NOTE: Before reading any further, start this song playing for the proper ambiance:

Music playing?  Great, read on…

 

You may have heard of Midwest Dreamin’, Tahoe Dreamin’ or some of the many other Salesforce community conferences which may or may not have the Dreamforce-esque “Dreamin’” in their title.  Now you can welcome French Touch Dreamin’, a community event in Paris, to the lineup.

They could have simply called it France Dreamin’, or Paris Dreamin’.  But French Touch Dreamin’ conveys the spirit of the way in which the organizers of this conference infused it with their touches of France.  This delivered a very French experience!  The song you are listening to right now is also of the “French Touch” dance genre.  That might just explain all the great music which was played throughout the conference as well!

Two days before the conference I had a meeting at the Salesforce France headquarters.  They are housed in a modernized, historical building with the best view of the Eiffel tower imaginable.  Thanks to Jean Michel Mougeolle for helping to set this up.

 

The night before the conference we had some preliminary gatherings such as Happy Hour put on by Holly Goldin Firestone and a Speakers Dinner.  These activities were an excellent chance to catch up with folks in the Salesforce community and get some hints of what the conference the next day was going to be like.  I was thrilled to get to sit with Peter Coffee and Shivanath D. at the dinner.  There were brilliant conversations going on all around the table that night!

Thursday morning kicked off with a surprise musical introduction:

And an enlightening community-themed keynote by Holly Goldin Firestone:

18 world class sessions went on throughout the day in 3 different locations at the super cool Pan Piper venue.  This venue was not only perfect in terms of size and layout, but also had the French Touch!  These sessions were a great opportunity for thought leaders to share their content with a worldwide community, in person.  I learned a ton from the sessions that I saw, and especially appreciated the diverse perspectives.

(photo courtesy frenchtouchdreamin.com)

I had a great time presenting my session on HyperBatch.  The A/V support was excellent.  They had a remote clicker and plug-in internet available which were the icing on the cake.  I got some great questions from the audience, and I look forward to my project being used by the Salesforce community.

 

In between sessions there was plenty going on:  sponsor exhibitions, French food, wine, and coffee, a DemoJam, Trailhead Contest complete with buzzers, photo opportunities, and an outdoor patio area.  The day flew by really quickly with so many great options for things to do.

 

The one and only Peter Coffee gave the closing keynote.  Peter is one of the most recognizable Salesforce personalities, and has interviewed the who’s who of the Salesforce ecosystem.  He’s even interviewed the founder of Kenandy!  This was not your typical, glossy, “everything is amazing” type of presentation.  Peter took a hard look at many trends he is seeing, and gave us concrete advice on how to move ourselves and the industry forward.  This honest look at things was refreshing, and provided serious value to the attendees.

It goes without saying, the organizers really outdid themselves on this event.  If you were thinking of going in 2016 but didn’t make it, don’t miss it next year!  I’d also like to extend a personal thanks to the sponsors.  Without them, these types of community events could not exist.

 

 

Although it was a European conference, there were attendees and speakers from all over the world. People from 13 different countries were there!  The organizers decided to use English as the common language at the conference.  But I say that we were all united by the common language of Salesforce.

For more information

• http://frenchtouchdreamin.com/
• follow @FTDreamin on twitter
• #FrenchTouchDreamin hashtag on twitter