Edinburgh, Scotland to speak at the Scotland User Group. I made it a two user group day as I flew in in time to also attend Jennifer Laing's Scotland WiT group before Simon Driscoll's UG. Both groups were well attended and featured great presentations. It was a jam packed day and my presentation on change management was well received.
As with my visit to Leicester earlier in the year, it is a great experience to attend other user groups, having so many in London, I often feel like I am always at a meeting, but it is important to visit, and share, with other groups. I plan to do this a lot more.
The month ended with a bang as we met at Salesforce Tower for a TrailheaDX keynote screening party. It was a lot of fun.
In July U2 visited London and Salesforce kindly treated the local MVPs to tickets to their concert. They put on a great show and it was nice of Uncle Marc to think of us. I also got to attend the TechUK annual dinner, and then I ended the month with a long weekend in Poland to celebrate my toy boy husband joining me in our forties.
August started off with good news as I found out that my Dreamforce submission had been accepted and I would again be speaking at the biggest event of the year. It also saw our London Women in Technology group hold the best user group ever!
Rather than meet in an office space, we gathered at London's O2 and together, we took part in a private organised climb over the top. It was entitled Face Your Fears as we sought to highlight the benefits of pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones and accomplishing something special.
Before the month was out I had also passed by 3rd certification, I was now a Certified Platform App Builder.
After missing the inaugural French Touch Dreamin, I was determined to attend the 2nd edition and so September saw me do just this. I talk about how much I enjoyed attending, and presenting at the event here.
It was also in September that Paul Battisson, Chris Edwards, Mike Gill and I launched EMEA MVP Office Hours. I am excited to be part of this monthly initiative to help the European community. You can find out more and join the group on the Trailblazer Community here.
The Lightning Now tour hit London later this same month, it is a great learning event which also gave some of my favourite people an excuse to visit us in London and hold a happy hour.
I was lucky enough to travel to Jordan for my Autumn holiday and so took some time out in October appreciating the different culture in the Middle East and seeing the sights of Petra. It was amazing.
By this time I had also been asked to present in a 2nd Dreamforce session, this one about the AppExchange. This meant I had double the preparation and not much time to do so, and sign up for all the parties and breakfast meetings that were filling my diary.
I think the focus of November will come as no surprise, it was a special Dreamforce. My highlights are captured here.
Upon my return to London it seemed that the month had more in store as I was asked to present at two Salesforce.org events. I will talk about these events more in another post but they were a definite highlight and I intend to seek out other events like these, on the .org side, in 2018.
The London user groups got together to host a joint meetup in December, a bit of a tradition now, and a very successful one at that.
The final highlight, and cause for celebration, was that my submission to present at the 3rd London's Calling in February 2018 was accepted. Oh and I finally completed a Super Badge!
So now I ask myself, what can I achieve in 2018?
Though 2017 has sped past at Lightning speed (do you see what I did there?), when I cast my mind back to the beginning of the year, it seems like an absolute age ago. So much has changed, yet so very much has stayed the same.
However, each month there was something to celebrate:
I was also thrilled to be featured on the Salesforce Admins' website in their Admin Stories series here. I was interviewed by the lovely Gillian Bruce and was proud to be the first representative from the UK.
February meant the 2nd edition of London's Calling. Not only had I been selected to speak again, but I had been given an extended 45 minute slot, at 10am, directly following Peter Coffee's opening keynote. I presented Tackling the "We've always done it this way", it went well and then I got to enjoy the rest of the day. I wrote about it at the time here.
Just when the month was ending, the last day in fact, I got an email that topped all emails, from a certain Mrs Holly Firestone. I had been given the ultimate accolade, the Salesforce MVP award. My reaction post is here.
As you can probably guess, March was rather hazy after February's parting gift and I was relieved to decompress with a fortnight in Costa Rica. Once back in the UK, I was proud to be immediately asked to represent the MVP community by attending the EMEA Analyst Summit. It was an extremely interesting experience and I was happy to contribute my perspective as a customer and community member. I wrote about the day in two posts here.
After a phenomenal Q1 I was happy with a quiet April. I took part in my first beta exam, it was interesting being a guinea pig but a big time commitment, especially since the team have since discontinued the exam and certification.
As I mentioned in my 2016 retrospective, May is by far my favourite month, not just because it is the month of my birth, but it is normally a fun month full stop. 2017 was no different. It started off well as I passed the Advanced Administrator certification in the first week, then I had a big week lined up -
As you can see, it was a fun-packed week which ended in my 40th birthday but World Tour on the Thursday held its own as the key note was particularly noteworthy. I met Tony Prophet, and found myself featured as an example of a Trailblazer by the CMO. I later presented at the Admin Theater, which was, of course, another highlight. My full write up of the day is here.
I was on the road again in June as I travelled to Edinburgh, Scotland to speak at the Scotland User Group. I made it a two user group day as I flew in in time to also attend Jennifer Laing's Scotland WiT group before Simon Driscoll's UG. Both groups were well attended and featured great presentations. It was a jam packed day and my presentation on change management was well received.
The month ended with a bang as we met at Salesforce Tower for a TrailheaDX keynote screening party. It was a lot of fun.
In July U2 visited London and Salesforce kindly treated the local MVPs to tickets to their concert. They put on a great show and it was nice of Uncle Marc to think of us. I also got to attend the TechUK annual dinner, and then I ended the month with a long weekend in Poland to celebrate my toy boy husband joining me in our forties.
August started off with good news as I found out that my Dreamforce submission had been accepted and I would again be speaking at the biggest event of the year. It also saw our London Women in Technology group hold the best user group ever!
Rather than meet in an office space, we gathered at London's O2 and together, we took part in a private organised climb over the top. It was entitled Face Your Fears as we sought to highlight the benefits of pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones and accomplishing something special.
Before the month was out I had also passed by 3rd certification, I was now a Certified Platform App Builder.
After missing the inaugural French Touch Dreamin, I was determined to attend the 2nd edition and so September saw me do just this. I talk about how much I enjoyed attending, and presenting at the event here.
It was also in September that Paul Battisson, Chris Edwards, Mike Gill and I launched EMEA MVP Office Hours. I am excited to be part of this monthly initiative to help the European community. You can find out more and join the group on the Trailblazer Community here.
I was lucky enough to travel to Jordan for my Autumn holiday and so took some time out in October appreciating the different culture in the Middle East and seeing the sights of Petra. It was amazing.
By this time I had also been asked to present in a 2nd Dreamforce session, this one about the AppExchange. This meant I had double the preparation and not much time to do so, and sign up for all the parties and breakfast meetings that were filling my diary.
I think the focus of November will come as no surprise, it was a special Dreamforce. My highlights are captured here.
Upon my return to London it seemed that the month had more in store as I was asked to present at two Salesforce.org events. I will talk about these events more in another post but they were a definite highlight and I intend to seek out other events like these, on the .org side, in 2018.
The London user groups got together to host a joint meetup in December, a bit of a tradition now, and a very successful one at that.
The final highlight, and cause for celebration, was that my submission to present at the 3rd London's Calling in February 2018 was accepted. Oh and I finally completed a Super Badge!
So now I ask myself, what can I achieve in 2018?
Comments
Post a Comment