Dreamforce Experience

Heading to Dreamforce? Get the most out of it!

We asked our Dream Team of Salesforce experts–with a combined 40+ trips to Dreamforce under their belts–for their top tips and tricks to help YOU get the most from your Dreamforce experience! Check out their “Top 5” recommendations:

Top 5 Tips for Attending Dreamforce in San Francisco

1. Try and get a hotel near downtown: Enjoy yourself and know you will not be able to get everything in at Dreamforce, but have a plan going to San Francisco and you will get plenty of knowledge during the week.
2. Show up early for everything!
3. Participate in the challenges and stop by the Trailhead Area, learning is the primary reason you attended, right? Also stop by the Expo, but only do that for part of one day. Walk the expo floor and chat up those who may have a solution to help bridge your gap.
4. Don’t be afraid to check out other industries or session topics. The conference is a firehose of information, and if you’d like to dabble in something unfamiliar, there’s plenty of opportunity to do so. Branch out and explore the campus. Sit in a random session, network with someone or something new.
5. Turn off your phone and immerse in the experience. I know that’s hard to do, but it’s also easy to get sucked in to things back at home and miss many of the things that are going on in front of you. (Don’t always follow the crowd.)

Top 5 Things To Bring to Dreamforce

1. Comfortable shoes: You’ll be easily putting in 15,000+ steps a day and standing on your feet a LOT.
2. Power: Bring a battery/juice pack to ensure you are not caught short on power.
3. Communication plan: If you are attending in a group, setup a way to communicate with your group before you leave for Dreamforce. Know how to reach them and know they can reach you. This comes in handy not just in the event you lose each other, but also for alerting each other to new or interesting things that members of your group found that they think the rest of your group should check out.
4. Water bottle: BYOWB or Bring Your Own Water Bottle. Yes, you’ll likely get a water bottle when you walk up to the registration desk. However, it’s often a cheap plastic and not washed yet. If you get dehydrated while traveling, and if you bring your own bottle, you can hydrate while at the airport or throughout the conference at one of the many water bottle stands throughout the conference.
5. Space in your luggage. The Trailhead zone usually offers some fun mascot swag for completing challenges, and the customer expo has a plethora of vendors handing out anything from pens and bottle openers and koozies to decks of cards, drones, and ukuleles.

Top 5 Dreamforce Session Planning Tips 

1. Have a game plan and schedule well ahead to get desired sessions. If a session is full and you really wanted to attend it, don’t fret, arrive 60 or 30 minutes early to line up in the overflow line outside the session door… it’s not a guaranty that you will get into the session, but often people who registered do not arrive and so they fill the remaining open seats from the overflow line.
2. Bookmark all of the sessions you are interested in. Keep on eye on session and builder and sign up for any and all sessions you would like to attend.  If you have conflicting sessions you would like to attend, make sure to bookmark them!
3. Stretch your thinking. Choose sessions that apply directly to initiatives within your company, but also choose one or two that will stretch your thinking.
4. Show up early to your sessions – at least 10-15 minutes ahead of time. If you are registered for a session, do not arrive to it late or you risk losing your seat!
5. Don’t stress out about what sessions you can’t attend, most of the sessions are recorded and you can review the material afterwards.

Top 5 Networking tips for Dreamforce

1. Make time to network. Walk the expo floor or chat with the staff at the ‘Ask the expert’ booth or stick around after a session to see if you can get some one-on-one time with the presenter(s).
2. Start a conversation: The best experiences and lessons I’ve walked away from Dreamforce with are those learned from just starting conversations with people. Everyone attending is there for the same thing – learning and sharing.
3. Seek out and network with folks in your similar situation: (i.e small company with no administrative help, have salesforce but can’t get the adoption up, administrators looking to get more development skills, look for similar market segments, etc.).
4. Find a local user group: User groups are a great way to continue learning or discussing Salesforce. In addition to user groups, be on the lookout for community events in your area or Salesforce tours and events in your metropolitan area.
5. What about next year? Plan ahead! Want to attend Dreamforce again? Then consider on getting involved with the community. Talk to your local user group leader on how you can get more involved. Better yet, consider presenting at Dreamforce!

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