9. Cancer Diaries - The Customer

Dear reader, if you have been following along with my blogs then you will remember that I have a life spreadsheet that notes important dates. Also, in project terms I am the customer and I have a say in what is delivered and when and have my own timelines to work with. I'd like to think that I'm not entirely beholden to my medical situation.  Well, June had a lot of important dates for me namely; London's Calling Conference, World Tour Week, my Dad's 80th birthday, my fella's birthday and a Billie Eilish gig. Phew! If you've been wondering where I've been, then I have been mostly doing all of that and also dropped in for my 4th chemo session too. Let me tell you all about the past few weeks. 

Just because I have cancer doesn't mean that I have to stay at home and mope about feeling sorry for myself. Having things to look forward and staying positive is the best thing to do, even if my agenda might be stretching things. I know, bad patient!

First up, London's Calling. This is a Salesforce Community Conference that I have been part of the organising team for several years now. We are all volunteers that put this on for the love of the community. We are a tight team so I made them aware of my situation very early on. I'm so glad that Francis made the decision to invite a friend to produce the day. Welcome Jade - you're now a much loved part of the team. 

There was still much to do to deliver the event and there are always last minute excitements that need sorting, such as when the swag was actually going to be delivered. Another such excitement was our keynote speaker having to pull out 48 hours prior to the event due to sickness. As I was looking after the keynote I took the responsibility to find a replacement while the rest of the team had their own activities to do. To add spice to the task, 24 hours to the conference day I found myself in hospital for an emergency ultrasound as my arm was aching and my chemo team were concerned that I may have a clot. So there I was in hospital, speaking with the agency to find a keynote speaker while weighing up the options if a clot was found could I still deliver the conference and then sort the clot afterwards. I know, bad patient!

A few hours later, I am discharged from hospital with no clots founds - just achy veins from the chemo and also a replacement keynote speaker found. Result! On with the show. That evening I am at a lovely venue on the Thames with the team to welcome our speakers and Salesforce MVPs in readiness for the conference the next day.

07:00 the next morning and we are all on site to kick off London's Calling conference day. With just under 700 attendees we had a jam packed day of 53 speakers, a demo jam, an expo, a keynote and an after party, with a band! The day was a huge success. People had really missed connecting with others and our event was the first large one in London since the pandemic. So proud to be part of this amazing team to produce a world class event. We continued to deliver during the pandemic but it was truly lovely to be back in a venue together again. Here's some pics of my personal highlights from the day. 

With the weekend to relax and recharge the batteries we headed into Salesforce London World Tour Week, starting with our Salesforce Admin user group meeting on the Tuesday evening. We have been gathering in person since August last year but World Tour week is always special and the last one we had was in 2019. We were lucky to be visited by traveling dignitaries from many countries and also the Admin Evangelist Team over from the US to present to us too. And there might have been cake too...

The very next afternoon I headed to Salesforce Tower for a meeting with the EVP and UK CEO Zahra Bahrololoumi and President and CMO Sarah Franklin for a listening session with other MVPs and ambassadors across the Salesforce brand portfolio. I really appreciate the opportunity to give feedback about anything Salesforce related, whether that be the product, its service and the community. As we sit at the grass routes and act as their free PR dept, ensuring that implementations are a success, and license renewals are therefore protected, any help we can get to improve this experience for customers is welcome. 

After a few drinks in the Drift bar at the bottom on the Tower we were soon back up to the 29th floor to be entertained by the Salesforce Developer Group with talks and an interactive session brought by Ines Garcia.

Once more sleep and it was London World Tour day! How I had missed the buzz of a conference. Salesforce had played it careful and limited the numbers of attendees compared to previous years. I believe there were around 5,000 attendees this time round and we all seemed to be squished into main zones, the keynote room and expo room. Every person has to manage their own risk nowadays so I have been choosing to wear a mask in crowded areas and the expo room was a perfect example of when to do this. I felt that with the combination of booths and all the theatres in one space was a bit cosy for the day. I'm hoping that Salesforce will return to a spacier set up next year. 

Main features of the day for me started with the keynote and the UK CEO Zahra Bahrololoumi proudly walking her way around the room, kicking off the day. As a pandemic Salesforce MVP it was the first opportunity for me to sit with my fellow MVPs in the special seating at the front. It's the small things, but it was a special feeling for me. 

Next up was the buzz of the expo room - mask on - to have happy bumping into people moments and catching up on how they have been after such a long time. That's the stuff I've really missed after all this time and what I really love about World Tour - the connections. 

Then it was presentation time with my London Admin co-leaders. A double bill of entertainment from us. We started at the Campfire to talk about 'Meet the London Admin Group' and then straight afterwards dropped our mics and shuffled stage left to the next theatre space to then deliver our next talk about Specialising in our Salesforce career. Presentations completed, time for more networking.

The final keynote of the day was an interview with Actor and Activist, Benedict Cumberbatch. He came over very personable and thoughtful towards the causes that he helps to build awareness for. As a special bonus, call it a cancer perk, I was invited to meet Benedict for a 'meet and greet' straight afterwards. We did get to have a quick chat in between photos and he is an advocate of cancer awareness and the work that the Royal Marsden hospital does. I appreciated the very human and personal connection conversation we had. Thank you Benedict and thank you Salesforce for arranging.

One last note from World Tour day. Gemma Blezard couldn't make the day due to sickness but she made sure her presence was felt by a delivery of sunflower pendents to the bad ass ladies in the community. Inside the pendent it reads 'keep fucking going'. We certainly will. Thank you. 

To round off a busy few weeks my social agenda turned to more family time (as opposed to Salesforce Ohana family) and the Sunday was spent with my parents to celebrate my Dad's 80th birthday. The day was slightly amended to the original desired plan but we still celebrated in style and together which was the main thing. 

All these activities were possible as I was able to negotiate with my chemo team on when I could take my 4th chemo session. By being able to delay by 5 days I was able to fully enjoy World Tour week and my Dad's birthday. When you go through cancer it's important to stay positive and to have things to look forward to help with that. It's a fine balance and I'm very lucky to be able to do this. 

On Monday I had to concede to the chair and take my next dose like a good patient. It did hit harder than the previous ones. It felt like they were starting to build up in my body so catching up with this blog has taken longer. Celebrating my fella's birthday on the Thursday was dulled. I did manage a glass of champagne but, I hate to confess, even that was a struggle. By Saturday I had managed to drag myself back up to a reasonable level so I could enjoy a Billie Eilish gig, surrounded by screaming teenagers, me with my mask on. I'm still very much living and doing the best I can through this shitstorm.