Keeping in the spirit of Dreamforce-based topics, today I will highlight my top 5 sessions for Dreamforce ’15. These are from my agenda and not by any means a “Best of DF”, but rather the ones that I’m excited for because they apply specifically to my interests/career path, and my idea of fun. So in no certain order:

1. Easy REST Integrations with Lightning Components and Salesforce1 (Tues. 3pm Moscone West, Developer Theater) — Its got two things that I’m a big fan of, Lightning components and REST. This session will apparently demo a marriage between these two hot topics that are near and dear to my heart.
2. Coding for Admins (in the Admin Zone, from 10am to 12pm) — Why? Because that’s my shift in the Admin Zone. Come on down and talk to me, hopefully I can help you with something that’s been throwing you for a loop? (See what I did there?). I’m very excited to be attending DF this year as a Salesforce MVP and have been looking forward to being able to help out. I’m so excited about this, I can’t really express it.
3. Marc Benioff’s Keynote (Wed. 1pm Moscone South) — I mean really, does anyone plan on missing this thing? I surely hope not.
4. The Developer Keynote (Thurs. 10:30 Moscone West) — I’m a developer, so #NoBrainer
5. The Admin Comedy Club (Thurs. 2pm Hilton, Union Square, Ballroom A) — With all the excitement & information overload, its nice to know that there’s a place to go where you can sit back, relax for 40 minutes and have a good laugh. This year, yours truly will even be participating. I can’t wait to see what we do, because — as of yet — I don’t know what we’re doing save for the fact that I’ll be debuting a new song (and maybe even a special guest singer — or two), live! So I hope I see you there :)

I’m looking forward to my third Dreamforce. For me it will be my third Dreamforce and likely my third completely different experience. This one should be the best yet! What sessions are you most excited for?

:wq!

Admittedly, I’m an over-packer. I pack all sorts of crap that I know I’m absolutely NOT going to need, but I can’t seem to help myself. However, there are some things that I absolutely cannot go with without. Here are my top 5 (in no certain order):

1. Comfortable Shoes — likely more than one pair. I’ve never done so much walking in my entire life. Last year I got one of those little Jawbone devices that they were giving away in the expo and at the end of my first full day with it, I was over 22,000 steps. I’m starting to get too old for this!
2. My Mophie standalone phone charger. Your phone will be struggling with battery life in the area, if I had two of them, I’d bring two of them. Alas, I have only one so it will have to do. I’ll turn off any un-needed services and operate on the lowest level of brightness if I have to, but having this battery backup is a life saver!
3. Laptop — call me old fashioned but yes, I still lug around my laptop at events like this. (Mainly because my iPad is a first-generation one and has pretty much reached the end of its useful life for me — and I’m cheap). Believe it or not, you will have some downtime or will “need” some downtime. For a developer like me, that downtime comes in the form of hacking code or further learning (Trailhead anyone?), but I like to find a bean bag near an outlet and zone out for a bit….speaking of power outlets:
4. Power Strip — it will add a little bit of weight to my bag for sure, but I believe Brian Kwong mentioned at our user group that if you are the person with a power strip at Dreamforce, you will be one of the most popular people on campus. What a fantastic way to meet new people! So this year, I’m giving that a shot.
5. My Guitar — I never like to be far from some source of music creation. I never know when lyrics or melodies will pop into my head. Its also my comfort zone. Its like a comfort food for my soul, and a way to decompress at the end of the day, or whenever I need it. Luckily for me, I have a folding guitar so its not a big bulky thing. I doubt I’ll be carrying it around all that much but hopefully it will find its way to admin zone with me at some point. I did bring a mandolin & a travel guitar my first year and touched them once each, so I may not even get to use it, but just knowing it is there is comforting.

So there you have it! What are your top “Must Haves” for Dreamforce this year?

And also: Is It Dreamforce Yet?

:wq!