179: Cactusforce with Marisa Hambleton, Extended Pt. 2

We are back with part two of our interview with Marisa Hambleton. In part one, we discussed entrepreneurship, its pros and cons, and how the pandemic created new challenges for her.

In part two, we get into the beginning days of Cactusforce and how it organically grew from a group of developers at Happy Hour to a conference with hundreds of participants in just a few short years. She also discusses how their conference had to pivot from in-person to virtual in 2021 and how they were able to allow participants to interact with the speakers and be involved.

If you missed part one, go back to episode 178 and start there. Otherwise, enjoy part two!

Show Highlights:

• How Happy Hour amongst developers turned into a conference
• How people may not be dedicated to one technology
• The content Marisa curated at Cactusforce conferences
• How to solve dense problems and get advanced developers on stage
• How Cactusforce has grown since 2020 and managed virtual conferences in 2021

Links:

• Twitter account: https://twitter.com/marisahambleton
• LinkedIn account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marisahambleton/
• Cactusforce: https://www.cactusforce.com/
• Shirts: https://www.cactusforce.com/products
• Marisa’s company, MH2X: https://www.mh2x.com/
• More about Marisa: https://www.marisaforce.com/