The story so far:

• The idea has formed: A Benelux-based gathering for people in the Salesforce ecosystem (ohana) to come together to learn, share knowledge, expertise and passion and grow.
• The location for 2019 has been found: Amsterdam
• The date will be June 14th, 2019
• The cost has been worked out: eek!
• Now we need to pay for it!

Putting on one of these events is a expensive business. We’re aiming for around 350 people to feed and water, some AV so we can hear each other and big enough rooms so everyone that wants to attend a session can sit down.

We want everyone to have a good experience, from bright and airy room to good aircon (particularly our Andre!). Supplies need to be bought in, and the venue wants to cover all their staffing costs and rent. None of this comes cheaply.

So what to do? Salesforce have already generously agreed to give financial support, but this isn’t nearly enough. As with all challenges, let’s turn this issue into an advantage.

We’re looking for money. We’re aiming for to improve the experience! Rather than just trouser the money and say “thank you”, we are now looking for sponsors who will join with us, make it exciting and inspiring for all our attendees.

• We’re looking for partners who want to go on the same journey with us – helping us enthuse fully engaged and caffeinated attendees, awake and available to take in everything that is thrown at them
• We’re going to have a demo-jam – want to show off your latest product and see if it meets the needs of the market? We’ll be able to give you real-time feedback
• We want informed participants, coming back understanding which consultancies align with them the most, and when they may be called for, both now and in future roles
• And to have fun! Planning to supplement the great memories with some style? You can arrive or depart YeurDreamin by canal boat!

So these are our aims! To recap: great surroundings, facilitating a Salesforce conference where people will find a welcoming space, interesting talks by world-leading experts and to be able to network with their local community in a relaxed setting.

What’s in it for the sponsors?

• You’ll meet the attendees, and ensure your product is in front of them
• Pre-event publicity – we’ll be using paid-for social media advertising to ensure we reach our target group of administrators, developers, power users and people new to the Salesforce ecosystem
• Post-event publicity
  • the blogs
  • the shout-outs
  • the recorded sessions
  • the swag
  • and all the people the attendees talk to afterwards
• and, of course, helping the Salesforce ecosystem thrive!

‘Sponsorship is so important for a successful event, helping shape the tone and feel of the entire enterprise. An early decision we made was to keep the sponsor in mind. This is why we excluded venues that were not good enough to give our sponsors the visibility and the time they deserve with attendees. The bonus is that, by incorporating sponsors’ needs, this has made the venue space better and made us focus on the “wow” factor, allowing for great interaction between the sponsors and attendees, and a truly memorable experience.’ A YeurDreamin’ core team member.

Throughout all our publicity we will be emphasising that the tickets are only possible due to the generous support of our sponsors!

Now to the packages. We are sticking to a traditional ethos of two Diamond packages, a very limited number of Platinum packages, Golden shiny offers and a selection of Silver special swag (ok, you get the idea). When they’re gone, they’re gone. Please contact sponsorship@yeurdream.eu for the details and to help us make this happen!

Key Team Member Focus: Steve
Earlier this year inspiration struck us, instead of having a technical consultant trying to drive sponsorship, why not have someone who’s background and skill was in Sales? There was only one choice: Steve Thornhill, our lead team member on Sponsorship. He’s yet another volunteer (actually we all are); helping make our vision of a unique community event, unlocking people’s inner Trailblazers, become a reality!

Steve knows all about Sales; over the last 7 years he’s helped drive double-digit growth year-on-year at Tibco Scribe, a Salesforce ISV Partner. He knows what people want, he understands how to close a deal; best of all he understands your needs.

But we want to go a little bit deeper than that, why do we trust Steve, and why did we decide to bring him on board as part of our core team? When Steve said that our sponsors have to be at the core of what we’re doing, and be kept fully in the loop, we knew we had the right person, with the right values.

Steve first experienced Ohana just over a year ago. He came to an Amsterdam User Group meeting and was warmly welcomed by people all around him. Since then, he founded and co-leads Den Haag Salesforce Saturday, and is working with the highest levels within Salesforce on a special project to bring students into the Salesforce ecosystem here in the Netherlands. He also has Trailhead badges. He understands your needs. He understands our needs. Together, we think everyone can benefit!