Dreamforce is Salesforce’s flagship event in San Francisco and one of the biggest and most impressive tech conferences in the world.
Every Salesforce professional hears about this event early on in their career, and pretty much everyone in the ecosystem has the desire to attend. However, it’s not cheap, which is almost always the prohibiting factor in attending. So let’s take a look at what Dreamforce is really like, and whether it’s worth the $5K total cost.
What Is Dreamforce Like?
Dreamforce is the perfect mix of a tech conference and Coachella-style festival. In other words, it’s the ultimate theme park for Salesforce professionals. The three-day conference is filled with presentations from Salesforce thought leaders from around the world as well as networking opportunities and areas to work, relax, and have a lot of fun.
Hosted at the Moscone Centre in San Francisco, Salesforce literally shuts down San Francisco by closing down Howard Street which sits in between Moscone North and South to create “Dreampark” – a magical, national park-inspired setting with two huge arches that welcome you into the heart of Dreamforce.
The “learning” part of Dreamforce is split into a huge amount of sessions to attend; this year includes over 1,500.
They are split into various styles including smaller 20-minute sessions, hands-on workshops, and keynote sessions for most products such as Sales and Service Cloud, as well as roles, such as the admin and developer keynote.
As you would expect at Salesforce’s flagship event, Dreamforce is where the vast majority of major announcements are made for the year ahead. This includes the general direction Salesforce are heading at the main keynote featuring CEO Marc Benioff, as well as the roadmap for specific products. Alongside this, there are A LOT of teasers that are revealed.
Just as you might expect to run into fun activities, games, and the most random experiences at some festivals, so will you at Dreamforce. It can be fun to just walk around, chat with the Salesforce community, and fall deeper into the Ohana.
At night, Dreamforce truly comes alive. The Salesforce community loves to work hard, as well as party hard. Over the course of the week, there will be 50+ partner parties and events hosted in the evening. From smaller happy hours for networking, all the way up to large-scale club nights (something we like to specialize in).
Although there are events going on from Monday to Thursday, Salesforce’s official party is called Dreamfest and is hosted on the Wednesday. Dreamfest is a huge event, hosted this year at Oracle Park with Elton John performing. Previous acts include Foo Fighters, U2, Metallica, and Alicia Keys.
What Is the Value of Attending Dreamforce?
Generally, employers (and rightly so) will require some justification for attending. Typically, this will involve selling the value that you will bring to your business after attending. It’s not unheard of for people to pay for themselves to attend, especially if you are a freelancer or contractor and can expense the cost. You can also significantly reduce the cost by getting accepted as a speaker at Dreamforce, which provides you with a free ticket.
Dreamforce is a big commitment for most people. It takes a week out of work, there is a large expense, and it can be pretty exhausting. So what are the major benefits of attending?
Well firstly, Dreamforce offers unrivaled learning opportunities for the week. No matter if you are a marketer, admin, developer, consultant, or executive, there will be plenty of sessions for you to attend in your area of expertise. Or you can branch out into new areas that might bring value to your company.
Of course, there is no escaping the fact that Salesforce is a huge marketing and sales event for Salesforce. However, if you are considering certain Salesforce technologies for your business, this is the chance to see some of the newest products and speak to experts and Salesforce product managers.
This brings me to my next point, and most people would agree is one of the biggest benefits of Dreamforce – networking!
Even if you aren’t the kind of person to introduce yourself to everyone in the room, you will naturally meet people throughout the week. In queues for coffee or food, at happy hours, in sessions, or at certain demo/ISV booths.
For me, networking offers many benefits. Of course, you can subsequently add people on LinkedIn and count them in your “network”, which could help down the line in your career. But it’s also the chance to learn from your peers and those who have years more experience than you. You can ask questions, discuss some of your biggest challenges, and get closer to solving them.
Finally, whether it’s a work event or not, Dreamforce is a lot of fun. It’s the peak of the Salesforce calendar, and for those who are fully bought into a life in the Cloud, it’s a great place to learn, discover, network, and loosen up a bit!
How Much Does It Cost?
The vast majority of people attending Dreamforce will be getting their employers to pay for the trip – after all, it is a work conference. Despite this, it is a very expensive experience. The total cost will be somewhere around $5,000-$7,000, which includes:
- $2,000 for your ticket.
- $500-2,000 on your flight.
- $2,500 for your hotels (Typically Dreamforce hotels will be $500 a night but prices may vary).
- A bit of pocket money.
Is Dreamforce Worth It?
It’s important to note that many of the major Dreamforce keynotes are available to live stream on Salesforce+, which means you can technically sit at home with your feet up and discover some of the major new announcements. However, the majority of the sessions aren’t streamed, and these include more niche product announcements or industry sessions.
Whether Dreamforce is worth the price tag depends on the value you will derive from it. Salesforce is an expensive tool, and many companies will be paying millions of dollars for their implementation. Therefore, a trip to Dreamforce, the lessons that can be learned, and the connections that can be made, could be looked at as a drop in the ocean.
From a personal perspective, Dreamforce is an amazing week full of fun and enables the opportunity to really accelerate your career. From the perspective of your employer, it can bring a huge amount of value, but that depends on what you expect to get out of the week. This is what you will have to convince your boss of!
Summary
Dreamforce is an incredible event. Many people have attended every year for a decade or more. But the week is what you make of it, and rigorous planning and execution is the name of the game.
Are you attending Dreamforce this year? Be sure to let us know in the comments!
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