27 September 2023 - My Highlights from Dreamforce 2023

I know, its been a long while since I last wrote on my blog, so I thought I would break the silence with my thoughts on this year's Dreamforce. 

For those not in the know, Dreamforce is Salesforce's flagship yearly conference in San Francisco where thousands of Ohana friends and family gather and talk all things blue cloud. This and last year's events have had a more intimate turnout of around 40,000 attendees, a far cry from the 170,000 heady days of the pre-Covid and cost of living crisis that we now live in. There were also remarks that the city of San Francisco was not looking its best and had been struggling with increased homelessness, crime and grime. There was even a suggestion from Benioff that he would move Dreamforce away from his home town due to these issues in an attempt to kick the city into action. It seemed to work for the 3 days of Dreamforce. Now they need to extend that for all times and bring the city back to former glory. 

Putting these issues aside, it was still great to be returning to the home of Salesforce and being part of the Dreamforce show. And let's face it, Dreamforce is a show. Its an event with magnitude and theatre. It takes over the city and closes a road off to transform it into the Dreamforest with the large Dreamforce 'banner' at the entrance and this year with an interactive AI waterfall, along with the usual coffee and food points, bands and sustainability initiatives to get involved with. 

The Moscone buildings and surrounding hotel venues had been transformed into large arenas to show-case the latest functionality, in elaborate theatre styles for attendees to engage with. I personally really like these aspects of the conference. While I do attend sessions, I also make sure I have time to absorb my surroundings and to interact with the exhibits. They are usually fun examples of the new functionality available on the platform. Its a novel way to learn and I'm totally bought into it. 

My Dreamforce actually started earlier than the planned Tuesday. I arrived on the Saturday evening, so Sunday was spent aclimatising to the timezone with a good American diner breakfast, shopping, important roof-top bar champagne drinking and introducing the newbie Dreamforce Ohana to some of the institutional venues on the conference trail.

Monday was when my Dreamforce officially began with a special Salesforce MVP day, hosted at the Tower. We had meetings with Product Managers to learn about the investment they have made into AI and the key messages that we would be hearing over the next few days. I personally really value these conversations as you can get past some of the PR fluff and feedback your thoughts directly. We also had a sustainability section where we learnt more about bees and then built and painted boxes for them. Taking a moment to paint a box can be very relaxing and mindful. Our day concluded with a MVP Hall of Fame ceremony, inducting and celebrating those with over 5 years of tenure in the MVP program. 

Tuesday kicked off the official program of Dreamforce events and we were told this was the largest AI conference in the world. Yes, the theme was AI and it was everywhere. Considering as AI has entered into our lives in a big style these past 6 months, its something that businesses can no longer ignore. Time to get on the bus. 

After quick selfies with the founders, Parker Harris and Marc Benioff I entered into the Trailblazer Forest to deliver my own presentation for Dreamforce, with my talk on, 'Get Career Path Guidance as a Salesforce Admin'. I even used AI to create my images and mentioned about AI roles in my career spaghetti path. Told you, AI was everywhere! 

Dreamforce isn't just about theatre and sessions, there is networking and fun to be had too. Consider it a balanced event for your senses! All 3 nights didn't disappoint with plenty of activities to get involved in, and to catch up with friends and make new acquaintances. 

Tuesday evening was the Salesforce MVP party, followed by the Salesforce Ben party. I'm glad my commitments were all done on the Tuesday.

On Wednesday night we were treated to Dreamfest, the annual gig night to raise funds for Benioff's children's hospital and this year we had the delight of the Foo Fighters who were amazing. 

Thursday evening was strictly the end of Dreamforce but events were still playing out for those who were not ready to go home. For me, I started at Elements Cloud Wine Down, followed by the Cigar Bar Shindig. 

Friday morning was spent with the traditional 'survivors breakfast' at Mel's Diner, where people rock up and join a forever growing number of tables of the Ohana, all needing some sustainance after 3 gruelling days of learning, networking and fun. 

One last activity before heading home was a trip to the 61st floor of Salesforce Tower, also known as the Ohana floor. I'd been previously in 2018, when it first opened, and in 2019, so it was nice to return again with a large group, many of the Dreamforce newbies, to show them around. 

A wander around Salesforce park afterwards completed this year's Dreamforce experience before heading back to the airport and a flight home. 

Dreamforce is a show. Its a sales experience for customers and prospects to buy into the platform and learn about the latest features. I know that, but there is nothing quite like it. No competitor can come close to Salesforce for their razzamatazz and showmanship and I still love it. I will be back for more.