Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, we’ve got the Monthly Retro for October. Join us as we review the top product, community, and career content for October, take a look back at Dreamforce, and share our favorite things about fall.
You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation from our Monthly Retro.
The Learn MOAR Trailmix is live and, if you complete it from now through November 30, 2022, you’ll unlock a community badge and be entered to win 1 of 5 Cert Vouchers—see the link below for all of the details. Get up to speed with the upcoming release!
We did a little thing in September we like to call Dreamforce. Maybe you’ve heard of it? I hosted the Admin Keynote and it was amazing. Gillian was working on a lot of the broadcast stuff and interviewed Jennifer Hudson and Kara Swisher. It was a whirlwind of excitement, information, and celebration, with a little bit of admin karaoke thrown in for good measure.
There was a lot of quality content in October, but one piece we’d love to highlight is David Giller’s excellent post about how to make a career change to Salesforce Administration.
LeeAnne Rimel has been hard at work on her video series “Expert Corner,” and her video with Senior Product Manager Adam White about screen flows is chock-full of helpful tips. Adam came from the community: he was such a Flownatic that he was eventually hired to product manage it. There have been so many innovations with screen flows that this video goes over—don’t miss it!
If you haven’t listened yet, we had one of our favorite guests on to talk about one of our favorite topics. Domenique Buxton is the creative force behind Cloudy, Astro, SaaSy, and the rest of the cast of Salesforce characters you know and love. In September, we also did a special podcast on the story of the #AwesomeAdmin movement that we think is really special.
On the podcast, Gillian and I also talk about seasonal drinks and share some fun facts about fall.
Mike Gerholdt: Welcome to the Salesforce Admins Podcast in the October monthly retro for 2022. I’m your host, Mike Gerholdt. And in this episode, well, we just have a ton of things to review from October. And we skipped September, I don’t know why. But we’re going to look back at September, too, in that thing called Dreamforce that we did. And of course, to help me do all that, Gillian Bruce is back. Hey, Gillian.
Gillian Bruce: Hi, Mike.
Mike Gerholdt: We have a lot to review.
Gillian Bruce: We have a lot. But there’s been a lot that’s gone on since last we did a retro in August, so.
Mike Gerholdt: We’ve done a few things.
Gillian Bruce: We’ve done a few things. It’s been busy.
Mike Gerholdt: I’m going to start off by reminding everyone that between now, right now, when you’re hearing this, and November 30th, 2022, you need to go and complete the Learn More Trailhead Trailmix to unlock a community badge and enter to win one of five certification vouchers.
Gillian Bruce: [inaudible].
Mike Gerholdt: So click on the link in the show notes, complete the Trailmix. You’re going to learn something. In fact, I’m going to say you’re probably going to learn more than you know right now.
Gillian Bruce: Well, I mean, and if you’ve never heard of Learn More, this is how you get up-to-speed with the release. So if you haven’t gone through all the release documentation, which I would be surprised if anyone has actually gone through the entire release notes.
Mike Gerholdt: I bet somebody has.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah.
Mike Gerholdt: No, I bet somebody has. The over-under on that’s at least two.
Gillian Bruce: Okay. If you’re listening, and you went through every single piece of the release notes, let us know on Twitter, I’ll give you a special prize. But this is a great way to make you sure-
Mike Gerholdt: If you have time, because you’re probably still going through it.
Gillian Bruce: Right. I want documentation too. I want to see the printout with the highlights or something.
Mike Gerholdt: Oh, man.
Gillian Bruce: No, don’t kill that many trees. But, this is a great way to get up to speed with the release, get hands-on with some of the exciting new features that are going to be available. And it’s a great way to make sure that you’ve got a handle on what’s coming with winter ’23. ’23, Mike.
Mike Gerholdt: Oh, it just, I mean, it feels like it was… I don’t know, ’18, a few days ago.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah, well the last two years have been a bit of a whirlwind.
Mike Gerholdt: ’19. ’19 feels like the last year I remember. And then we just had some time. I mistake 2020 and 2021 a lot.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah, they all kind of blend together.
Mike Gerholdt: I just refer to that as last year. It was two, 700 days of a year.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah, well, yeah. Especially for me, too. Because there were two tiny humans I made in that time span as well. So it was all just, I don’t know, it’s like a black hole of time. Warped-
Mike Gerholdt: Right.
Gillian Bruce: … experiences. But Learn More is awesome. So go do that and get a cool badge, and maybe you’ll get a cert voucher. You don’t know.
Mike Gerholdt: I mean, hey, you can’t win if you don’t enter. Right?
Gillian Bruce: Exactly. Exactly.
Mike Gerholdt: Okay, so let’s tackle October, and then we will go farther in the way back machine, because we put out a lot of cool stuff in October, I think. I believe.
Gillian Bruce: Yes.
Mike Gerholdt: The first is a blog post that we want to highlight, How to Make a Career Change to Salesforce Administration, so, written by David Giller. And I think this is… first of all, we really like David on the pod. He’s helped admin relations. When we’re in New York, which we will be in December. So love that he wrote this post.
Gillian Bruce: It’s amazing. And I know this is something that David’s really passionate about. A lot of what the content that he puts out on his own platforms is all about trying to help people transition their careers and really understand how to skill up and be successful with being a Salesforce admin. And he’s got so many years of experience helping people with their careers that the way he encapsulates a lot of the information in this post is really, really useful. And I mean, I reread it today in anticipation of our podcast recording today. And man, it also just kind of fires you up a little bit. You’re like, “Yes, you can totally do this,” and there’s a lot of resources to help you.
Mike Gerholdt: Yeah, I was reading through the post, and it made me think of something else. I feel like… and David doesn’t touch on this, but sort of gives a nod at the idea. I think everybody feels like they’re looking for a shortcut to something. And I don’t want to discourage you, but sometimes there just isn’t. You just have to put in the work. And I was watching the TikTok live the other day. Oh, boy.
Gillian Bruce: Oh, look at you. You’re so fancy.
Mike Gerholdt: So you know the story’s about to be great. I know, I’m what the kids do. And you’ll find this hilarious. So, I, for some reason, have gotten onto the CDL, which is the professional truck driver’s side of TikTok. Yep, there is one.
Gillian Bruce: This does not surprise me at all, Mike.
Mike Gerholdt: You know why? I’m trying to learn how to back up a trailer. I need to get good at that. And I’m watching this live, and there’s this wonderful woman who has started her own trucking company, and she’s talking through stuff. And somebody asked her a question about backing up a trailer. And “What’s the quickest way to learn? And she goes, “You know what? I’ve been driving for 15 years,” which by the way, she does not look like she’s that age. And I’m so impressed that she has her own trucking company.
But she’s like, “The easiest way to learn is just by doing it. You just have to do it. You have to get out there, put yourself in hard situations and do it.” And I bring that up because when I was reading this post, that’s a lot of what I was thinking about. I also had a tweet the other day. Somebody was like, “Well, how did you learn to get a cert?” We just talked about certifications. You just learn by doing it. I put myself in uncomfortable situations in the boardroom, and it was like, “I can totally fix that in Salesforce,” and then had to figure it out. And I feel like a lot of what David brings up is sometimes you just got to put in a little bit of the time too.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah. You just got to do it. And I think, I find a lot of times too when I’m talking to folks who are trying to get started or worried about transitioning their careers, and a lot of it is, I mean, you kind of encapsulated it. It’s like just stop talking about it and just do it.
Mike Gerholdt: Do it. Yeah. Put the time in.
Gillian Bruce: Don’t be scared about it. The more you talk about it-
Mike Gerholdt: Trust yourself.
Gillian Bruce: … the more you work yourself up about it. Just get in there, get hands-on and start doing the Trailhead content. Start getting connected with the community. Just do it. And I know sometimes that is the hardest part is just doing it and getting off, getting the momentum going. Yeah, great post. And I think, especially when it comes to that transitioning of career, it can be big, it can be scary, but if you just start chipping away at it, it gets a lot easier.
Mike Gerholdt: Right. So the podcast that I’m going to highlight is the Brief History of Salesforce Characters with Domenique Buxton. So this is fun fact, recorded right before Dreamforce, when I was in the office as we were getting ready as a team for Dreamforce. And yes, I apologize, the audio could be better. I was trying something new because that’s what we do. But this was super fun. Dom’s just so passionate about how our characters are created, and how they bring inclusivity into what we do, and how they help you identify. I also, I don’t know, the highlight for me was hearing how they sit down with some of our creative stuff, and they could be done, but they’re like, “Okay, now how do we hide some Easter eggs and stuff?”
Gillian Bruce: Yeah. Well, I remember seeing the two of you sit down and record this.
Mike Gerholdt: Yes, you tweeted the picture of it.
Gillian Bruce: And I think I snapped a picture, and it was like, “Look what’s happening?” I actually just listened to this the other day. And I mean, I’ve known Dom forever, but hearing how her mind works, and the creation and the thoughtfulness that goes into this whole process, I didn’t realize the level to which you really have to think about building stories and building connections. And a lot of people might, at face value, look at the fact like, “Oh, my gosh, there’s so many silly characters, and it’s Salesforce and that’s cute.” But there really is a significance to each character and the origin of each character and how they fit within the ecosystem and what they represent and how they fit within the context and story of our products. And it was really, really fun discussion. Mike, I thought you did a great job really getting her to peel back all the layers and really talk about that creative process. It was really fun to listen to.
Mike Gerholdt: Well, I think the part that we forget is other companies that have characters, and we all know of them, have stories or cartoons or movies or television episodes that move the character along. And she doesn’t have any of that. She has a pamphlet or a fold-out or a banner at a technology event that has to further what Astro would or would not do.
Gillian Bruce: Well, and it’s not even that, it’s the storytelling through… It’s the community perception, there is no direct there. I mean, as someone who is now currently watching all kinds of cartoons, thanks to my three-year-old, I mean, I could tell you everything about Paw Patrol, about Mickey Mouse Club, anyway. But it’s such an indirect way. You have to build an ethos and a culture around it and a vibe that you don’t have control very much.
And I really liked how she talked about how these characters, many of them really do originate from the community, and they evolve because of the community feedback. And I think that is such a unique way to look at character development and creation. And I thought it was just really fun. It’s fun to hear a creative brain really get in there and understand how it all works. And it made me think a lot more deeply about this. And why we have mascots and where they fit in within the whole context of, not just our brand, but what Salesforce is at our quote, unquote “soul” or at the core. I thought that it was a really fun discussion.
Mike Gerholdt: Still looking for that Cloudy mascot on stage. Got to work on that.
Gillian Bruce: Oh, yeah. I also really liked you directly calling out and saying, “Everyone should tweet @Christophe to make sure that…”
Mike Gerholdt: Really trying, really trying hard on that one.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah. And to just kind of-
Mike Gerholdt: Still checking Twitter to see that happen.
Gillian Bruce: To give some context to the listeners, the reason we need some public pressure to do this is because if you all demand it, then Salesforce has to do it.
Mike Gerholdt: Yes.
Gillian Bruce: It’s not just enough for Mike and I to say that it needs to happen, so.
Mike Gerholdt: Because we’ve done that a lot.
Gillian Bruce: Oh, yeah. We’ve been relentless and unsuccessful. So help us please.
Mike Gerholdt: But we’re getting there.
Gillian Bruce: I know. We want Cloudy to… Okay, Dreamforce next year. There needs to be Cloudy. She needs to be dancing.
Mike Gerholdt: Seriously, on stage, she needs to be dancing with all the rest.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah, I wanted to have a Cloudy dance party.
Mike Gerholdt: She could debut at the Admin Keynote.
Gillian Bruce: See, I mean, maybe even before then would be great too. But, if nothing, I think that’s the…
Mike Gerholdt: It’d be really cool, maybe that’s the official. But she just shows up elsewhere. But the official red carpet is rolled out at the Keynote. I don’t know. [inaudible].
Gillian Bruce: I mean, I don’t know. If you all get really loud on Twitter, maybe, maybe we can put some pressure on her for TDX. You never know.
Mike Gerholdt: Oh, yeah, there is that. That’s only three months away. It’s plenty of time to make a Cloudy.
Gillian Bruce: Plenty of time to make a costume. Yeah.
Mike Gerholdt: They can whip those things out like nobody’s business. I don’t know who they is.
Gillian Bruce: I mean, they mean Genie pretty quickly, let me tell you that.
Mike Gerholdt: Right.
Gillian Bruce: Anyway.
Mike Gerholdt: And then, wrapping up content, we did a… Well, LeeAnne, the Royal, we, Expert Corner get started with screen flows. You may remember Adam White from the breakout or not the breakout, from Release Readiness Live.
Gillian Bruce: And so fun fact about how this came together. Post-Dreamforce, not a whole lot of people were really working a whole lot. LeeAnne and I happened to still be working because we still had stuff we were working on. And she was like, “I need to do an Expert Corner. Who do you recommend?” I’m like, “You got to hit up Adam because he killed it in Release Readiness Live.”
Mike Gerholdt: Yeah.
Gillian Bruce: I mean, Adam is an incredible person. So Adam came from the community. He actually was like a flow addict, a Salesforce admin. And then he got hired as a product manager at Salesforce to actually manage the product that he was the most passionate about, which is flows and especially screen flows. And there’s been so many innovations happening in Screen Flow land that it was just perfect timing for LeeAnne to get him on the pod, on the pod, on Expert Corner, basically her pod to really get into all the details about screen flows. And the cool things that are coming, some roadmappy stuff. Adam’s a really great person to follow. If you have not gotten familiar with him, follow him on Twitter. Watch that Expert Corner. We like to really… What’s the right word? We like to give a lot of adulation to our product managers, who do really cool stuff for us. And he’s definitely on that list.
Mike Gerholdt: I’m all in. I need to sit down. That’s a winter project of mine is go deeper into screen flows. Because every time I hear something I’m like, “Oh, I bet that could be a screen flow.”
Gillian Bruce: I mean, what, pretty much everything can be a screen flow.
Mike Gerholdt: Especially now, after watching the demo in the Admin Keynote.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah. Well, and now with screen flows and Slack, right? I mean-
Mike Gerholdt: Yeah.
Gillian Bruce: Come on.
Mike Gerholdt: Yes. I know. This, all the thing. So great segue into, we did Dreamforce in September.
Gillian Bruce: Sure did. It was-
Mike Gerholdt: And that sure means-
Gillian Bruce: … phenomenal.
Mike Gerholdt: … we didn’t do a retro.
Gillian Bruce: No, but we did release some special pods in September of that month. In case, I don’t know if you haven’t listened to it, I would definitely encourage you to listen to the pod that came out the day of the Salesforce Admin’s Keynote. That was Mike and I going down memory lane for the evolution of the whole awesome admin movement and identity. And it was really fun to go down that path and share that story. So go back and listen to that if you haven’t already. But we did that because we were focusing on the Salesforce for Admin’s Keynote. Mike, you hosted it. Tell me about it.
Mike Gerholdt: I know. The link is in the show notes, so you can watch it. What, I think, I went back and watched the intro because really up until I sat down and started introducing product managers, it’s a little bit of a blur for me. And it was so neat to see the intro of how we transition from the How I Solved It trailer to those individuals being up on stage and introducing the Keynote and introducing me. It was just really neat. I think, it really felt like an all-inclusive Keynote where we gave information, but also I heard a lot of oohs and ahhs, and I was sitting in a section that I didn’t anticipate a lot of oohs and ahhs when we did the demos. And I felt like we showed people some stuff that they had no idea existed.
Gillian Bruce: So I got to be in the room for the very beginning of it, and then I needed to skedaddle because we were doing a live segment immediately after for Aftershow. And I have to tell you, watching on the screen when we were in the studio waiting for you guys to finish and us to go live, it was so fun. Because I was sitting with Carmel James and Charles Feldman in the studio, who they for the first time were seeing the content, and there were times where they were like, “What?” Yes, it was really fun.
And also seeing the reactions in the crowd. I was going back and looking at photos from the Keynote, and I mean, I’m not going to brag or anything, but I did look through all of the Keynote photos, which is thousands and thousands because that’s what I do the week after Dreamforce. No other crowd has as many smiles and laughs and looks of excitement than the crowd at the Admin Keynote.
Mike Gerholdt: Yeah.
Gillian Bruce: I mean, it was special. It was the first time we ever had trailblazers on the stage giving demos. We had Selena from National Aquarium, and we had Stephan, and it was pretty awesome all around. I mean, Jen Lee up there actually talking them, demoing flow in the Admin Keynote. I mean, come on.
Mike Gerholdt: Yeah.
Gillian Bruce: It was neat. And Monica-
Mike Gerholdt: It was really neat.
Gillian Bruce: And Clish.
Mike Gerholdt: And we also got to be in the big room again, so. It’s really neat, too, for those people listening to the pod that have been through the evolution of the Keynote. I mean, Gillian, you and I were both there for the first unofficial official Admin Keynote in the Hilton Union Square in 2014 where we were basically a super session, but we were so loud the plaster started to fall down.
Gillian Bruce: Standing room only.
Mike Gerholdt: Yep. Yeah.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah. It’s quite rewarding and heartwarming to see the evolution of the admin community and really being represented and recognized in such a huge way at Dreamforce. I mean, we see it throughout the year, interacting online, going to user group, Dreamin events. But really that big homecoming that it was this year, especially Dreamforce really getting that main stage recognition, admins at the heart of everything. I mean, if you looked at basically all of the content across most of the keynotes, it’s really focusing on the trailblazers and admins who are doing the work. And it makes me just feel so proud of the admin community and happy that I get to be a part of it. And it’s pretty… I get all the feels. It’s great.
Mike Gerholdt: Well, speaking of that, I feel like you were on the broadcast side of Dreamforce.
Gillian Bruce: Yes. I was.
Mike Gerholdt: I was in the zone, bouncing around. What were some of the highlights or stories that you think back and remember?
Gillian Bruce: Well, I mean I think. I kind of have two categories, right?
Mike Gerholdt: Yeah.
Gillian Bruce: One is the crazy broadcast stuff I got to do that really has nothing to do with my real job. But I got the opportunity to interview some incredible people. I got the opportunity to interview Jennifer Hudson, which was just-
Mike Gerholdt: Oh.
Gillian Bruce: … a moment. She was a joy. She just emanated love and happiness, and joy, and it was so wonderful to be able to have that opportunity. Got to ask her a fun question about, I mean, related to the Keynote, “What’s most exhilarating for you? Is it doing a concert? Is it performing on Broadway? Is it doing a TV show,” which she now hosts. And it was really fun to see her really think about that because she’d never been asked that before. I also got to interview Kara Swisher, who is my journalistic icon, idol. And that was really amazing, and she was very kind. And it was what? To get to Kara to tell you, “You’re a good interviewer,” was that’s a moment for me.
But then on the flip side, being able to run into so many people that I have not seen in so long. I got to run around in the Keynote room before the main Keynote on the first day and with a microphone and try and get people on the camera to talk about what it felt like to be in-person again. And to really have this homecoming feel. And man, the feels were great. Running into people I hadn’t seen in several years. And also meeting some new admins and some new people in the community. I got to hang out with the Golden Hoodie winner from the main Keynote, and she was just, oh my gosh, incredible. Her story as being part of Refugee Force. I hung out with her for 20 minutes, and I literally witnessed 10 different people come up to her and tell her how inspiring her story was. And that to me was just like, “Here we go.”
Mike Gerholdt: Wow.
Gillian Bruce: I mean, the Golden Hoodie evolved from the first ever Admin Keynote in 2014, where we gave Cheryl Feldman an awesome admin award and that evolved into the Golden Hoodie. And so just to see that start really affect people, and it was something else. I feel so thankful that I got to be part of so many cool moments like that. And really feel the full circle evolution of everything that Mike, you and I have been working on for so long really be on display in a powerful way.
Mike Gerholdt: I hear you.
Gillian Bruce: So those are the things that are highlights for me.
Mike Gerholdt: I’ve categorized mine in two separate ways. One was the fun. We’ve always had a lot of fun in the Admin Theater, and we’ve always tried to make it so that, yes, you’re there to learn. There’s a lot of content during the day. But then Tuesday night, we do admin karaoke.
Gillian Bruce: That was so funny.
Mike Gerholdt: And I have to tell you, I was leveled leaving that night on karaoke. Everybody that showed up just brought their A game to karaoke and just really got into it. I feel like everybody was like, “No, we can let loose, and it’s okay.” And it was the most… I didn’t sing because nobody needs to hear that.
Gillian Bruce: Oh, yeah. But Mike-
Mike Gerholdt: Holy cow.
Gillian Bruce: … you know what you did do.
Mike Gerholdt: I did [inaudible].
Gillian Bruce: You did a full knee. You slid in it on your knees on the pile of confetti that was on the floor-
Mike Gerholdt: Yes.
Gillian Bruce: … and it was the most epic thing I think I’ve ever seen you do.
Mike Gerholdt: Probably the only athletic thing you’ve seen me do. I can-
Gillian Bruce: Yes, at that.
Mike Gerholdt: … promise you that. But also, the person I was sliding into had the most epic lounge singer voice.
Gillian Bruce: Oh, it was so perfect.
Mike Gerholdt: I mean, I wanted to be back in 1973 in a dimly-lit bar somewhere in Hawaii with some sort of Mai Tai and enjoying the soothing sounds of that guy’s voice-
Gillian Bruce: It was so great.
Mike Gerholdt: … as he serenades a bar-
Gillian Bruce: Was so great.
Mike Gerholdt: … because, Holy cow. So I think the fun that there was that. There’s just other times where I know it was full, but I saw a lot of people just feeling like they could have fun again. And so that was appreciative. The other part of it was the interaction. And I think, you kind of mentioned that, but I did the one-on-one consults in the Admin Meadow for a few hours every day. And you’re kind of nervous because you’re like, “Oh, man, what if somebody shows up, and they have a question about something?” Fundamentally, even for, and I know there’s a few of you that showed up, and I was like, “Yep, no idea how to do marketing cloud stuff.”
One was C, not CDP, but it was something else. And I was like, “Wow, that’s really cool.” And I wish I knew that that was part of the platform. I didn’t know. But when we peel back the layers, it really wasn’t the technology, but it was more of therapy of talking through business process and gut-checking with each other. Does this feel about right? Or is this the right approach to it?
And I know that sounds weird, but I felt like everybody I talked to kind of felt they had the solution, and they just wanted somebody to share it with and just get that validation. And that’s literally everywhere I went at Dreamforce, from sessions I saw, it was like, “I did this thing, can we talk through it?” And then just talking through it was super therapeutic for them. And that, to me, I just had a blast doing it.
Gillian Bruce: Well, and you get to nerd out. I mean, that’s, you speak the same language.
Mike Gerholdt: Oh, we wrote an entire sales process for somebody in 20 minutes in their little notebook.
Gillian Bruce: That’s awesome.
Mike Gerholdt: I hope it worked out. But it was so much fun. I was like, “This is fun. I haven’t done this in a while.”
Gillian Bruce: I mean, Dreamforce was amazing. Now, if you weren’t able to make it, don’t worry. The Admin’s Keynote, and it’s actually broken up into three different chapters and then an Aftershow. There’s basically, there’s a whole section of content for admins on Salesforce+. So we’ll put the link in the show notes, including Release Readiness Live, which was a really fun innovation. We brought Release Readiness Live to a live studio audience for the first time. And that was incredible. Hats off to Ella Marx, who really pulled that together.
It was, I mean, Dreamforce was epic. But again, if you weren’t able to join, check out all the content on Salesforce+. There’s lots on there, including some silly broadcast stuff if you want to look at some Dreamforce tonight shenanigans with as former SNL cast member Alex Moffat, or as LeeAnne and I call him, Moffat McMuffins. But there’s a lot of great stuff you can capture post-event and also stay tuned. I know our team is actually looking at all of the great admin content and trying to figure out how we can pull some of that and translate it into either podcast content or blog content or video content going forward. So there you go.
Mike Gerholdt: Well, Gillian, to wrap up, I feel like we haven’t had a retro, but this is a very seasonal topic because I know we’ve talked about candy a lot and costumes a lot. But in general, what if we just talk about fall, autumn, leaves, eh, mostly because this was also on the Weather channel, which I watch way too much of. But it got me thinking. And I don’t know this, but are you a fan of apple cider or pumpkin spice? Maybe both. Not together, but.
Gillian Bruce: Oh, I am not a pumpkin spice person. I’ve never liked pumpkin pie.
Mike Gerholdt: You never got on that train?
Gillian Bruce: I’ve never liked a pumpkin spice latte. But you give me some apple cider, especially a little spiked apple cider.
Mike Gerholdt: Right.
Gillian Bruce: Especially one of my favorite drinks ever is called a hot apple pie.
Mike Gerholdt: Yes.
Gillian Bruce: So I think I’ve shared this maybe on the podcast.
Mike Gerholdt: Oh, we’ve brought it up on the pod.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah. Little Tuaca, a little… Oh, what else? Frangelico, I think. And you heat it up, you put some apple cider in there, and then you top it with some whipped cream. And let me tell you, it tastes like an apple pie. It’s amazing.
Mike Gerholdt: Yeah, but liquid.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah. And boozy.
Mike Gerholdt: I would agree. I would lean towards, I can do way more apple cider than I can a pumpkin spice. I can have one pumpkin spice from Starbucks, and then I’m done. I’m good. I don’t need one every day. But one, and it’s okay. That’s fine.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah.
Mike Gerholdt: Just to get out of your system.
Gillian Bruce: I mean, it’s interesting because I like chai, but I don’t like pumpkin spice. I feel like they’re very similar. Aren’t they?
Mike Gerholdt: I don’t know. There’s a little note in the pumpkin spice that kind of tingles your nose, and you’re like, “Oh, yay.” And then you’re kind of, “All right, I’m done. I’m done.” I think I first had a pumpkin spice in like 2012, 2011.
Gillian Bruce: Well, that’s when I think the PSL was becoming a thing, right?
Mike Gerholdt: It was. Yeah.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah.
Mike Gerholdt: Somebody bought it for me.
Gillian Bruce: See that, see I know the vernacular, PSL, right?
Mike Gerholdt: I know, I don’t say that because I’d literally go up on pumpkin spice latte. Because you use as many words as possible. This is the one I’m buying. That’s it. But I could do, I can always do a good a chewy apple cider. Not that thin stuff you buy at the store. But when you go out to an orchard where there’s a man with dirt under his fingernails that his hands are calloused, and he probably rode a tractor way before you even got up and showered that morning. But when they make that apple cider, oh, let me tell you.
Gillian Bruce: That’s the stuff.
Mike Gerholdt: It’s a meal in a cup.
Gillian Bruce: Well, I mean, cider’s good. Yeah. I’m pro-cider.
Mike Gerholdt: Pro-cider. I will go cider. If I had a choice, I would go pro-cider before I picked the spice.
Gillian Bruce: You’re an apple cider sider. Okay. I’m sorry.
Mike Gerholdt: I side with the cider. I have a square to spare. I’ll also link to a fun blog post. I don’t know who wrote this that I found, Nine Fun Facts about Fall. I won’t quiz you on these, Gillian, because that’s not fair. Because I was reading through these, and I was like, “Oh, interesting.” First one, “Only in America, do we call it fall. Everywhere else in the world is autumn.” Shouldn’t be a surprise. We’re also on the imperial system. We haven’t figured out metrics yet.
Gillian Bruce: I never really thought about that until you said that. But now I’m thinking about it. So my son goes to a Mandarin Immersion preschool, and he says autumn because-
Mike Gerholdt: Right.
Gillian Bruce: … Chinese. There’s, it’s not fall, it’s autumn.
Mike Gerholdt: Because the rest of the world is autumn, right.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah. Yes. I know. It’s weird, my son speaks Chinese. It’s great. I don’t.
Mike Gerholdt: I think it’s cool.
Gillian Bruce: I think it’s awesome.
Mike Gerholdt: Also, keep up autumn because, to me, it sounds better. It sounds like a warm blanket.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah.
Mike Gerholdt: Fall is very sharp. There’s stuff in there like pumpkin spice, doesn’t taste like pumpkin. Well, yeah, we know that. Pumpkin pie doesn’t taste like pumpkin. I also had pumpkin pie when I had the flu once, so. Guess what I don’t eat at Thanksgiving?
Gillian Bruce: No pumpkin pie for you now.
Mike Gerholdt: More people fall in love in fall. Okay.
Gillian Bruce: I mean, there’s something to that.
Mike Gerholdt: We all have sweaters on and-
Gillian Bruce: I got married in the fall.
Mike Gerholdt: … flannel, so we’re more flattering in sweaters.
Gillian Bruce: Well, everyone’s getting ready, like cozy up and get all-
Mike Gerholdt: Right.
… buckle in for the winter.
Yeah. Sidle up to your cider. This I did not know. There’s more than 7,500 apple varieties.
Gillian Bruce: What? That seems like a lot.
Mike Gerholdt: Yeah, it does. Considering, you go the store, and there’s five.
Gillian Bruce: I don’t… Are there five? I feel like there’s more than five. Maybe that’s just here in San Francisco. We get all fancy with our apples.
Mike Gerholdt: Well, in Iowa, very limited choices. By the time stuff gets to us, it’s half dead anyway, so.
Gillian Bruce: Which, by the way, have you ever had an Envy apple?
Mike Gerholdt: I don’t even know what that is.
Gillian Bruce: Oh, my God. If you ever get Envy apples, they are like heaven. You should try one. It’s the best-tasting apple I’ve ever had in my life.
Mike Gerholdt: So have you ever had a… was it, Cosmic crush? That’s the type of apple, Cosmic something.
Gillian Bruce: No, it sounds like a candy or some-
Mike Gerholdt: It does.
Gillian Bruce: … or a cocktail.
Mike Gerholdt: Well, probably, I know this because the Weather Channel this morning interviewed the person from Washington State University that helps create types of apples and things I didn’t know. It takes 25 years from the moment an apple version is created for it to go through all of the testing in the various universities in the USDA and be replicated enough that it can actually be a viable selection choice to, if you’re an apple farmer, “Oh, I want to grow this type of apple.” 25 years.
Gillian Bruce: Well, I mean, they do grow on trees. Trees only grow so fast, so I get it, but.
Mike Gerholdt: 25 years.
Gillian Bruce: Okay, well, Cosmic crush, welcome to the world.
Mike Gerholdt: Things I could do without in the Nine Things you Didn’t Know about Fall. There’s a candy corn day. Awesome. Next. In case, you’re wondering, it’s October 30th. Nobody cares. Nobody eats candy corn. Listen to Lewis Black. They literally made one batch of candy corn. We keep recycling it every year. You can see the brightest fall, the moon in fall. Okay. I mean, it has been pretty bright lately.
Gillian Bruce: Well, yeah. This is when we get… What do they call it? Fall harvest moon or something.
Mike Gerholdt: Yeah.
Gillian Bruce: And it’s all big and orange.
Mike Gerholdt: Orange moon, harvest moon. Yep. The full moon. This fall is called harvest moon. Oh, look at me, fall.
Gillian Bruce: A lot of cultures have the full moon festivals and stuff this time of year, so.
Mike Gerholdt: I didn’t know that bobbing for apples was a courting ritual.
Gillian Bruce: It sounds like a really bad first date.
Mike Gerholdt: “This old-fashioned Halloween party game originally started as a British courting ritual according to Redbook.” I need more information on that, if you’re from England. I got an idea. Let’s go out and dunk our heads in water because that’s going to make you look more flattering.
Gillian Bruce: So gross.
Mike Gerholdt: Pumpkin carving time. Yep. Fall colors are caused by sugar. Didn’t know that. Sugar changing in the leaves what gives them different colors.
Gillian Bruce: Oh, I just thought it was because the chlorophyll was going away. But I guess that makes sense because the chlorophyll makes-
Mike Gerholdt: Is the sugar?
Gillian Bruce: Well, the chlorophyll. Well, that’s what makes the leaf green. I don’t know. And my science is a little rusty there.
Mike Gerholdt: I’m quite a bit rusty in science, but apparently it’s caused by sugar.
Gillian Bruce: Okay. Well, so, there you go.
Mike Gerholdt: So that was fun. I’ll link to that article. There’s literally not much else besides that, but you can find out where apple bobbing came from.
Gillian Bruce: Now, that’s an activity that I think probably isn’t coming back, especially after Covid.
Mike Gerholdt: Yeah. Have you ever been to a party where there’s apple bobbing? No?
Gillian Bruce: When I was a child.
Mike Gerholdt: Really?
Gillian Bruce: Yeah.
Mike Gerholdt: Wow.
Gillian Bruce: I totally have gone bobbing for apples.
Mike Gerholdt: Your parents went rogue. We had a corn dig because we’re in the Midwest. They just put a whole bunch of stuff inside of a basket of corn.
Gillian Bruce: Oh, okay.
Mike Gerholdt: And then you just dug it out. But you didn’t bob.
Gillian Bruce: Oh, yeah. No, I have. I’ve gone bobbing for apples. I feel like it was some festival or something. School. I don’t know.
Mike Gerholdt: It had to have been inside. I mean, well, you’re San Francisco. It could have been warmer. It’s cold in Iowa right now.
Gillian Bruce: Yeah, no, it’s like 68 degrees outside right now. It’s gorgeous.
Mike Gerholdt: Nope.
Gillian Bruce: It’s actually-
Mike Gerholdt: Nope, nope.
Gillian Bruce: … another fun fact about fall. It’s San Francisco’s best time of the year, weather-wise.
Mike Gerholdt: And we know you’re from America because you said fall.
Gillian Bruce: That’s right. Autumn.
Mike Gerholdt: Autumn.
Gillian Bruce: Autumn is the most beautiful time of year in San Francisco.
Mike Gerholdt: Autumn, what would be a pun? If you autumn want to learn more about all the things we talk? Nope. Is that? I’m really trying.
Gillian Bruce: Well, it’s like-
Mike Gerholdt: Not even-
Gillian Bruce: … numbers.
Mike Gerholdt: … an A.
Gillian Bruce: Some are even, and some are autumn.
Mike Gerholdt: Huh?
Gillian Bruce: It’s like numbers. Some are even and some are autumn.
Mike Gerholdt: Right? Yeah. That’s like a D in segues. If you have a fun segue that includes the word autumn, tweet it at me, but not before you tweet how much you want a Cloudy costume.
Gillian Bruce: Yep. Priority is Cloudy first. And then-
Mike Gerholdt: Seriously.
Gillian Bruce: … you can help us with segues.
Mike Gerholdt: If you want to learn more about all things we just talked about in this episode, please go to admin.salesforce.com to find the links in the show notes and a few more resources. You can stay up-to-date with us for all things social. We are @SalesforceAdmns on Twitter, no i. I am on Twitter, @MikeGerholdt, and Gillian is @GillianKBruce. Stay safe, stay awesome, and stay tuned for the next episode. We’ll see you in the cloud.
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