Snowforce 2020 – Why its time to give a BAM!

Snowforce is a 2-day Trailblazer Community Conference, organised by the local User Group Leaders. Attendees go to catch up on the latest product trends, learn about creative solutions being built by the most innovative companies, and hear from inspiring industry leaders. Snowforce features 5 learning tracks, a large collection of strategic partners and app providers.

Brooke Bracy, US Training Manager for Supermums, was thrilled to not only attend but also speak at this year’s event which was held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Snowforce has been going on for 8 years, and started with several active local user groups pooling their monthly user group meeting budgets in order to have a bigger event with a bigger budget. Their enthusiasm and passion helped spark a movement in the ecosystem, and now there are many annual Trailblazer Community conferences worldwide, where the Ohana gathers to learn and network!

Find one near you here.

There was tremendous support for Brooke’s session about why it’s time to “give a BAM” about mums in the Salesforce ecosystem. As you may know, women returners face obstacles such as an increased pay gap, discrimination, and fewer opportunities that have the flexibility to work for their new life as mothers. Trailhead has some great Trailmixes about how to Be a Multiplier (BAM!), and it is all about empowering and amplifying the underrepresented in tech, and about extending education to all. A perfect fit for the Supermums mission!

During her session, she had the opportunity to share Supermums success stories, introduce one of our newest Supermums, Stephanie Ohlund, and introduce Carolyn Adams, one of our first US-based volunteer mentors (who has been mentoring since 2018 with Supermums). If you are on Pluralsight, watch out for the Snowforce 2020 session recordings and catch some highlights on the Supermums Facebook group and LinkedIn.

Highlights from Brooke’s Notebook:

“Learn. Do. Teach. Innovate.” The opening keynote which was delivered by Reid Carlberg, (Vice President at Salesforce, and one of the key players in bringing us the iOS app Trailhead GO in 2019). Reid shared that career growth is all about embracing this cycle: “Learn. Do. Teach. Innovate.” And then repeating. Lifelong learning has lifelong benefits!

How to be a Male Ally (and why we need male allies to achieve gender equality) – RAD Women Code Co-Founder and Executive Director, Angela Mahoney, delivered a great session with the support of a nice panel of male allies about how to be a ally in an ecosystem where women are still underrepresented. There was such a spirit of openness and honesty about what we all have to learn in being an ally. Some great takeaways for us all:

• Take the Implicit Bias Test (and be ready to be surprised/humbled)
• Challenge yourself to update your vocabulary where needed. For example, replace the use of “guys” with something inclusive—options to try out: people, humans, peeps, y’all? Any options that our UK-based Supermums could add?
• Especially helpful points for allies:
  • Listen (a useful tool in every setting!)
  • Avoid “mansplaining” and “manterrupting”
  • If your colleague’s idea is not getting the attention it deserves, don’t he-peat/she-peat (stating it as if it is your idea), and don’t let others around you do it either. Try saying, “I believe that is what _____ suggested as well, maybe she could elaborate,” and avoid things like, “I think that is what_____ meant to say….” (which makes it sound like she wasn’t able to explain herself, or that she wasn’t clear).

OrgConfessions – ElementsCloud CEO and Founder, Ian Gotts, shared some alarming “OrgConfessions” with us in the closing keynote, highlighting the reason it is so important to ensure we are well-trained when we start working in a Salesforce org.

The Supermums Admin and Consultancy courses cover vital topics for the industry, like business analysis, data management, and agile project management—all of which are essential to creating and maintaining healthy Salesforce orgs. Reading through those confessions makes us really glad for what we offer to our trainees!