Dreamforce 2020 is going virtual: It’s official

The announcement came in on the 1st of May.

From the looks of it, there’ll be no physical Face-2-Face interactions between Dreamforce attendees this year on account of COVID 19. The same goes for most Dreamin’ events too.

In an official statement, Salesforce expressed that except for flight reservations and hotel bookings, all sponsors and tickets will be reimbursed.

In review

DF’19, the 17th Dreamforce so far, had over 171000 registered attendees last year and is said to have delivered upwards of a whopping 5870 hours of hands-on training over just four days.

It spun nearly 240M in revenue for San Fran, similar to earlier years.

Rethinking gatherings: The Covid19 impact

Salesforce is prioritizing health, not parties, so going forward, some events may only be live. And knowing Salesforce, and their penchant for blowing us away every year, we’re reading a lot into ‘the new and virtual ways’ they’ve promised to go for these events.

The fact that viewership for the virtualized Sydney World tour this year increased by 8 folds could be a sign of things to come. Though, either way, things like this are hard for organizers anywhere, and we feel for them. The US has seen a spike in cases with the recent reopening.

“So, what could change for us?”

For one thing, people won’t be walking around all day(though, some would argue that’s part of the charm). That said, it’s always a good idea to pace yourself, and not plunge into a seminar purgatory if all forthcoming events go virtual.

You’ll miss running into people you’ve only seen on LinkedIn.

And, we’re betting big on karaoke parties and sing-alongs taking off with virtual conferences and parties becoming less attractive.

We’ll probably also see dedicated virtual events and virtual production to take off in a big way too. It’s also a great opportunity for it to show off its internal collaborative solutions. One wonders if Salesforce would think of any partnerships and acquisitions in this direction.

Traditionally, Day-1 is marked by big technological announcements.

Although we’re not too sure about what remote solutions, or clouds, or apps it’ll roll out in this changed scenario. Salesforce seems serious about getting care response packages into people’s hands as soon as possible to help people. It does know how to step out and help without licking the cookie.

On the question of reduced interactions

Certainly, we’ll miss many highlights like the expert helpdesk to help you out with challenges. On the flip side, it brings users of the platform from smaller, more remote cities closer to Salesforce.

It remains to see what conference pricing will look at (can’t say if it’ll be free at this point). But kudos to the Virtual Dreamin’ community for being ahead of the curve for this one, though.

There’s also the question of last-minute attendees, as well as the way ISV only seminars will play out.

Things we’ll miss most about physical presence

Also, being at Moscone lets customers feel out a product through an experienced demonstration without jargonized flimflam. People are generally more open to talking about their problems. And, you can almost see the exact moment of chin-scratching realization of when people recognize the similarity of their problems around a relaxed setting.

It’d help you gain perspective on what other people are faced and made you realize the direction in which opportunities came from. You could let loose and collaborate like nowhere else.

Finally, the discounted certifications, breakouts, and mentoring were also things new-comers looked forward to.