Conferences

by Kyle Ballard on Conferences, Programming, Salesforce

TrailblazerDX 2022: Recap

Wow, it’s good to be back. What an event. After two years without any in-person activities, it was a surreal experience to say the least. Salesforce did an excellent job getting folks in and out of the venue, and making the whole event as well-run as we’ve all come to expect from them. The keynotes, sessions, and the concert experience (Weezer) were all very memorable, and they covered a ton of ground. There were a few stand-out items for me that I took particular note of and I’d like to discuss them here.

 
by Kyle Ballard on Conferences, General

How to Deliver an Amazing Software Demo

Having worked in software development for nearly 20 years, I’ve had a number of opportunities to speak in public (local user groups, conferences, webinars, sales engagements). The last 3 years I have worked exclusively as a solutions engineer, meaning that part of my responsibilities at work, is to actively speak to others about technology.

I decided to put together some notes I had about things I’ve learned over the years, that I feel may be useful to others looking to pursue a similar career path, or just to become more comfortable and relaxed in a public speaking environment. I tried to organize this list in a an easily digestible format, so anyone who wanted to, could reference it quickly/easily.

 
by Kyle Ballard on Conferences

NDC Minnesota 2018 Recap

NDC Minnesota is the inaugural NDC Conference event for the United States. I’ve long followed the event online as they post most of their conference sessions on Vimeo. The event was held in the very well appointed St. Paul RiverCentre in downtown St. Paul, MN. Absolutely no complaints about the venue, the event itself, or any of the speaker presentations. I honestly was expecting a number of hang-ups since the first year for a conference is usually a learning experience but it feels as though the NDC team is really on top of everything given their past events at other locations.