Dreamforce made headlines last month after the now-viral moment where comedian John Mulaney roasted Salesforce’s “imminently expendable” workforce for wearing “fleece vests” and embodying every other bro stereotype business technology.
“The fact that there are 45,000 ‘pioneers’ here couldn’t devalue the title any more,” Mulaney added during his 45-minute set, adding that the Salesforce employees who filled the audience around him looked “like a group watching the CVS self-checkouts and thought, “This is the future.”
The reality is that hiring a comedian for an event like Salesforce’s flagship annual conference leaves a lot of room for catchy remarks that end up as headlines or memes. And while there are likely event planners who would like to avoid Mulaney saying that their company’s employees “work on products that are totally fine,” this moment could also be hailed as a case study aimed at to push the limits. After all, Oscar Wilde said, “The only thing worse than talking about it is not talking about it.” »
One thing is certain: Dreamforce 2024 was full of other moments that were also worth talking about, especially for other event organizers. Here are the top three reasons why:
Staying relevant when it comes to programming and attendee preferences
Not every show can take over San Francisco’s 2 million square foot Moscone Center for three days like Dreamforce. However, event organizers at all scales can learn from Dreamforce’s ability to stay relevant by leveraging what programming attendees want to see and how they want to see it.
Unsurprisingly, Salesforce’s own data has proven that artificial intelligence (AI) is still at the forefront of business leaders’ minds. From September 17 to 19, the company welcomed 45,000 in-person attendees to enjoy AI-related programming, featuring more than 70 leading figures in the field, including tech journalists Kevin Roose of the New York Times and Casey Newton of The Verge. .
Salesforce also took advantage of the event to bring Agentforce to life. All-things Agentforce, a standalone customer and employee support program, was hosted in the Agentforce launch pad.
When it comes to implementing more AI, a Salesforce spokesperson told TSNN that Salesforce frequently finds that business leaders are concerned about “facing hidden costs when trying to tinker their implementation of AI”.
So rather than demonstrating the new technology in the launch area, attendees were invited to take a seat and build their own AI robot prototype. Salesforce reported that as many as 10,000 autonomous agents were created during Dreamforce 2024, each with unique capabilities to meet the specific needs of their creators’ respective businesses.
Perhaps even more impressive is that each AI agent was created “in minutes,” the Salesforce spokesperson said, highlighting the company’s efforts to integrate AI ” deeply at the heart of the customer journey.”
The 22nd annual Dreamforce featured more than 1,500 sessions and workshops. However, new this year were personalized trail maps, which participants could use to create their own agenda on site. True to Salesforce’s own AI initiatives, the tool curated sessions and experiences based on a guest’s role and interests.
Another notable addition this year: “deep learning sessions,” such as hands-on training sessions, roundtables and workshops, had reserved seating. Reservations could be made in advance in the Dreamforce app. However, other educational programs – including a popular session with Matthew McConaughey and Jane Goodall titled “Leading with Purpose, Building for Legacy” – seats were offered on a “first come, first seated” basis.
Monitoring the economic impact
Numbers don’t lie and you don’t always need to include dollar signs to prove ROI.
When it comes to Dreamforce, the numbers reveal the impact of the event, particularly on the local community. Here are the most notable figures from this year’s event:
- $93 million: approximate amount generated for the city of San Francisco
- More than $112 million: Money raised with help from Dreamforce’s Dreamfest fundraiser, headlined this year by P!nk and Imagine Dragons, for the past decade (President and CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff, and his wife, Lynne, have also personally donated more than $100 million to the hospital over the years.
- 100,000: approximately the number of plastic bottles Dreamforce has avoided ending up in landfills thanks to compostable packaging and on-site recyclable lanyards and badges
Reduce when it counts
For an event as large as Dreamforce, the organizers seem to be paying special attention to keeping it accessible. After all, Salesforce advertises that “everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend, whether new to Salesforce or a long-time user of the product,” and it calls its trade show a “campground.”
There were some pretty ambitious touchpoints throughout, like a headlining performance by Elton John and interactive AI robot dogs that roamed the event campus. “Providing both entertainment and education on how they can perform different functions,” according to a Salesforce spokesperson, these “dogs” can take on search and rescue roles in small and difficult environments. access by “seeing” via “infrared”. their nose.
There were also contact points accessible to event organizers facing all kinds of constraints. Consider the old-fashioned “idea wall,” a good old bulletin board where guests were encouraged to stick handwritten notes about their thoughts and ideas. There were no limits on what could or could not be posted, making for “a great conversation starter,” as was originally reported in TSNN’s sister publication MeetingsNet.
It’s also worth mentioning that all of Dreamforce’s programming was delivered via Salesforce+. Although numbers related to this year’s registrations for the live streaming service have not yet been released, previous versions of Salesforce+ attracted millions more attendees worldwide each day of the event.
Already considering participating in Dreamforce? The next one is expected to return to San Francisco in mid-September 2025. (Exact dates TBD.)
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