The Salesforce Community is a powerful resource and there’s no shortage of ways to get involved. Whether you’ve been an #awesomeadmin for 5 years or are a nonprofit end user who’s entirely new to the world of Astro and Einstein, there’s a group and get-together for you.

There are two main categories of Salesforce events that happen every year: ones set up by Salesforce and ones put on by independent Salesforce Trailblazers. Chances are good you already know about the Salesforce-sponsored ones; they include Dreamforce, TrailheaDX, and Salesforce World Tours. In the first post of this two-part event guide miniseries, we're highlighting the storm of awesome user-run events slated to sweep through Colorado at the end of July.

Daydreamin’ at 5280

Lightning will strike first at the 3rd Annual Daydreamin’ at 5280 on July 26th, when Salesforce users come together from across the metro area for a Denver User Group-hosted, day-long event. Peter Coffee, VP for Strategic Research at Salesforce will deliver the keynote. Find more info on the Denver User Group on the Salesforce community or read about this event here.

Women in Tech & WITness Success

The Colorado #Salesforcepalooza will continue the next day at the Denver Grand Hyatt when Women In Tech (WIT) kick off their second WITness Success Conference on July 27th. This yearly event, held by WIT, is a standout as the only globally-organized, community-led conference devoted to Salesforce. WIT grew from Girly Geeks to a community of more than 4000. Their aptly named WITness Success conference grew from a twitter thread into an event that now draws people from across the planet. It plans to set up in a new city every year.

WIT’s sessions are Salesforce-specific, but instead of focusing on tech, clicks, or code, fill a critical gap and cover non-technical skills needed for a successful career. Attendees can learn everything from resume building and advancing equality while advancing your career to self defense, all while networking with this strong community.  WITness is volunteer-run and women driven but not limited to women. Allies, advocates, and accomplices (as WIT’s supporters are affectionately referred to) are all encouraged to attend. As co-founding WITness Success planning committee member Melinda Smith explains, this is where you’ll hear “what was left out of the discussion.” WITness is the place to go to be inspired and truly touched.

An Allies Dinner with a panel moderated by Brigid Warmerdam will be held Friday night. The conference theme this year is Grit & Grace and the learning will continue the next day with workshops and presentations on bringing both to the workplace. Speakers will include Beth Comstock, Chief Marketer at GE, and Leah McGowen-Hare, Senior Director at Salesforce.com. A closing panel discussion with the theme of “&” will round out the official events. Read about why Salesforce Senior Director and Editor-in-Chief of Trailhead Chris Duarte will be there in an article she wrote for Medium. 

This mindful conference can be counted on to deliver diversity and inclusivity, with space at the table for everyone. Registration will stay open right up until the day of or when they hit max capacity of about 270. If you’re reading this, you’re invited to attend and can find more details on their website. Follow @WITnessSuccess and #WITconf18 for more info. WIT hosts other meetups throughout the year, and you can learn more and get involved with these here.

If you won't be in Colorado, another great group to know about is the Radical Apex Developers (RAD) Women. RAD Women’s mission is to provide an environment for advanced women Salesforce admins to learn to program on the Force.com platform. In the past, they’ve hosted Summer courses and are looking at dates for the next one. These happen completely via the internet. Check out their Twitter (@RadWomenCode), Trailblazer Community group, or website to stay up to speed on when the next one happens.

Pep Up Tech Fundraiser

It isn’t an official part of the conference, but you’ll see many of the same WITness Success faces that Saturday night, July 27th, enjoying cocktails for a cause at a late PepUp Tech fundraising happy hour. This nonprofit empowers youth with technical skills and tools, including Salesforce know-how. Details are coming, for now you can follow @PepUpTech and check back on their website.

You’ll also have a chance to support PepUp on Thursday, July 12th at Carnivale in Chicago during Midwest Dreamin'. Tickets are available in advance. 

But Wait, There's More

An open source nonprofit sprint will round out the Colorado events on July 31st and August 1st. This event is technically Salesforce.org-sponsored but made the list as part of the Palooza. It’s already sold out but you can get on the waitlist here or follow them on the Hub for more info on other Sprints coming up.

There are three more great nonprofit events happening before the end of 2018. What are they are and where will they be happening? We'll post them later this week in part two along the upcoming Dreamin' events. Follow @ArkusInc on Twitter for the heads up about part two or bookmark this blog and come back to check it out. As always, leave us comments below or send me a tweet directly @ktatwd and happy planning until then.