5 important lessons I learned doing the main keynote at Dreamforce ‘17…
…And why I’m so excited to be presenting the keynote at TrailheaDX!
TrailheaDX ‘18 is just around the corner, and I’m honored to be speaking in the main keynote. As I prepare to take the stage on March 28, 2018, I can’t help but reminisce about how I took the main stage at Dreamforce ’17, and what I learned getting ready for that moment.
I know it might look easy. You see me sashay up onto the stage in a purple dress and start talking and smiling, while the demo drivers run through the product without missing a beat. You might think, “Hey, that doesn’t look too hard. I could do that.”
But the real deal is this — a single, 10 minute segment in a keynote takes weeks of preparation and rehearsals. Most of the work happens before the presenters take the stage, and there are many unsung heroes who make it all come together and look effortless.
I learned a lot doing that keynote. I want to share some of it with you, and give you a sneak peek into what it takes to give a keynote talk.
Here are my top 5 things I learned doing a main stage keynote.
1. We Listen to Our Customers
This is not a tagline. For main stage Dreamforce keynotes, we do customer focus groups. After doing this firsthand, I can tell you that not only do our customer’s voices matter, but they are the main ingredient.
For Dreamforce ’17, we went to seven cities in three weeks. At each stop, we did Marc’s keynote along with customer demos. At the end of each presentation, we would go around the table and have each customer share their feedback, and the team would take extensive notes.
Customers at the table were a mixture of c-levels, admins, developers, MVPs, ISVs — all facets of our Ohana. Sometimes their feedback aligned; sometimes they were polar opposites. But all the feedback was unfiltered.
The keynote team would debrief after each focus group and tweak the presentations and/or demos and delivery. What we started with at the beginning of the customer focus tour was very different to what came to the main stage keynote at Dreamforce, and it was co-created based on our customer’s feedback.
2. LBO All Day, Every Day
LBO = Learn By Observation, and that was my mantra throughout keynote prep. Beyond the Customer focus groups and debriefs, there were a lot of meetings. These were meetings with the corporate message team, the demo team, event strategy and product teams. I was in a lot of rooms I hadn’t been in before. I had a chance to watch people interact and solve problems.
I took advantage of this time. In these meetings, I observed how issues were discussed, items resolved, and topics prioritized. And I brought my perspective to the table, too.
What I found is that across it all, in all discussions, it always came back to the customer. The customer was at the core of every decision.
3. Learning is in the Journey
It goes by fast. You get on stage and present for between eight to 11 minutes, and then it is over. Weeks of preparation and late nights, time away from your family, a multitude of meetings, then boom..it’s done.
I like Drake’s POV on this: “Sometimes it’s the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination.”
Yes, when you see how the sausage gets made, you have a newfound perspective about the sausage. Here’s what I learned on my journey:
- Delegate: I learned to delegate more, because I had to focus my energy on creating an amazing keynote experience for all.
- Stay healthy: I knew I had to be ready on the day of the keynote. So I took extra care of myself during the process by drinking a lot of water and keeping healthy food with me (ask the team about me whipping out egg whites cups and almonds at a moment’s notice).
- Keep learning: It is important to me to always speak from a place of authenticity, so whatever product I was speaking about I made a point of rolling up my sleeves to learn it. As a result I was always on Trailhead — even when traveling, I earned badges on my phone. By the end, I created a Trailmix that I shared at Dreamforce.
- Be present: While the end result was amazing, being present during the journey taught me so much.
4. I Stand As One, But Represent Many
After I presented at Dreamforce ’17, people would tell me, “You shine up there.” Let me tell you about that shine. It is not just my work, but the work of the team. When I take the stage, I am honored to represent the hard work of many people.
From the innovation of our engineers, the magic of the demo team, the brilliance of the messaging team, the precision of the events team, the trust of our customers, the love of the community, and the support of my family.
This is the foundation of what I bring to all my presentations. It is not just my moment — it is their moment as well, and I need to ensure that I “do not throw away my shot” at showing how we collectively created an amazing experience and story for all.
5. It’s Bigger Than One Person
All presenters receive feedback from the surveys. While those scores and feedback carry a lot of weight, the feedback I’ve received that has made the biggest impact has come directly from people. A young man of color told me, “It made me proud to see someone of color up there showing that we, too, can stand up there and succeed. You make us all proud.” Or when a father asked to take my photo so he could show his young daughter someone who looked like her and how far she could go. Or when a woman told me, “Seeing you up there gives me hope and motivation to know that the sky is the limit.”
Understanding how meaningful it was for others was surreal for me. However, it grounded me in knowing this is the kind of impact you cannot measure in a survey. And it was a powerful reminder that this experience is bigger than me.
To be able to inspire people to be their best selves, to help people see themselves in ways they never had before, is such a gift and reminder that #RepresentationMatters.
Up Next…TrailheaDX!
I am grateful for all the things I’ve learned, especially because I’m about to put them all to use again at TrailheaDX on March 28–29, 2018. I hope you’ll join me for the keynote because we have a lot of exciting things in store for you.
Check out the TrailheaDX sessions page for full details, including how to watch the keynote online.
See you there!
