TrailblazerDX is the AI developer conference of the year, happening on March 6-7, 2024 in San Francisco and on Salesforce+. Developers, admins, and architects will discover how to build the next generation of AI apps for the Einstein 1 Platform, get hands-on with core platform products and features, and learn directly from product owners and technical experts.

At this time, we want to invite you, the Trailblazer Community, to share your expertise and experience at TrailblazerDX 2024. Today, the TrailblazerDX 2024 Call for Participation is officially open, and we’re looking forward to receiving your submissions!

The TrailblazerDX 2024 Call for Participation will remain open until Friday, December 1, 2023, at 11:59 p.m. PT. We will inform all submitters of their acceptance status in late December.

At TrailblazerDX 2023 we introduced a community track and we are thrilled to expand on the community presence at TrailblazerDX 2024. TDX this year will have a small, dedicated, customer speaker track to create opportunities for our Trailbazer community to share your insights and learn from one another. Please be advised that the number of sessions accepted through this CFP process will be limited to ensure that our technical audience has the opportunity to learn directly from our internal product experts and engineers.

Why should YOU present at TrailblazerDX 2024?

TrailblazerDX 2024 is an opportunity to share your expertise and experience with our AI and core platform products. If you have implementation best practices, solution stories, or career advice, share your session idea with us! Presenting at TrailblazerDX is a great way to showcase your Salesforce expertise, strengthen your personal brand, and connect with the Salesforce technical community.

What types of sessions should you submit?

• Community Campfire (20 minutes): These are small, interactive sessions that connect attendees with community leaders and product experts to spotlight the skills, expertise, and learnings that can help elevate a Trailblazer’s career in the Salesforce ecosystem. These sessions are conversation-focused and in a smaller venue, so they should not include demos and only use a limited number of slides.
• Theater (20 minutes): Theater sessions show technical solutions, demos, and technical expertise. These sessions can deep dive into a specific product area or showcase how you built a solution across many features. While this format typically doesn’t allow time for Q&A or discussion, speakers are encouraged to answer attendee questions after their presentation.
• Breakout (40 minutes): Breakout sessions are held in dedicated session rooms with a larger capacity. Breakout sessions are in 40-minute blocks, which gives you enough time to dive deep into a topic. The format also allows audience members to engage with you and ask questions. We recommend that you plan 30 minutes for your presentation, leaving the last 10 minutes for questions and discussion.
• Deep-dive Panel (75 minutes): These are longer technical presentations with time for an accompanying Q&A. These sessions are allotted a 75-minute block. In the first 25 minutes, you will demo a real-world technical project that you have been involved in. You can present a project that required a complex code solution, a solution that combined low-code and code effectively, an innovative DevOps implementation, or any project-oriented technical deep-dive that you would like to share. In the next 50 minutes, the speaker will take questions from the audience and a panel of experts, who will help drive deeper conversation.

What topics are we looking for at TrailblazerDX 2024?

We’re looking for engaging expert sessions that provide content to help our technical audiences (admins, architects, and developers) build their skills, elevate their careers, and deliver innovative technology solutions for their organizations.

Here are some ideas for sessions that we’d like to see:

1. Speak on a technical topic where you have deep expertise and experience. This could be about a specific feature, a solution you built, or something you feel strongly about that is supported by your personal experience. The first step in getting your audience to love listening to you is for you to love what you are saying.
2. Share how you are using generative AI in your work. Whether you are building workstreams and solutions with a Salesforce AI product or a technology partner like OpenAI or Anthropic, tell us how you are implementing AI-driven apps and using AI to assist your work.
3. Share your expertise with new and established Salesforce features. If you have tried some of the latest Salesforce innovations, such as the new AI, Data Cloud, or automation features, consider sharing your experience with them. If you’ve had access to a pilot or beta regarding the Salesforce Platform, then you may be in a position to share your unique insight on upcoming features and changes. We are also looking for content around all Salesforce developer, admin, and architect topics, including well-known and established technologies, such as Apex and Flow. Great sessions about these topics are typically very successful, and hard to find, so, don’t be afraid of submitting your ideas!
4. Share your tips & tricks and inspirational career insights. Have a topic that doesn’t require slides or a demo? The Community Campfire is a great place for sharing advice on networking, overcoming workplace obstacles, using AI in your job search, and any conversational topic that will help Trailblazers excel in their careers.

Session proposal submission process

If you’re not sure how to get started, we recommend that you follow the guidance below when crafting your title, abstract, and other submission fields.

1. Let’s start with the Session Title field (60-character limit). It should be something that will interest your target technical audience (developers, admins, or architects). Make it very clear to attendees what they’ll learn. Top tip: Start with a verb and include the product or technology name in the title, so it’s crystal clear to your audience.
   1. Example: “Unlock the Power of Einstein for Developers”
2. The Session Abstract field (200-character limit) is where you’ll write a short paragraph to quickly tell us what you’re going to talk about. Be creative! Don’t just explain your slide deck, but share your ideas for interacting with the audience. What are you going to build or demo? What discussion will you lead? What will your audience take home with them and share with their teams? Address the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) benefits. Top tip: accuracy and honesty are more important than popularity. Be careful with AI-generated titles and abstracts as they can feel inauthentic and impersonal. For more writing tips, check out our Trailhead module on voice and tone.
   1. Example: “Generative AI has taken the tech world by storm. Learn about Einstein, its latest capabilities, and how developers can use the technology to build their own AI-powered applications on Salesforce.”
3. The Why Should This Session Be Presented field (1000-character limit) is to further explain your abstract. Use this field to share any additional relevant details not included in the abstract. Frequently, this content helps us make a final decision regarding session selection.
   1. Example: “This is a topic that I have a lot of experience on as I’ve been involved in three customer implementations where data security in Experience Cloud was key. These are the main takeaways that I would share in my presentation at TrailblazerDX ‘24: [ … ]. This will be the structure of the talk [ … ]. I’ve presented about this topic before, and the session was very successful, you can read some feedback I received here [ … ].”
4. Select the Level field (picklist) that best applies to the technical expertise of your target audience. We want to have a balance of introductory, intermediate, and advanced sessions, so this information can be key for your session to be selected.
5. For the Who Is Your Primary Audience field (picklist), select the appropriate audience for your session:
   1. “Developer” for content most relevant to developers and people who code
   2. “Administrator” for content most relevant to admins, and people building with low-code or no-code features
   3. “Architect” for content that is focused on architecture skills and knowledge
6. If you have more than one topic that you’d like to propose, please complete the submission process again for each topic. Please do not submit the same topic to multiple tracks.

TrailblazerDX receives hundreds of proposals to fill a very small number of speaking spots. Therefore, as you create your session title and abstract, think about how you can make yours stand out from the rest!

What happens next?

We’ll review your session proposal and make selections to ensure that we have the right mix of content for technical audiences. We’ll notify you of your submission status in late December.

If your session is accepted, one of our content owners will guide you through the preparation process, which includes feedback on your content, slide review, and rehearsal sessions. You will also receive a speaker pass to attend TrailblazerDX 2024. If you’ve already registered to attend, you will receive instructions on how to either refund that registration or transfer it to someone else.

If your session is not accepted, there are other events, including community conferences and developer group meet-ups that may be interested in having you present your content!

If you want to start learning tips to level up your content creation, audience building, and presentation skills, check the Public Speaking Skills Trailhead module.

Ready to submit your presentation idea for TrailblazerDX 2024? Complete the submission process by December 1, 2023, 11:59 p.m. PT. We look forward to hearing your great ideas!

About the author

Alba Rivas works as a Principal Developer Advocate at Salesforce. You can follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.