Dreamforce Girly Geek Style – Houston We Have Lift-Off

Houston Salesforce consultant Geraldine Gray, Principal at Endiem and a Salesforce MVP is getting ready for Dreamforce along with 850 or so other girly geeks as part of the Salesforce Road to Dreamforce webcast and blog series.

Geraldine was recently invited to the SalesforceLive studios in San Francisco to talk about women ruling tech – what it means to be a woman working in the Salesforce arena. Having founded the Dreamforce Girly Geeks in 2010 before “women in tech” was cool Geraldine and host Julie Liegl, Dreamforce Conference Chair at Salesforce.com, discussed some of the challenges they have faced and overcome in a male-dominated industry. Questions came in thick and fast from the live audience and answers included:

• Being the CEO of yourself
• Only eating what’s on the plate in front of you
• Finding talented support to help fill the gaps in your skillset
• Determining your life goals and how your work will support achieving them

Geraldine and Julie also discussed the impact women keynote speakers Marissa Mayer and Sheryl Sandberg have had on the technology industry; being discovered by Adhere Creative; how Forbes magazine deemed Houston to be the number two city in the USA for women to found businesses; and the inspiring impact of hearing this same message from Mayor Annise Parker as Geraldine was starting up her Salesforce consulting practice in Houston.

Dreamforce ’13, the largest vendor-led technology conference ever, hits the California coast in San Francisco from November 18-21. The conference has grown from 1,130 attendees and 50 exhibitors in 2003, to an expected 120,000+ registrants and over 350 exhibitors. Dreamforce has also boasted such famous bands as The Foo Fighters, Metallica, and Stevie Wonder while this year Green Day is taking over AT&T Park for a huge concert – fun for attendees that also benefits one of Marc Benioff’s favored charities the UCSF Children’s Hospital.

Whether you are a Dreamforce Girly Geek or a geeky guy or just plain nosy grab a cup of tea or a glass of wine, watch the webcast or read the associated blog and maybe take some inspiration for yourself.