Dreamforce 2025
I had the opportunity to attend the Salesforce Dreamforce 2025 conference in person this year. I was pleasantly surprised that my employer sent me to San Francisco, CA, for the event. The cost of attending was too high for me to cover personally, so I am very grateful to my employer for taking care of the expenses. The timing was a bit tight since I had just moved back to California a few weeks prior, but I managed to make it work!
I arrived a few days early to attend their Data Architect bootcamp, which turned out to be the highlight of my trip. The first three days in San Francisco were entirely focused on learning about Data Architecture. After that, I spent the remaining four days at the Dreamforce conference. Here are some key takeaways:
- Dreamforce was packed with tons of people. Over 50K people were in attendance. Make sure to get to the keynote sessions early or you won't get in. I spent a lot of time standing in line to only find out that the session was full by the time they got to me.
- Sessions were spread out across four to five buildings. Make sure to schedule sessions in the same building to save time. It's close to impossible to get from Moscone West across campus to Moscone North in time.
- I stayed at the Marriott Marquis hotel. While insanely expensive a night, it was a godsend. The hotel was right across from the conference. When the number of people got to me, I walked back to the hotel for a break to get a breather. It was so convenient that most days I took the box lunch Salesforce gave to attendees to my room to just decompress from it all.
- Dress comfortably. Yes, a lot of folks were in business suits & dressed in business attire. If you weren't presenting or meeting with clients, dress in less formal attire & be comfortable. There were so many people there that no one cared.
- The temperature in the buildings was warm. Make sure to wear light layers, bring water & things to keep you cool from the heat.