Going back to the early days of computing, user groups have been a big part of the tech community. Salesforce has strongly encouraged the formation of a positive, vibrant collective of users, admins, developers and evangelists. A Trailblazer Community Group is run by the community. We are loosely affiliated with Salesforce, Inc. They provide a website for scheduling meetings, searching for groups and offer some Salesforce branded swag. The community provides the content, plan the meetings, and drive the group. This group is run by the Salesforce community, for the Salesforce community. In our case, primarily for the residents of Central New York.

Joining is simple - just follow us on the Trailblazer Community Groups site. It is important that you join and follow us through the community group site. We use it to schedule meetings, track meeting attendance, send email notifications (pre & post meetups), track community growth and membership totals.

The community group site is also how we'll know if our meetup site is large enough to hold everyone, and how much food to bring (if available). You will need to RSVP through the community group site in order to attend the meetings.

We also recommend following the group's Chatter or Twitter feeds as a way to show your continued interest and collaborate with fellow group members. See the 'Connect' button to the left for all our points of contact.

We welcome all Salesforce builders, crafters, developers and programmers. Admins, business analysts, data analysts, report builders and end users are all encouraged to come and share your knowledge and kinship. You don't have to write code to join in. There is no membership exam. If you have an interest in Salesforce, come to our next meetup!

We also welcome Salesforce employees, partners and students.

Our target is for people who live or work within Syracuse, central NY and upstate NY. But, there are no geographical restriction - anyone can join from anywhere in the world. Keep in mind that our events, discussions and focus is this general area. We're looking to connect with others in our relatively nearby geographic community. We may occasionally partner with other nearby user groups for special events.

If we're the closest group to you, welcome! Join us! If other groups are closer, but you really like us, join us! If we're really far away, you may want to start a local community group. All it takes is for one person to kick it off.

No. There are no fees, dues, fundraisers or obligations. Come as often or as little as you wish.

Formal meetups are what make this an organized group. They are meant to be larger, structured meetings. We may have a presenter or two, job announcements and possibly refreshments or swag. These events will require an RSVP to ensure adequate facilities are available.

Informal gatherings can be organized in a more spontaneous manner. These include things like Salesforce Saturday, where a few group members may gather in a coffee shop to work on Trailhead.

Regional events are nearby larger shows, such as the Dreamin conferences or Salesforce World Tours. These are not necessarily part of our community group, but close enough to us that members may find them interesting.

We welcome community member involvement, and want you to present at our meetups. This can be technical advice, best practices, inspirational stories, career advice, something cool you built, something found on the app exchange, a demo, a workshop and so forth. The only requirement is that it has to be in the interest of our Salesforce community. No sales pitches, please.

If you want to present, please contact the group leader on twitter, chatter, email or at one of the meetups.

Community members can use this as a mechanism for honing their presentation skills, workshopping a session, trying out material or practicing at public speaking. If you're new to presenting, you may be interested in taking the Trailhead modules Public Speaking Skills and Storytelling & Communication first.

At this time, we do not record the presentations. However, a presenter may independently choose to record it, or you may arrange with them to do so. This is up to the individual presenter. If any session is recorded, please inform the audience first. You may also want to have a non-recorded Q&A section.

We do not retain any ownership or exclusivity over your presentation. We only reserve the right to say that you presented, the date, the title and abstract.

We understand that child care can be difficult to obtain, especially with events outside of traditional working hours. Unless explicitly stated on the meetings, children are welcome to attend the events. There may not be any child friendly activities present, so please be sure to bring appropriate items like crayons, coloring books, ipads with headphones, snacks, etc.

Some events may be held in traditionally child friendly locations such as a mall or public library. Please check with the venue if they have any specific child policies or facilities.

Community groups are driven by the community. However, groups still need a leader to organize events and serve as a point of contact. The Syracuse developers group is lead by Mike DeMaria. You can reach him at mike.demaria@trailblazercgl.com or on mastodon at @mike@dreamin.online