Phil's Salesforce Tip of the Week

Salesforce Events – Phil’s Salesforce Tip of the Week #489

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Welcome to my Salesforce Tip of the Week #489

A Salesforce Events Special Edition!

 

Tip 1 – Am I Dreamin’

Salesforce Events

For our first Salesforce event…

In-person events are starting to open up again, and online events continue to rise in popularity.

So whether you plan to go to your local Community conference, or Zoom your way to greater Salesforce knowledge, keep an eye on the official Community Conference calendar to plan ahead.

 

 

Tip 2 – Call for Speakers

A great way to really immerse yourself into a Community event is to join the list of presenters.

Usually around 3-4 months before an event there is a ‘call for speakers/submissions’. It’s where you can write a brief abstract so the organisers can review it and plan the most suitable sessions.

The call has just been announced for Czech Dreamin, take a look here.

 

Tip 3 – FlowFest

If you love Flows and fancy getting involved in a hackathon style event, register for FlowFest here.

It will take place as a live stream on 23rd February.

 

 

Tip 4 – DevOps Dreamin’

Another event outside of the official Community Calendar is this two day DevOps specific event.

“DevOps Dreamin’ is a 2-day event for developers, configurators, architects and anyone responsible for building on Salesforce”

Take a look and register here.

 

Tip 5 – Rio Dreamin

And our final Salesforce event…

It is early days of planning, but follow this Twitter account to show your interest and support for what could be an amazing event in Brazil in 2023!

 

 

 

 

Final Tip Of The Week – Sign Up

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Appexchange – Phil’s Salesforce Tip of the Week #488

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Welcome to my Salesforce Tip of the Week #488

 

Tip 1 – Speakers Needed

Here at Galactico Towers we are  very excited to be involved with London’s Calling 2022…and you can be too!

The Call For Proposals has gone out, you have until 13th Feb. See here for details. Don’t leave it until the last minute!

 

 

Tip 2 – Marketing Cloud Releases

Here is a link to the next Marketing Cloud release, which will be out to all users by Feb 19th.

But other big news is starting with the Spring ’22 release, Marketing Cloud plans a new cycle to align with the release schedule of the rest of Salesforce products.

With 2022 updates during the Spring ‘22 (Feb 5-18), Summer ‘22 (June 4-17), and Winter ‘23 (Oct 8-21) releases.

 

Tip 3 – Appexchange

Appexchange

Congratulations to the Appexchange team and all its partners – 10 million installs is an amazing achievement.

I’m sure there are many more to come. Well done!

 

 

 

 

 

Final Tip Of The Week – Sign Up

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Winter ’22 – Phil’s Salesforce Tip of the Week #487

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Welcome to my Salesforce Tip of the Week #487

 

Tip 1 – Winter ’22

Winter '22

No need to panic, you have until December 2nd 2022.

But if you like to stay on top of your Cert maintenance then the Winter ’22 modules are ready for you.

Click here for the Trailhead link to all modules.

 

 

 

Tip 2 – The Trailblazer Ranch

Salesforce Ranch

After many rumours, the Salesforce Ranch is apparently here!

“While we fully recognize and embrace that we’re in a digital-first world, we know that a majority of our employees still want to have the ability to connect in person.

That’s why we’ve decided to create the ultimate expression of the Salesforce culture — the Trailblazer Ranch. It will be a sustainable gathering place where all stakeholders can come together to connect, learn, innovate, get inspired, have fun, and give back.

For us, this is the next evolution of our culture.”

I’ll be keeping an eye out for any more news. But if it is a chance to spend more time in the beautiful countryside I may insist on a few less phones and tablets when I visit 😉

 

Final Tip Of The Week – Sign Up

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TrailblazerDX – Phil’s Salesforce Tip of the Week #486

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Welcome to my Salesforce Tip of the Week #486

 

Tip 1 – TrailblazerDX 2022

TrailblazerDX

Say hello to TrailblazerDX…

So it’s New year, new name for TrailheadDX.

“Uniting developers across Salesforce Customer 360, MuleSoft, Slack, and Tableau, TrailblazerDX (formerly TrailheadDX) is a world-class learning experience you won’t want to miss.”

TrailblazerDX will be on 27th to 28th April 2022 – in person and online.

Don’t forget to save the date for the ‘the developer event of the year for all Trailblazers in the Salesforce ecosystem‘.

 

Tip 2 – Release Notes

Release Notes

Take a look here for the Spring ’22 release notes, just 550 pages of light reading this time.

“The latest innovations in the Spring ’22 release deliver seamless customer and employee experiences, empowering your company to
work smarter and succeed from anywhere.”

Or click here for the details in the Help documentation which are split into searchable sections & easy to navigate.

 

 

 

 

Final Tip Of The Week – Sign Up

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Good Advice – Phil’s Salesforce Tip of the Week #485

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Welcome to my Salesforce Tip of the Week #485

 

Tip 1 – Good Advice

Good Advice

Looking for some good advice?

Perfect for new year, here is a great article from the Guardian “100 ways to slightly improve your life without really trying”.

Better than making lame ‘join the gym’ resolutions!

 

Tip 2 – Using Data Loader?

Using Data Loader

Late last year it was announced that a major security flaw had been found in the Apache Log4j library which affected almost every computing organisation in the world – with Salesforce being no exception.

One of the benefits for Salesforce customers is that Salesforce can rapidly patch and rollout fixes across all its services meaning that for customers very little needs updating as we don’t have software from Salesforce running on our machines.

One small caveat to this however is the Data Loader application which does have this issue. Salesforce recently release a bulletin instructing customers and partners to download version 53.0.1 or later of the Data Loader (i.e. a version after December 20th 2021) to ensure that you stay safe.

So if you are a Data Loader user, best make sure you keep up to date! See here for the Help page..

 

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Salesforce Blogging Tips

Phil Walton’s Salesforce Blogging Tips

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Back in 2012, our CEO, Phil Walton started his first ever Tip of the Week blog. Recently he reached a milestone and published his weekly 400th blog. We had a few people ask on Twitter if Phil could give some Salesforce blogging tips for those wanting to start their own Salesforce related blog and how to keep going. Read below on what he has to say…

 

Phil's Salesforce tip of the week

Phil’s Salesforce tip of the week banner

I have written a Salesforce blog post every Friday for over 400 weeks now. I’ve never missed a Friday, even when it fell on Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, and even the birth of my second child! I always research it and write it personally, usually ‘live’ on the Friday morning. Though as Cloud Galacticos has grown, I’ve had to be more organised and now try to prepare it earlier in the week. However, I still enjoy writing it today as I did back in 2012.

I’ve won clients, made friends, been forced to keep learning, and learned a few good lessons which I’d like to share with you. Here are my five tips on writing a Salesforce blog:

 

1. Be Consistent

It’s good to build a loyal and regular readership. I find it’s best to have a regular slot where you share your ideas / content. There are disadvantages to this. Firstly, you are forced not to miss a slot – which is tough if you are already leading a busy work schedule. While at the same time you are limited to waiting until that time slot.

However the advantages are that people know what to expect and when. If you are lucky enough people will remember your time slot. A funny example would be, last year I was onsite with a client so couldn’t publish my blog until late in the afternoon. I had a worried message on LinkedIn from someone I had never spoken to before asking me “is everything OK?” as he was expecting my Tip of the Week blog at its regular late morning slot.

 

2. Decide Who Your Audience is and What They Want to Read

As we all know, not just in the tech industry, but the Salesforce community, there are a lot of people writing blogs. So I decided rather than writing in-depth articles on a specific topic each week, I would keep everything ‘short and easy to read’. 

One reader said to me early on, “I see many blogs that I think I would like to read at a later time, but often don’t find the right time to do so. But with your emails, I can spend 15 seconds on it as soon as it arrives, scan through anything I know already or don’t need, get some high level info, or click on the blog link to read more in depth”. So my model of ‘short and easy to read’ works for me and keeps people reading weekly.

Tip of the Week 403 Screen Grab

Tip of the Week 403 Screen Grab

3. If You Don’t Enjoy It, Persist, And Then Give Up!

You should always have a reason for blogging, whether it’s to share your enjoyment of something, help others, or to make money. But either way, it can’t be a short-term goal. It is possible that you might get one million followers as soon as you start, but as this rarely happens, most people get discouraged or bored, and lose interest themselves. 

Persevere through the first steps. Keep on going while you build up even a small following. But, say, after a year or two you find that actually you don’t enjoy it, or you have changed your focus and interests, then I say, take a step back and decide if you should make a change.

 

4. Be Yourself

Life is always easier when you can speak freely, without trying to be somebody else. It’s great to have mentors, or people you admire, but maybe try and take on some of their positive traits or working habits rather than imitate them. That way you can develop your own style, sense of humour, and voice.


5. Be The Expert

The fifth and final tip is ‘Be The Expert’. Unless you are a professional entertainer, then in all probability your readers are there to be educated. Share your knowledge, experience and opinions. And unless you do actually know everything, be humble and keep learning from the Salesforce Ohana!

 

Thanks for Reading!

So there you have it, my five tips for writing a Salesforce blog. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter to let me know what you think.

 

If you’ve enjoyed reading this,  why not sign up to my Friday Tip of the Week emails here?

 

Phil's Salesforce Tip of the Week

Salesforce Learning Resources – Phil’s Tip of the Week #400

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Welcome to Tip of the Week number 400! This week’s tip is a special super edition covering the best Salesforce learning resources. When I started writing this weekly tip in 2012, I was unsure it would hit 40 let alone 400 tips. So before we dive in, a big thank you to everyone who reads this weekly and has contributed over the years.

This week’s tip is all about the best Salesforce learning and study resources to help you, whether it is preparing for an exam or just learning more about a feature. I’ve collated the best resources I have come across and crowdsourced a few more. I have tried to break it down into sections to make it easier to read. Think I have missed something? Let me know!

General Study Methods

  1. Formulas for Successfully Learning Salesforce – London’s Calling 2019 talk from Don Robbins and Dan Appleman
  2. Learning Technology in the Information Age Pluralsight course by Dan Appleman
  3. Learning to Learn for Certification Success – Dreamforce 2018 talk by Paul Battisson, Cloud Galacticos COO 
  4. Associated Learning How to Be a Better Learner Blog from Paul
  5. Keeping Up With Technology Pluralsight course by Dan Appleman

General Salesforce Learning Resources

  1. No list of Salesforce Learning Resources would be complete without mentioning Trailhead.
  2. Salesforce 101 – An Introduction to Salesforce Udemy course by Francis Pindar
  3. Salesforce Partner Community If you work for a partner you should get logged in here. You can find a number of great groups for certification fast paths as well as partner online training.
  4. Power of Us Hub – working with Non-Profits or Education organisations? Have a look at the training options in the Power of Us Hub – all free!
  5. Trailhead Academy Classes – these are paid for in person or virtual classes from Salesforce Experts. Well worth attending if you want to really learn a topic rapidly and pick the brains of someone with a lot of experience.
  6. Focus on Force is a fantastic website that has a ton of training material and resources.
  7. The Official Certification Guides – if you are looking to get certified this is the place to start. The official guides give a great breakdown of what topics each exam will cover and the points for each section.
  8. Salesforce Help – An often overlooked place to get the detail on how something works
  9. Salesforce Certification Days – A day of exam preparation from an expert which often include discount codes for the exam itself
  10. Salesforce Support official YouTube channel that has a lot of great videos
  11. Salesforce Architects Medium Blog – a fairly new blog we featured in a recent tip of the week. A superb resource to read more about all things architecture.
  12. Salesforce Engineering Medium Blog – Not necessarily talking about Salesforce technology but by the team that keeps the platform moving
  13. Salesforce Tip/Cheat Sheets – a great set of cheat sheets for all sorts of things
  14. SFDC Stop – a great blog that contains lots of Salesforce information
  15. Salesforce.org Blog – The official blog for the Salesforce.org team

Clicks

  1. There are many people who still find reading a book a great way of learning. We have a full list of book recommendations for administrators here
  2. Salesforce Certified Administrator (aka 201) 2020 from Francis Pindar on Udemy
  3. Salesforce Marketing Cloud Email Specialist Practice Tests
  4. SFDC Fanboy Blogs on Marketing Cloud Email Specialist 
  5. Official Salesforce Admins Podcast – Salesforce Admin learning and discussion straight into your ears
  6. Official Salesforce Admins Blog
  7. WizardCast Podcast – This podcast has been going for a while and has great back catalogue of content for you to learn from 

Code

  1. Salesforce Developer Podcast – the official podcast for Salesforce Developers
  2. Salesforce Developer Blog – the official Salesforce Developer blog
  3. Salesforce Developer TV – a lot of people don’t know about this great Salesforce Learning resource, a curated set of videos on a range of topics
  4. Salesforce Developers YouTube Channel – more content that the last resource including webinars and events
  5. London Salesforce Developer Group YouTube Channel  – the London Developer Group uploads their recordings to YouTube, a great set of resources from the community.
  6. Good Day Sir Podcast – Another podcast, sometime less Salesforce focussed but some great content and a wonderful community
  7. Salesforce Way Podcast – Xi interviews a range of clever people learning about Salesforce topics 
  8. Heroku Codeish Podcast – For when you want to get even more technical, the Heroku podcast is there
  9. We have a full list of developer focussed books to recommend
  10. Keir Bowden’s Blog – blogs from Mr Salesforce himself, Bob Buzzard aka Keir Bowden
  11. Salesforce Play by Plays on Pluralsight from Don Robins and Others
  12. Jitendra Zaa’s Blog – regular great content on a range of topics
  13. SFDC 99 – a great resource to learn how to program in Apex

Taking an Exam

After using all these resources you will be ready to take a certification exam. You have 2 options, both are via Webassessor. You can either attend an exam at a test centre around the globe, or you can take a proctored session online. For an online exam, you need to create an account and install Sentinel onto your laptop alongside some identity setup. Therefore, I recommend doing it well before your exam slot! Currently, you can use your laptop’s in-built camera, but usually you need an external camera so the invigilator can see your face, hands, and around your laptop. My exam was once stopped because I was wearing a watch, so remove anything they may find could be a cheating risk. 

When can I retake exams? Book the retake after 1 day, book 2nd retake after 14, after that have to wait until next release cycle, (then it is classed as a take not retake?) You can read the official guidance here. If English is not your first language, you can request an extra 30 minutes by sending an email to: certification@salesforce.com.

Thank you!

Thank you for reading, and for being part of my Salesforce journey over the past 16 years. I look forward to writing many more weekly Salesforce tips, and would love to hear from any of you that would like to add guest tips (just drop me a line at phil@cloudgalacticos.co.uk).

One final message…don’t feel the pressure to learn EVERYTHING now! When I started using Salesforce in 2004 it was a pretty simple job to be the expert, but now there are so many features, extensions, apps, clouds, and often numerous ways to achieve the same outcome. So choose one thing and learn it, don’t just tick off boxes for the sake of a milestone. It is great to be self-motivated, but it is a marathon not a sprint! Stay safe and happy.

Enjoyed this tip? If you want to receive Phil’s weekly tip you can sign up here.