On the Road to Dreamforce

Most bands have the Billboard Music Awards or the Grammys. Our version is called performing at Dreamforce.  ~ Apex & The Limits (5/22/16)

Once a goal is set, then it is time to turn that into a reality. So how do you move pieces to align the world’s largest technology conference to a community movement? Well, you take chances by asking the powers at be questions. What is the worst that will happen? No one will reply? You’ll actually get what you are asking for? Apex decided to roll the dice!

It looks so easy when you post the photo of the exchange, but there were 3 days of contemplation in there! Then there was a good 30 minutes of panic on 7/11 when we got the reply. After that it was exactly 1 week to pull off our first original for a recording that would work with video filming. {Insert more panic, confusion, chaos….}

The name came first! I mean how could you not name the theme song “Road to Dreamforce” when that is what you were writing it from? So let’s just mark that part as done, but what comes next?

Well for us this time it was the lyrics. Which makes things interesting when you are trying to write a song but you have no idea what it should sound like. However, what was clear is that the most important thing about this work was the messaging. We had the opportunity to express the values of Dreamforce. To call out the items that are important and take notice of the adversity going around in the world. This wasn’t going to be a soapbox or some political grand stand, but it was going to be our first signature mark. We wanted to address the themes of Diversity, WIT, Inclusion, Education, and Community. It was clear that for us this was a learning adventure not a party.

The tune itself hit Rachel on a drive home from work. There was an awkward voicemail left to Ryan with a few hummed bars of something a little show tunes related. He then took that to lay down the rhythm which is a vocal loop for the published song. Then it was time to record the song. Due to the short timing, the verses were recorded between Rachel/Ryan with the chorus recorded by the full band in a hotel room in Chicago. Yes that’s right hotel room audio is what you are getting with the final cut only being the second time we attempted to record it together.

The video was a fun project because we were able to film it between MVP Lightning Event and Midwest Dreamin’! Meaning lots of participants from around the globe in a single video with a little SteveMo packing and footage from an actual Diversity Group Meeting! We even got to have a Wizard be the Videographer and the Director showed his French Flair! Oui Oui!  In the end this video incorporates so many of the things that our community stands for.

But wait there was one last important ingredient to the puzzle! We got to be part of the #RoadtoDF16 live broadcast! The video was world premiered to the entire community via the platform it was meant to support. This was a big step in our journey towards a Dreamforce performance. Who knows where we will perform next? Guess you’ll just have to stay tuned to find out! In the meantime, here is the world premier: Road to Dreamforce