Yes, I know, I'm one week late, and I haven't posted in a while. Yes, I AM genuinely sorry, but I think you'll understand more of the reason why after you've read this properly.
So last week (and I'm talking about the week of August 29th - September 2nd), was the first BIG STEP of this internship.
Introducing… DREAMFORCE: a conference/event related to Salesforce.com, the number one Business platform and Customer Relationship Management system.
To sum up quickly: everything I've been doing at Seesmic so far, ever since I started (on July 5th), was in regards to Dreamforce.
The goal of the company was to launch a new application, and we had a lot of things to prepare, from the app itself to the marketing and promotional content. Personally, I have been in charge of the collateral marketing items (getting tshirts printed, as well as stickers, one-page overview flyer, etc…), I've also helped demo the app to the many people coming to our booth, and was given the role of project manager, regarding Seesmic's presence at Dreamforce (making sure that devices were ready, charged, connected, getting all items from the office to our booth, and so on…)
It was very interesting for me to actually see the backstage aspect of these big conventions. And to be honest it all was impressive. I haven't really attended an event quite like it. The closest thing to this until now had been the fresher's fair at university, where all the school-clubs give out flyers and freebies to convince you to join their teams… And Dreamforce was just much much MUCH BIGGER.
To give you some statistics, 45,000 people attended, included 15,000 for the Keynotes only. Yes, we're talking about 15,000 people attending physically! In one single room!
And the best part was, our CEO, Loic Le Meur, was actually on stage during one of the keynotes, to demo our new app. He was in front of the 15,000 people + the 40,000 online viewers coming from the Facebook Live Feed.
Both for Seesmic as a company and for my personal point of view, it has been a great —yet very tiring— experience. But there have been a lot of good things coming from this, and that's without mentioning the fun and bonding experiences that I've been through with my fellow co-workers.
One of these times, was to go see Metallica —for free because it came with the Dreamforce pass— LIVE, along with businessmen. Yes, White Collars coming to see Metallica, one of the most best metal/hard rock bands in history. Despite the fact that the musicians are actually in their 40's now, it was a great show. Especially given the fact that it felt kind of exclusive to be here! At the end of the show, Will.I.Am was invited to show off his DJ skills. Due to the fact that he just stayed behind turntables and put one song after another and the overall sensation of being VERY tired, I didn't stay too long for him.
Another great time was actually the following afternoon: the expo finished early, so our team went out for drinks. (Yes, even our awesome coworkers from Paris!) And after an hour and a half spent at this bar, we went to a Dell-sponsored Geek-themed party —with Arcade video games, and a band dressed up as loser-kids and dorks!
Freaking out, nerd-dancing, and just relaxing after these last few crazy weeks, has been the best thing for us. Oh, and food and drinks were free. AND they didn't check any I.D. —Just saying!
So I had a great time… And we even met some Seesmic fans along the way!
So that was my crazy conference week. I remember being so exhausted that I slept 14-hours on saturday! It was both very good and much needed!
This last week has been… Well, let's just say it's been different!
First of all, one of the employees left the company after two and a half years working here. Which not only meant that we were losing a great (and very efficient) member of the team, but I have been assigned to take over her part. I can officially say that I've moved on from being a member of the Marketing team to a Community Support Advocate. I'm now taking care of the users' problems, dealing with their requests, communicating with the developers if needed, and making sure that everything is good in the Seesmic world.
It's very exciting for me because I am starting to feel like a real employee, and I have a lot of responsabilities. It also means more work to do and sometimes decisions to make —on my own.
Before I wrap up, the other big news is that I've confirmed that I will not only be helping to organize but also be attending LeWeb!
For the non-techies around here, LeWeb is the #2 conference in the World —and #1 in Europe— for Tech and Web. To give you an idea, LeWeb is:
- 3000 people attending from 160 different countries,
- 3 days of talks, sessions, start-up competition
- and it all happens in one of the most beautiful cities in the world: Paris!
I will let you guys know more about LeWeb as I start working on it, but rest assured that over here, I'm very VERY excited! Once again there will be very busy with all of this, but you have to understand that I am in a state of Inception right now:
- Working in San Francisco, in the Silicon Valley —and at a start-up— was a DREAM for me
- Attending LeWeb was also a Dream, and since Loic and Geraldine are the ones organizing it it's a Dream within a Dream. Get it?
I'm sorry for the REALLY long post, but I think it conveys how excited I am and how busy I've been!
So long my friends!
