The Wrap: Salesforce World Tour Sydney 2022
Remember in-person events?
They’re a bit of a novelty these days. That’s why it was such a pleasure to travel down to Sydney this month to attend the Salesforce World Tour 2022 event with thousands of other keen industry professionals.
The first World Tour event in over two years, the tyranny of distance and the inconvenience of the pandemic was (mostly) put on the back burner for a day of future-focussed discussions and innovations.
Of course, my job is centred around helping people in their career journeys and building and strengthening teams for my clients, so having the opportunity to meet in person with new and old faces again just felt right.
But for those who couldn’t make it to the event, I’ve put together a wrap-up of how things went — the keynotes, the takeaways and everything in between.
First things first: RAT test!
Like most of the east coast of Australia, torrential rain had been battering Sydney on and off for months, and the weather gods definitely weren’t smiling on us for World Tour day. Either way, it made the journey from the hotel to the convention centre an experience in itself!
Upon making it to the event, I joined thousands of other attendees in being greeted with a mandatory RAT test to gain entry.
It’s probably something we should be used to by now or be starting to get used to. Putting these protocols into perspective though, we’re super lucky to be in a country that has a world-class healthcare system and the ability to quickly test thousands of people without too much inconvenience!
The lengths the organisers went to make it as smooth as possible were quite astonishing, so kudos to you, Salesforce.
A family reunion
After some mingling, the keynotes quickly got underway, with Pip Marlow, CEO & EVP, ANZ/ASEAN at Salesforce making the observation that the event felt more like a family reunion than a convention.
It was a pretty accurate statement I thought, with a permeating theme of human connection and how it drives us to be our best, underscoring much of the day’s agenda.
It’s certainly true that people make this industry what it is with innovation addressing some of the world’s biggest challenges only arising from ideas that are the byproduct of connection between actual humans.
The Salesforce ‘Team Earth’ campaign speaks to these values of giving back, and it looks like it will be a theme that continues into the future!
Speaker of the day, Australian of the Year.
Sitting in the parthenon of modern-day national treasures somewhere between Pat Rafter and Kylie Minogue, Dylan Alcott is a bonafide Australian icon these days.
The hilarious, candid and accomplished Alcott was the first person living with a visible disability to win the award, and he naturally held court as he shared his personal views on vulnerability and the notion of leadership.
It’s really refreshing to hear someone so successful as Dylan being so open around his life’s high water marks and lowest ebbs.
The Golden Hoodie
One of the most sought after pieces of apparel this season isn’t fresh off the catwalks of Milan of Paris, nope, it’s the Salesforce Golden Hoodie.
Of course, it’s what the coveted hoodie represents that makes it so special, and it was great to see it go to such a worthy recipient in Two21 Kel Henderson. After one of Kel’s sons was born with Down’s Syndrome, he made it his mission to give back to society and specialise in assisting the not-for-profit sector.
Kel has over 800 Trailhead badges too, impressive and inspirational stuff!
More innovation and entertainment
Getting down to business, it was cool to hear from a raft of speakers about what innovations are helping companies connect with customers in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
Service Cloud and Marketing Cloud are connecting even more data to encourage personalised customer engagements. The human connection theme was clear here with recent updates creating more unified connections and focussing on growing lifelong relationships.
Oh, and speaking of national icons, Bernard Fanning then played us some songs!
It was a nice way to wrap up a day that felt equal parts cathartic, inspiring, and energising.
It was then a matter of choosing which afterparty to attend. I chose the land event over the harbour cruise (not that I don’t love a boat party, I just really value a good night’s sleep as a new dad!)
So, a huge thanks to Salesforce for pulling off such a great event. Let’s hope that we can keep the in-person going for many years to come!
~ Garth Kharitou
