Dreamforce on Spinning Code https://spinningcode.org/tags/dreamforce/ Recent content in Dreamforce on Spinning Code Hugo -- 0.157.0 en-US Sat, 04 Oct 2025 17:39:46 +0000 Dreamforce 2025 Communications Resources https://spinningcode.org/df25/ Sat, 04 Oct 2025 17:39:46 +0000 http://spinningcode.org/?page_id=3 Resources from my 2025 Dreamforce presentation. What Is This Material?

This is supporting content for my talk at Dreamforce 2025. My talk references many of the resources listed here. This page also includes other content I hope people find useful.

Writing References

A pen on a table next to a leather covered note book with my initials in gold leaf and a Salesforce MVP stamp.
We all need good writing skills

It’s good to have an understanding of what other people expect from us, what the rules of the road are, and how we can break those rules at times.

Elements of Style aka Strunk and White,

~ William Strunk & E. B. White: The premier guide to the constructs of formal written English. This is your driver’s ed manual: the rules other people expect us to follow, but not sufficient for all conditions and settings.

Eats, Shoots, and Leaves

~ Lynn Truss: An exploration of how to use the rules effectively. We can bend, twist, and even break formal rules to improve our writing.

Blah, Blah, Blah

~ Dan Roam: How to use images to fill the gaps our words leave behind.

Speaking References

A statue of James Brown singing from downtown Augusta, GA
Okay James Brown wasn’t known for speaking, but you get the point

Public speaking is hard for a lot of us. Having some suggestions about how to do it well can be part of helping us learn to power through.

The Art of Public Speaking

~ Dale Carnegie: The original, and classic, guide to good public speaking technique.

Speaking Memorably

~ Bill McGowan & Juliana Silva: A 2025 guide on good public speaking and modern presenting.

Other Material I Think is Worth Your Time

In addition to the published works above, I think these resources can be useful to a lot of people.

Practice Suggestions

What you do for practice doesn’t matter a great deal. What’s really important is that you do it and get feedback. Here are some things you might consider for practice:

  • Short Stories or other fiction writing that you publish online, ebook, or print on demand
  • Contribute project documentation to an open source project
  • Essays for Medium, or other blogging platforms
  • Participate in online writing challenges
  • Create a YouTube (or similar) channel

Whatever you pick, you want to be in control of how often you create content, and then make sure you create content on a regular basis. If you aren’t in control, you might find yourself cut off from chances to practice.

I strongly suggest you don’t use AI during your practice. You need to do the work, even when it’s hard.

Closing Suggestions

Generally, I recommend being curious person. Push yourself to learn more. The more you spend time finding good information sources to learn from the more examples of good communications you’ll have for inspiration on how to get better.

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