A Startup CMO’s Guide to Salesforce Connections 2024
Salesforce Connections 2024 is next week in Chicago, and although I’ve been to half a dozen Dreamforces and a dozen or more World Tours, this will be my very first trip to the Marketing event of the year for the Salesforce ecosystem.
As a first timer and as the Chief Marketing Officer of Invisory, I thought I’d share tips on what I’ll be on the lookout for and how I’ll spend my time, so you can make the most of attending Connections 2024.
Visiting customers at Connections 2024
Invisory has a handful of customers who are sponsoring the event. A quick stop by their booth gives me facetime with customers and a chance to meet new members of their team that might not be a part of my daily interactions. I’ll also be checking out their messaging and overall presence at the show. The messaging on a booth can provide clear insight into the company’s current focus. With so little real estate to work with, the top line messaging on a company’s booth tells you what is front and center in their mind.
Connections 2024 Sessions: How to choose
Customers, prospects and partners are all part of the agenda at shows like Connections. I spent time this week pouring over the agenda looking for a few things.
1 – Where are my customers presenting? It has also been a topic of conversation on our customer Slack channels and in meetings. I want to go support my customers during their sessions and even their demo jams.
2 – Are there prospects or potential customers speaking? I’ve done a search for any top tier prospects that are currently in our pipeline that I could listen in on. Attending their session again gives me an idea of what’s top of mind for that prospect and provides me a chance to introduce myself after the session. That little bit of facetime and learning who at Salesforce is accompanying (closely connected) to that prospect can benefit our efforts to understand more about the prospect and their priorities.
3 – What are the main topics of interest at Connections 2024? I’m a first time CMO and this is a marketing conference – there is a ton I can learn from the Salesforce ecosystem marketing experts, so I plan to be a sponge for the information I can learn from others.
Networking in the Salesforce ecosystem
Conferences like Connections are always surrounded by networking events. We’ll be hosting our own event on Tuesday night taking customers, Salesforce employees, partners and prospects to the rooftops above Wrigley Field. On Wednesday night, I’ll attend as many of the happy hours and events of partners (shout out to Appiphony for the invite) and customers as possible.
I’ve also spent the last two weeks reaching out to my Salesforce connections to see who will be in attendance, as well as past customers. I’d love to see as many of my network as possible, even if only for coffee or a quick hello on the show floor.
My Connections 2024 follow-up plan
Before I even leave for Chicago, I’ll be thinking about my follow up plan. I always have a notebook on me to take notes on meetings and follow-up items. If I’ve talked to someone who could benefit from a thought leadership piece we’ve written, a template I know I have in our resources, or a playbook, I want to make sure I share that with them the week after the show. When you’re talking to dozens of people every day, it can be hard to keep it straight so I make sure to either jot down my follow up plans on my phone’s notes app or in an old school small notebook.
I’m always thrilled to experience a new kind of event, and Connections has been on my list for a while. I can’t wait to see the booths, attend some sessions and connect with the Salesforce ecosystem in person!
