Dreamforce is back! Better than ever! September 15th – the first full day will be focusing on all aspects related to our military veterans. I am honored to be a part of several VetForce events this year at Dreamforce. As you already know, Dreamforce is all about networking. You will hear about new product announcements, attend great sessions, enjoy inspirational speakers and of course the Foo Fighters are here again this year. This blog post covers veteran events at Dreamforce 2015. The first full day promises to be very informative and engaging for veterans. If you have time on September 15th, check out any or all the events. The following is a run-down of the veteran events at Dreamforce 2015 and my take on them.
Executive Summit Mentoring
Time: 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Location: Meet outside Moscone South (Howard Street)
The “Executive Summit Mentoring” event is a tremendous opportunity for veterans to meet with senior executives and hone their professional skills, resumes, and networks through direct mentoring. If you are a veteran interested in getting one-on-one time with an executive, this is the event for you. The executive summit event will be an engaging opportunity for execs to lend their professional experience and expertise to help veterans hone their professional skills and resumes through direct mentoring. Attire for this and at most Dreamforce events is “business casual”‘ and most importantly, you must RSVP here. Please remember to bring notepaper, pen, resume, business cards (if you have them) veterans, a great day awaits!
VetForce Session 1: The Salesforce Community for Transitioning Military Veterans
Time: 12:00 PM to 12:40 PM
Location: San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel, Foothill F (atrium level)
This session promises to be insightful and informative for those of you looking to gain insights from what the overall VetForce program is about. The guest speakers for this session include Glenn Weinstein (CIO of Appirio), Dave Gowel (CEO RockTech), Hilary Zarenejad (Solution Engineer – Healthcare & Life Sciences) and I too. I am honored to facilitate this session with fellow veterans to discuss the importance of the VetForce Community and how the community helps transitioning military veterans. During this session, the new VetForce community portal and enhancements will be demonstrated by Glenn and I. We will also show how our veterans use the community portal for training, collaboration and so much more. Next, Dave from RockTech will share what his company does, how they partner with VetForce and the tools RockTech offers to supplement our veterans and their training experience. All speakers are veterans and will share their stories of military transition with the audience.
VetForce Session 2: Hear Vet Service Organizations Share Best Practices for Supporting our Heroes
Time: 1:00 PM to 1:40 PM
Location: San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel, Foothill F (atrium level)
Learn how Veteran Service Organizations (VSO’s) are supporting our heroes. For this session, you will learn about how Salesforce partners with Vets in Tech (Katherine Webster), Veterans2Work (John Reynolds) and Veterans Workshop (Ken Smith) are helping veterans navigate through the process of Salesforce training and job placement. In addition, this session will include a veteran (Donald Bohrisch) who went through a cohort class with other veterans (myself included) back in March 2014. Learn what Donald is doing now and how VetForce has impacted his life. John Reynolds from Veterans2Work who will be on this panel just released a video on “Engaging Productively with Military Veterans at Dreamforce and Beyond“, you should check it out.
VetForce Session 3: Hear Industry Leaders Share Their Insights on Hiring Heroes
Time: 2:00 PM to 2:40 PM
Location: San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel, Foothill F (atrium level)
For those companies interested in learning more about how to set up and operate a veteran-hiring program, this session is for you. This year, VetForce is proud to have representatives from General Electric, Mitchell International and Uber. Each of these companies have set up veteran hiring programs and will share insights on how their veteran programs work to recruit, on-board and hire veterans at their companies. Pauline Mulvey and Mitchell International have even hired veterans from VetForce classes as Salesforce administrators in San Diego. She will have some great insights to add to this session. Also, Paul Callahan and Todd Bowman with GE and Uber respectively will cover how their companies work with our veterans. In addition to these three companies, VetForce is honored to have RallyPoint CEO and Founder Yinon Weiss on this panel. RallyPoint was founded in 2012 by military veterans Yinon Weiss and Aaron Kletzing at Harvard Business School. The company is a professional network serving the US Military and its veterans, and has been called “LinkedIn for the military,” empowering military personnel to take greater control over their own careers. This session will be moderated by Salesforce’s own Dan Streetman, a key executive leader for the VetForce program.
DreamLift to Moffett Field
Dreamlift was a huge success last year . This year will be no different! Mid-afternoon, four CH-47 Chinook helicopters will whisk away senior leaders and officials to Moffett Federal Airfield. Attendees will get firsthand look at our veterans technical experience and capabilities and proximity of employable veterans to our technology centers. In addition, these senior leaders and officials will receive an up-close view of military equipment and observe the capabilities and skills of National Guard and Reserve Forces. Please note this is an invite only event.
VetForce Hiring Reception
Time: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Location: San Francisco Moscone Center West
Also scheduled for Sept. 15th is a wrap-up at the VetForce lounge area. System integrators (consulting companies) and recruiters among others will meet with veterans to discuss careers and potential career opportunities This will be more like a mixer / happy hour with drinks, snacks and a casual environment for veterans and recruiters to meet, network and discuss job opportunities.
VetForce Lounge
Date: September 15-18, 2015
Location: San Francisco Moscone Center West
Talk to veterans and their organizations. Sign up to be a part of the VetForce community. Meet with recruiters looking to hire veterans. Win one of the cool prizes available. If you are interested in attending the expo as well, you can get a free pass here.
Attending one or more of the many events at Dreamforce 2015 promises to be worth your time and effort. And please stop by the VetForce lounge. I will be there throughout the week and am happy to meet each of you.
Thanks for your interest,
Hector Perez Jr.
- Tags: Dreamforce, Salesforce, Salesforce.com, Veterans, VetForce
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