If you can’t quite believe it’s that time of year again, neither can we, but the call for participation for TrailblazerDX 2024 is now open.
TrailblazerDX is an annual Salesforce Developer event held in San Francisco, and 2024’s event is already being championed as the “AI developer conference of the year”. In this post, you’ll find out everything you need to know about how you can get involved.
What is TrailblazerDX?
As aforementioned, TrailblazerDX is the biggest Salesforce Developer event of the year. However, developers, admins, and architects are all invited to learn and share their insights, and there are a range of different sessions and talks to attend over the event days.
At 2023’s TrailblazerDX event earlier this year, Einstein GPT was formally announced, so it’s also a great place to witness big breakthroughs and announcements in Salesforce first-hand.
TrailblazerDX 2024 will be held in San Francisco on March 6-7, and you can also catch it on Salesforce+.
Call for Participation
If you want to get involved as a speaker at TrailblazerDX next year, now’s your chance to apply! It’s the perfect opportunity to share your expertise and experience with the platform, especially the new AI features. Stories of implementation best practices, solution stories, and career advice are all accepted; if you feel like you can help out your fellow Trailblazers in some way, then it’s worth thinking about what kind of session you can put forward.
According to Salesforce, there are four main session types you can submit:
- Community Campfire (20 minutes): Small, interactive sessions that are conversational, and in a smaller venue. These should be focused on connecting attendees with community leaders and product experts to showcase any skills, expertise, or learnings that could help someone else’s career. No demos should be included, and talks should include a minimal amount of slides.
- Theater (20 minutes): Theater sessions are talks with technical solutions and demos that explore a specific product area or solution across certain features. Q&As aren’t typically included, but speakers can answer attendees’ questions after their presentation.
- Breakout (40 minutes): Breakout sessions are held in dedicated session rooms with a larger capacity. With 40 minutes to play with, you can really dive deep into a topic and answer any attendee questions.
- Deep-Dive Panel (75 minutes): The longest session of them all, Deep-Dive Panels are longer technical presentations with time for an accompanying Q&A. The first 25 minutes consist of a demo of a real-world technical project you’ve been involved in. In the following 50 minutes, you take questions from both the attendees and a panel of experts, inciting a deeper conversation.
Salesforce recommends the following ideas for submission:
- Technical topics where you have a lot of experience or expertise.
- Stories of how you’re using generative AI in your work.
- Sharing your expertise in both new and established Salesforce features.
- Sharing your tips, tricks, and inspirational career advice.
Should I Apply?
If you’re feeling on the fence about whether you should apply or not, think of it this way: how good would it feel to share your knowledge with your fellow Trailblazers, potentially inspiring masses of people and helping them succeed in their own careers? Pretty good, right?
Speaking at Salesforce events or in front of groups of people in general can be hard, but it’s also really rewarding. Presenting at TrailblazerDX is a great way to showcase your Salesforce expertise, strengthen your personal brand, and connect with the Salesforce technical community.
If you don’t get selected this time, don’t worry – it doesn’t mean that your idea is awful. There will also be another opportunity to speak at an event, and it gives you more time to build up your confidence and get everything ready.
How to Apply
Applying is pretty straightforward: check out this post by Salesforce to see the full submission process. You have until Friday 1st December to submit your application.
After that, if your session is accepted, you will be guided through the preparation process, which includes feedback on your content, slide review, and rehearsal sessions. You will also receive a speaker pass to attend TrailblazerDX 2024. If you’ve already registered to attend, you will receive instructions on how to either refund that registration or transfer it to someone else.
Summary
Is TrailblazerDX your time to shine in front of your community? If you think so, go ahead and apply. We wish you the best of luck!
Start your submission process here: TrailblazerDX 2024 (salesforce.com).