May Monthly Retro with Gillian, Mike, and Rebecca Saar

It’s that time again. For this week’s Salesforce Admins Podcast, we’ve got the monthly retro. In this episode, we celebrate the Summer ‘21 with all the great blog posts, videos, and all the other Salesforce content from May. To help us, we’re joined by Rebecca Saar, Senior Director of Admin Marketing at Salesforce.

You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation between Mike and Gillian.

Be an Innovator with Design

Rebecca was the brains behind Be a Builder, which later became Be an Innovator. Today, we’ve brought her on the pod to talk about Be an Innovator with Design. “It’s a great opportunity to get both advanced and new admins on a learning journey,” she says, “we take a real-life problem and incorporate new features that have come out and tackle it together and learn from each other.”

This year, Be an Innovator is setting their sights on redesigning and reimagining what Record Pages look like with design thinking principles and design heuristics thanks to dynamic forms and actions. So check out #BeAnInnovator on Twitter and get started with the Trailmix. If you complete it by May 31st you’ll earn the Collector’s Badge.

Podcast highlights from May.

For Mike, last week’s pod with Michelle Corwin about finding and getting a Salesforce admin job in today’s market. For Gillian, it was Adam Doti’s episode about design thinking and the designer team he leads within Salesforce. She was also a fan of the conversation we had with Farhan Tahir about where design on the platform is going and the future of the admin role.

• Your Guide to Getting a Salesforce Admin Job in Today’s Market with Michele Corwin
• Design Thinking for Admins with Adam Doti
• Designing a Dynamic Experience with Farhan Tahir

Video highlights from May.

For both Mike and Gillian, Be an Innovator with Design was the can’t-miss video content for May. And keep your eye out for an Easter egg in the introductory animation for an alternate interpretation of #BeAnInnovator.

• Be an Innovator with Design

Social

• Salesforce Admins: @SalesforceAdmns 
• Mike: @MikeGerholdt
• Gillian: @GillianKBruce
• Rebecca: @RebeccaSaar
• Brittney: @brittgibs92

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Full Show Transcript

Gillian Bruce: Welcome to the Salesforce Admins podcast, and hello summer '21. May we all enjoy this retro for the month of may, 2021. I am your host Gillian Bruce, and in this episode we will review the top product community and careers content for the month of May. So many things happen in May, Cinco de Mayo, May the fourth be with you, one of my favorite internet meme, let it be May, and to help me do all this, I'm joined by two amazing people today. The one and only Mike Gerholdt. Hi Mike.

Mike Gerholdt: Hi. I may be excited.

Gillian Bruce: Oh, look at that, a May pun in your first line. I love it. Off to a good start. And, this is exciting, our first guest on the retro ever, and it's probably the most appropriate guest. The one and only "rocksaar" Rebecca Saar. Hi, Rebecca.

Rebecca Saar: Hi. Hi everyone. And please don't ask me to do a pun. I'm not good at those, but I'll leave those to you and Mike.

Gillian Bruce: I may let you be on that one.

Rebecca Saar: Okay. Thank you.

Mike Gerholdt: I may let you off the hook. It may happen.

Gillian Bruce: So with every monthly retro, we start out by talking about our favorite blog content from the month, and we have some special blog content to talk about this month. Mike, you want to give us a little more background?

Mike Gerholdt: I do. So if you don't know who Rebecca Saar is, which I've had the pleasure of giving selfie pictures in Toronto. After I feel like Rebecca launched what was first known as Be a Builder, but now Be an Innovator campaign and has just skyrocketed into the atmosphere. So Rebecca runs pretty much everything creativity fun wise on our team. And I was thinking, you know what, Gillian, we're probably going to do a lot of talking about Be an Innovator, why not have Rebecca on. It may be a good move to have somebody to talk about it like Rebecca, who is the brains behind it.

Gillian Bruce: Great idea. Rebecca, talk to us more about Be an Innovator. This may have been one of my favorite campaigns that we've had in a long time.

Mike Gerholdt: We're going to be very unsure of ourselves if we have to keep working may into stuff. You know that, right? It may sound like we're uncommitted to this.

Rebecca Saar: It may be a good idea for me to get started and talk to you about Be an Innovator with Design. I'm so happy to be here to talk about this. Be an innovator has been something I've been very excited to work on over the years. It's a great opportunity to get both advanced and new admins on a learning journey, everyone together. We go through a journey of six episodes where we take a real life problem, and we usually incorporate some new features that have come out and we tackle that together and learn from each other. And it was no different this year. Be an Innovator with Design, we decided to focus on really taking it a step further from even last year where we looked at our record pages and we're redesigning and re-imagining what those look because we have now a dynamic forms and actions, and we took it a step further and looked at how can we bring design thinking principles and design heuristics into the mix to make admins even more enabled to design these beautiful pages that can really champion productivity For our users. So this was a fun one.

Gillian Bruce: So talk to us a little bit more, Rebecca about... This is in the blog category of the retro, so can you tell us a little more about what actually is the Be an Innovator with Design activation that we've got going on, tell us a little bit more about the different components and how people can participate?

Rebecca Saar: Yeah, definitely. So in the beginning of the month we had the first phase, I would say, where we were releasing one episode after another, there were exercises that we asked all of our admins to participate in and share on Twitter, and they are all released now. So it's a great time to go jump in and binge watch, how about binge watch those episodes all at once and go through those exercises and share those on Twitter with the hashtag #BeAnInnovator. That hashtag is very active. We're continuing to see people sharing their work. It's super fun. I think my favorite exercise is the ideate one where we got this template from Salesforce's design team called the crazy eights brainstorm, and it's an envisioned template that folks can utilize and create all these different ideas.
You're supposed to do eight ideas at eight minutes, which is a lot, but they're super fun to look at if you go on Twitter. So that's been the first part is looking through that, but now we also have the trail mix. So all of the episodes and supplementary content that is already on Trailhead is in one place in this trail mix, and you have until May 31st, 2021 to complete that trail mix to earn what I'm starting to call the collector's badge, because if you've been joining us for Be an Innovator from the beginning, you'll have every year, if you complete the trail mix, you'll have your Be an Innovator badge. Always a unique design for each year. So that's coming up. That's one thing you can add to your to do list before the end of may to get that badge.

Gillian Bruce: Well, it sounds it might be... Might be, not may be. It sound would be a great thing to get involved with. Rebecca, thank you so much for all the work that you and the team have put together to make this happen. And it has been way fun to see what people have been building. So yes, if you haven't gotten on the Be an Innovator with Design train, get on board because it's a fun train to be on [crosstalk]. Maybe we can get a little choo-choo train sound effect going on there.

Mike Gerholdt: That'll be the next Be an Innovator theme.

Gillian Bruce: Love it. It'll be hard to choo-choo-choose the right thing. Okay, I'm going to stop. Mike, let's move on to podcast.

Mike Gerholdt: Chugging right along and talking about podcast, the reason we had Rebecca on is I think a lot of May was Be an Innovator and we had guests on about that, but we also just put out a pod last week with Michele Corwin about finding and getting a Salesforce admin job in today's market.

Gillian Bruce: Michele's amazing. Her story's amazing. It's inspiring. I've gotten notes from folks saying how amazing they loved... How much they loved that episode. I mean, Michele's story about how this crazy last year and a half was very challenging in so many ways for so many people in the job market, but it actually created opportunities for her that she never would have had otherwise. So listen to the podcast. It is a powerful motivator, especially if you're looking for either your first admin job or your next admin job, if you're switching careers, especially she's got some amazing tips and things that she's learned to share. I don't know, Mike, I really enjoyed talking to Michele and getting to know her, but then I guess I did listen to the podcast and...

Mike Gerholdt: I like it when we trade off doing pods because then I can listen to it like everyone else, and it's like, "Oh, new podcast. I haven't heard this one." So it's exciting for me.

Gillian Bruce: Fresh ears. Fresh ears.

Mike Gerholdt: Fresh ears. So we covered blogs because Be an Innovator, awesome. Podcast was fun to listen to. Gillian, I think you highlighted the Be an Innovator podcast with Adam Doti.

Gillian Bruce: Yeah. I mean, you mentioned we did a couple of podcasts related to Be an Innovator, which we absolutely did. We kicked it off with Adam Doti who actually leads our designer team, so to speak. He is amazing. He's been at Salesforce for a very long time and he's so passionate about design and explains a very, very clear relationship of design and admin. And I think it's fun to talk to him. He's a great... He thinks big picture but then also breaks it down into, "Okay, design thinking. This is how it's going to help you be a better admin or a better person at any job that you're doing, really, if you're working with technology."
And then to dovetail on that, we had another great conversation on a separate podcast with Farhan Tahir who... I mean he and his team are the ones that are delivering the dynamic pages, the dynamic actions, all of that stuff. It's really incredible to really have a longterm visionary conversation with him about where all this is going and how it fits into the future of the platform, the future of the role of the admin. Really two really great podcasts from visionary thinkers here at Salesforce.

Mike Gerholdt: That's how it may work. Now I'm going to call an audible, because it's podcast, and change my must-watch video from May to align with yours and be the Be an Innovator series, because I think, while we have Rebecca on the call, I think they're just amazing. I love how you get a nice intro and you get somebody talking to you and you kind of... They're a little fun. They're a lot of fun. They may be fun.

Gillian Bruce: Yeah, and you get to see Rebecca. You get a "rocksaar" sighting.

Mike Gerholdt: Right. So Rebecca, when you were filming those, did you include anything that maybe people are overlooking or a fun trip up? Did you knock a pitcher of water over or something? I don't know.

Rebecca Saar: Not exactly that, but yes, we did actually think about some Easter eggs in our episodes. And I do challenge you to find them. I'll give you a hint. There has been some jokes, maybe say, about how you could read Be an Innovator with the hashtag. But it may look something else. And we embrace that. And if you take a closer look at the introductory animation, you may see a fun little Easter egg there. But yeah, highlights, we get it. You can read it differently, and it's funny.

Mike Gerholdt: I mean, people go through screen by screen on previews of big movies, so why wouldn't they go screen by screen on the intro to Be an Innovator?

Rebecca Saar: Right. It goes by really fast, but yes, if you have a sharp eye or you go screen by screen, you will see it. It's really cute, actually.

Gillian Bruce: Are you saying that you were being an innovator with design as you were recording the Be an Innovator with Design series?

Mike Gerholdt: So meta.

Rebecca Saar: Meta.

Mike Gerholdt: So meta.

Rebecca Saar: We try. We try over here.

Mike Gerholdt: So we'll include a link in the show notes. They should go to our Be an Innovator with Design blog posts, start reading there. Everything's over on Trailhead, correct?

Rebecca Saar: Yes. On that trail mix. So sforce.co/beaninnovator.

Mike Gerholdt: Perfect.

Gillian Bruce: Bean innovator.

Mike Gerholdt: Be an Innovator. Don't give it away. It might have something to do with Cinco de Mayo? No.

Gillian Bruce: Well, it's been fun, team.

Mike Gerholdt: So in true monthly retro fashion, I try to keep these fun this year. We're going to have fun this whole year, because last year we were just slogging through it. And I was reading up on what is the month of May? What is May, where's it come from? What's the name mean? And I found out that May is named after the Greek goddess, Maia, M-A-I-A. I'm going to say it's Maia. It looks Maia to me. And she looked after plants. And I thought wow when I read that, this really makes me think of salads and my new favorite salad dressing, which is green goddess. I don't know if you've had green goddess dressing. It's amazing. It is so good. It's good on everything vegetable, just [crosstalk].

Gillian Bruce: It's like adult ranch.

Mike Gerholdt: It's better than adult ranch.

Rebecca Saar: I don't think I've had this.

Mike Gerholdt: And it's a weird... It's like a Ghostbusters ecto slime green. So you totally have to get it out of your head of the weird-

Gillian Bruce: Is there a pesto in it? Is that why it's green?

Mike Gerholdt: No. Well, there's probably leafy stuff. I don't know. So I thought it would be fun, because I was looking up different green goddess dressings, and I realized that a lot of dressings also sound like destinations in the world. And I put together a fun little game called Dressing or Destination. So I will give you the name of a dressing or a destination. You tell me what it is. And then at the end of this, we'll have a whole bunch of useless knowledge about a dressing or a destination.

Gillian Bruce: Okay. I think, Rebecca, are we ready for this?

Rebecca Saar: Let's do this.

Mike Gerholdt: I mean, it's not as great as the April Fool's thing last month, but I'll work harder for June.

Gillian Bruce: I do the level of creativity, these questions you come up with.

Mike Gerholdt: I mean it's alliteration. Come on, Gillian. I got the D and D, dressing or destination.

Gillian Bruce: It's good. It's good.

Rebecca Saar: Are we each answering each, or are you going one off? Okay.

Mike Gerholdt: You choose for yourself. Scored individually. Okay, so dressing or destination. Bolthouse Farms or Applewood Manor.

Gillian Bruce: I think Bolthouse Farms is a dressing and Applewood Manor is a destination.

Mike Gerholdt: Rebecca?

Rebecca Saar: So I was thinking the opposite, of course. I'll go the Bolthouse Farms is the destination. Applewood Manor.

Mike Gerholdt: And Applewood Manor is the dressing?

Rebecca Saar: Yes.

Mike Gerholdt: Gillian, you are 100% correct. Bolthouse Farms is a dressing, Applewood Manor is a bed and breakfast.

Gillian Bruce: Where?

Mike Gerholdt: I forgot to look where. I don't know. I knew you were going that, so I realized...

Gillian Bruce: Maybe it's in Applewood somewhere. There's probably a town called Applewood, I bet.

Mike Gerholdt: It could be in Strawberry Hills.

Rebecca Saar: Where do they grow apples? Washington, right?

Mike Gerholdt: Could be.

Gillian Bruce: I bet the front desk person's Johnny Appleseed. Okay.

Mike Gerholdt: I also tried to find dressings that weren't too terribly niche. Like you have to go to Bob's corner farmer's market to get.

Gillian Bruce: So commercially available dressing.

Mike Gerholdt: Somewhat commercially. I tried to at least Trader Joe's level. So next one, there's only three. So Rebecca, you're not that far behind. You can still hold this out for the win. Hillary's Ranch or Magnolia House.

Rebecca Saar: All right. I'm going to go first. I'm going to go Magnolia House is the dressing, Hillary's Ranch the location, just because I feel this could be a trick one, because we know ranch is a dressing.

Mike Gerholdt: I would be tricky that way, wouldn't I? Just ranch in it.

Rebecca Saar: Yep, yep.

Gillian Bruce: I was thinking the exact same thing, Rebecca, because I feel like ranch is too tempting of a... Clearly can't be ranch dressing. Hillary's Ranch does not make ranch dressing. Come on.

Mike Gerholdt: Well, I'm sorry, Gillian, you're incorrect. Hillary's Ranch does make ranch dressing, and Magnolia House is actually down in Waco from the...

Gillian Bruce: Oh, yeah, that makes sense.

Rebecca Saar: Oh like the [crosstalk] and Joanna Gaines show, right?

Gillian Bruce: They don't make dressing there?

Mike Gerholdt: That was my softball. I know. Probably not yet.

Rebecca Saar: Not yet.

Mike Gerholdt: Give them time.

Gillian Bruce: I think she just started a cooking show, so just give it some time.

Mike Gerholdt: She does. It's amazing. It's amazing. It's amazing. Okay, last one. So Rebecca, you can still tie Gillian for the win. This is a fun one. Okay, so is it a dressing or a destination. Jailhouse Inn, or Ken's Steakhouse?

Gillian Bruce: I mean, it's too hard not to just go with what's popping out of my mind immediately. So I think Jailhouse Inn is an actual destination, which I'm very curious about which jail house you're staying. And then I think that Ken's steakhouse is a dressing.

Mike Gerholdt: Is a dressing. Rebecca?

Rebecca Saar: Yeah, I'm going to go the same. Going to stick with Gillian's answer.

Mike Gerholdt: Well, Rebecca, the good news is you scored a point, the bad news is Gillian already had a point. So that was for the win. Ken's Steakhouse was a dressing, and it's commercially available. Jailhouse Inn is a destination and. You know there's a jail you can stay at in Boston?

Rebecca Saar: Yeah, I stayed there. It's so cool.

Mike Gerholdt: Yep. Ken's Steakhouse, actually, when you look it up has the old... It's from the 70s and it's when bright colored neon dressings were a thing, like that bright orange dressing. Remember that Dorothy Lynch French dressing?

Gillian Bruce: I'm sensing that you really like bright color dressings, because the green goddess is bright coloring, talked about the bright orange color.

Mike Gerholdt: Give me a salad bar from the 70s with those glowing red bacon bits and some green goddess and some crunchy iceberg. Smells my childhood right there.

Rebecca Saar: I'll note of this for an upcoming birthday.

Mike Gerholdt: Here's the salad for you? Happy birthday.

Gillian Bruce: He would be like, "The worst birthday present ever."

Rebecca Saar: You got a salad.

Mike Gerholdt: Some people would like that. I mean, it depends on the salad.

Rebecca Saar: Or where you're eating it.

Mike Gerholdt: You could have some Hillary's Ranch dressing at Magnolia House and then you could check all the box. Okay.

Gillian Bruce: Well that was fun, Mike. Thanks. I enjoy winning these great little challenges you're putting together.

Mike Gerholdt: Well, you're batting a thousand at this point. Fantastic.

Rebecca Saar: I'll have to come back to challenge.

Gillian Bruce: We'll have to have another showdown. You need it to reclaim your glory.

Mike Gerholdt: You come back with the game this time, Rebecca.

Rebecca Saar: Oh, okay. Even better, yes. Control the odds.

Mike Gerholdt: Be an Innovator game or something.

Rebecca Saar: Love it.

Mike Gerholdt: Okay. Well, if you want to learn more about all things that we just talked about minus the dressing or destination stuff, because we have yet to publish a blog post on that, you can go to admin.salesforce.com to find those and many more resources. You can stay up to date with us on social. We have a new social person, and Rebecca did an amazing job introducing her on Twitter. So be sure to follow Brittany on Twitter. Rebecca, do you know what her Twitter handle is?

Rebecca Saar: It has numbers. Hold on. It's @BrittGibbs92.

Mike Gerholdt: Perfect. Not 91 or 93.

Rebecca Saar: Nope. 92. I wonder what that stands for.

Mike Gerholdt: You should ask her on Twitter. We'll find out. We are @SalesforceAdmns, no I, on Twitter. I am on Twitter @MikeGerholdt. Gillian is on Twitter @GillianKBruce and Rebecca is on Twitter at...

Rebecca Saar: RebeccaSaar.

Mike Gerholdt: RebeccaSaar. Easy enough to remember. So with that, stay safe, stay awesome, and stay tuned for the next episode. We'll see you in the cloud.