The Data Dwell team once again travelled to San Francisco for Dreamforce 2019. We had a great time connecting with customers and partners over the 4-day event. Here are some of my highlights
Monday
Before the ‘official’ start of Dreamforce, our CTO, Skarpi Steinthorsson, earned a coveted spot to participate in the TechnoJam (an under-the-hood version of the classic DemoJam we all know and love). The TechnoJam is at an exclusive event called the CTA Summit, held the day before Dreamforce officially starts, where the agenda is specifically designed for Salesforce Certified Technical Architects.
Skarpi shared not only how our Sales Enablement app delivers increased conversion and improved customer experience, but also how it was built natively on the SFDC platform, and how Architects can work with it in conjunction with other Salesforce products. Joined by 2 other ISVs, Mahalo Commissions and NativeVideo, the first TechnoJam session at Dreamforce was a huge success! The CTAs had great feedback and questions, and we were very lucky to have Woodson Martin, the EVP of the AppExchange, join us for these presentations.
After the TechnoJam, we went to the Ladies be Architects (LBA) happy hour, where many of the CTAs from the summit joined us to celebrate the start of the week ahead and learn about the LBA sessions and workshops taking place during the week. Couldn’t have asked for a better start to the week!
Tuesday
I began Day 1 of Dreamforce off with a long run through San Francisco – and it was a beautiful day for it! The view at the top of Twin Peaks was unbeatable – this picture really doesn’t do it justice.
The TechnoJam adventure continued at the Architect Vista in the Trailhead theatre on Tuesday with more technical presentations to the Architects from Odaseva, Learnsmarter, and SalesTrip. We had 3 CTA’s attending, and it was a deep dive educational session for all the Architects in the audience.
Later that night, we went to the UK/I Party at the Hibernia Bank – a beautiful venue – for a Great Gatsby themed party. There were so many familiar faces over from EMEA enjoying the end of a full first day of Dreamforce together!
Wednesday
Today started out with another run – the DF19 Community 5K Fun Run! A bunch of us braved the early morning and woke up at 6:30 for a run along the Embarcadero. I enjoyed it so much that I continued running beyond the finish line in the other direction – until I got this stunning view of the Golden Gate bridge.
We then had the chance to meet with some of our trusted Partners – including Platinum Cubed, Cloudshift. We’re really excited to continue working with these Salesforce experts to bring our Sales Enablement app to their customers in the financial services, construction, real estate, and high tech industries. Next year, we’re planning on coming out with some webinar content and more case studies with our SI Partners – stay tuned!
Thursday
The single best highlight of Dreamforce was seeing Barack Obama take the stage. Waking up bright and early at 5:30 AM was well worth it to get into the main room and see him in person! The 45th President of the United States didn’t disappoint in this fireside chat with Marc Benioff – in a very candid conversation, with healthy banter between the two leaders, they spoke about climate change, how to encourage leaders of leaders, the future of politics, and his foundation. It’s going to be hard to top the keynote next year.
The day was full of top-notch sessions – after Obama’s speech, I saw Tom Canon from Brillio’s talk about business design and messaging workshops. We learned how Brillio use the Strategyzer framework to help app partners develop their messaging for different personas.
The night ended with the famous AppBash party! We had a great evening with our AppExchange friends Baman Motivala and Chris Hemingway, along with Kelly Browning from Gospel Tech – taking advantage of the photo booth and all its props.
Friday
The last day of Dreamforce was bittersweet. All good things come to an end! Moving out of the Airbnb that I had called home for a week, was all the better knowing I’d be seeing the Ohana at the Cigar party on the last day of Dreamforce. If you’re picturing a bunch of Salesforce folks smoking cigars – it wasn’t that.
This was my first year visiting the Cigarforce party, and beyond the name of the venue (the Cigar Bar & Grill) – cigars had nothing to do with it. Just a bunch of Salesforce folks reminiscing about Dreamforce and relaxing after an intense, action-packed week. The perfect way to round off Dreamforce.
