Louise Lockie's Letters from London

Sometimes we have moments of self-assessment and clarity, and they are not always positive. I talk to myself, I know this, but I have only just taken real note of the fact that so much of my narration is self criticism . For example, I called myself stupid 3 times putting the washing out the other day. How one can hang the washing out incorrectly I don't even know, but I judged that I had made a mess of it. More often, as someone who spends much of my working day trying to get Salesforce to do what I want it to, and often not immediately succeeding. It is not unknown for me to be sat, literally head in hands, muttering at my inability to triumph before spotting my mistake, and, of course, berating myself for making said mistake. Why do we do this? I tell myself to stop picking on myself but its a habit I slip back into with ease. This week French Touch Dreamin' released the photos taken at the event here . As a presenter at the conference there were photos of me ...

Here is a list of sessions from Dreamforce 2018 which I found of interest as a Woman in Technology.  I am posting this here so that I can share the links with my fellow WiT members and interested parties. The Era of the Trailblazing Woman Hosted by Molly Q Ford from Salesforce's Equality Team, hear from a panel of Trailblazing Women - Founders, CEOs, Entrepreneurs and Activists. They are visionary, inclusive, progressive, and they are game changers and industry shakers. Managing Up For Admins: Inspire, Pitch, and Speak Candidly Supercharge your influence and change your organisation by using tactical strategies to set up and have pivotal conversations with executives. Learn how to connect with what executives care about, distill data into stories and calls to action, and ask for commitments.  Ladies Be Architects: Admins Can Be Architects Too Even if you've never even thought of becoming a Certified Technical Architect, it's worth learning about an...

I've blinked and another year is over. I know I am not alone in feeling this way but I just don't know where the time goes! Which also forms a handy excuse for not achieving all you had hoped to accomplish in the past year. Blaming being busy and the time flying by is instinctive, but just a short moment of self reflection is enough to remind you that excuses are easy to make, but are not going to fill you with purpose and pride. Now I am not saying my 2017 hasn't been successful, I have achieved a huge amount this year and I am proud of all of it. Sometimes, however, that can be an issue in itself, it is tempting to be content with the levels you have reached, and not push yourself that bit further. Which is why I am setting my goals for 2018, and why you should too. I'm mapping out what a successful 2018 will look like for me, and planning the steps I need to take to meet these goals over the next 365 days. The Importance of Goal Setting In the recent pa...

If you either couldn't make it to Dreamforce 2017, or couldn't clone yourself and get to all the sessions you wanted to, then you are probably patiently waiting for the team to load the videos of all the content you missed. Me too! Luckily the team have been super speedy this year and a ton is already online. So here is my hit list, I will add to it as the content is released: Equality Keynote: Art, Activism, and Impact  (opening) Interviews with special guests at the opening of the Equality Keynote, with Tony Prophet. Equality Keynote: Art, Activism, and Impact A conversation with creative and engaged problem solvers, artists and innovators. Laurene Powell Jobs, founder and President of Emerson Collective, will.i.am, founder & CEO, i.am+ and renowned artist JR discuss how they are using innovative approaches to raise awareness of critical issues and develop solutions to address problems. Equality Summit: Authentic Leadership Hear how powerhouse leaders, Jane...

With the demand for Salesforce professionals at an all time high, it has never been more important to highlight the different routes we have all taken into the industry and what has helped us on our way. For those of us that have found ourselves on this journey, whether as 'Accidental Admins', as part of a strategic career path, or from somewhere in between, we can testify to what a great and rewarding career choice Salesforce Administration can be. However, a lot of people don't believe that they have what it takes to move into a 'technical' role and so I hope that the story of my journey provides another example of a route into the world of #Awesome Admin. Salesforce Administrator is a great and rewarding career choice which comes with a fully formed support network in its global community. At the time Salesforce entered my life I had been working at a b2b publishing company in the city of London for 13 years. Having graduated from University in the ...

I am extremely proud to be one of the leaders of the London Salesforce Women in Tech User Group. Jodi Wagner held the first 'soft launch' group meet up in August 2015 and I was one of only 4 attendees. I nearly didn't show as I was daunted by it being held as part of the London Developers UG. Jodi persuaded me that they weren't that scary and so along I went. We started off as Girly Geeks London as it was just before the re-branding and at this first meeting we met and discussed the direction we would like the group to take. Lots of ideas were captured. The next meet up was in October and by then I had got to know Jodi a bit more as we had met up at Dreamforce. This time the meeting was a collaboration with the London Admin User Group and a 'getting to know the community' speed dating night. Great fun. Other commitments (mainly London's Calling) meant that a few months went past without a meeting but during this time I spoke to Jodi a number of times ...