Dreamforce Day Three: Five Things to Make Dreamforce Better

By Jason Stewart  - September 19, 2007

Another great Dreamforce come and gone...but what could make 2008 even better?

First things first, this was a great event. Tom Wong, this year's chair, deserves an extra week of paid time off after this one. The tracks were informative (and in many cases standing room only) and the keynotes were smart, entertaining and fun to watch. Day three is always sort of anticlimactic -- there are some great tracks but no organized, general session events like the previous two days. That being said, here are five suggestions to improve upon an already great event.

Why are developers the only ones with a lounge?
There is a space called the Developer's lounge, where the speakers from the track sessions often gather after their talks for one on one conversations. There is seating, special giveaways and activities (like a big screen set up with a Wii to play on). I'll be honest. I have lounge envy. I want one. I think every track should have their own. A perpetual "birds of a feather" area for conversations after the breakout sessions and a quiet environment to network. And a place to play Wii sports bowling. That game rocks.

Limit the general sessions to one per day
Hey, I get it. Those platinum sponsors are important, you got to pay the bills. And an event of this magnitude can't be cheap. But that second session on the first day? You know the one...where the big dollar paid sponsors get the podium for two hours. Cut it. Or shorten it. Or make it optional. Leave the expo hall open. Move it to the third day. Or move it to the second and put the big name guest speaker (your Colin Powell and your George Lucas) on day three, which needs something more in it's corner. Do something. Everyone knows those companies paid for the privilege to speak, and everyone is okay with that because without sponsors like those Dreamforce would suffer. But two in one day is a lot to ask of us. That's why the second session on day one is the session people cut to get caught up on email. With a little effort you could turn it into another can't miss event, like the opening keynote or the big guest speakers.

Create a new track: Guerilla Salesforce.com
Bigger does not necessarily mean more interesting. At the keynotes, and at the awards, and in the breakout sessions the customer references and case studies are overwhelmingly dominated by big customers. I understand. Big customers are cool. But last time I checked, the vast majority of customers - heck the vast majority of partners - all have less than 100 employees. I was in one marketing track where the speaker asked how many attendees worked in marketing departments with less than five people in them. Most of the room raised their hands. Here's what you do. Create a track dedicated to best practices and creative ways to use Salesforce.com without a lot of extra development, and without a single App off the AppExchange that you can't download for free. I think it's great that there are S-Controls and Apex code, but if I asked my VP of Engineering to borrow some programmer time for this cool idea I had that would save me a little time every week he would look at me like I was crazy (no offense, Larry). And there is a ton of incredible stuff put out by Salesforce labs available for free. Let's hear more about it. And create an Appy Award that a customer with less than 100 seats has a shot at winning. "Most Creative Use of Salesforce.com Without Spending a Penny."

Don't forget your roots
Force.com is a great step forward for the company. It is a ground-breaking platform that is going to revolutionize the way we do business. But it is not why I love Salesforce.com. CRM and SFA is what still what keeps me logging in day after day. As more and more time at every event is dedicated to the platform, that means less and less time is spent on the product. Force.com is great. But so is Salesforce.com.

Make it easier for the locals
I run the local user group for Salesforce.com...for a little while longer, anyway. I need to step down, as Demandbase is a partner now. But anyway, as the local user group leader a few people asked me why the local attendance is low at events like this. The biggest reason is that going to Dreamforce lowers our quality of life. We get up at 5 to leave the house by 6 to get there by 8. Then we get home late, only to repeat the process the next day. Help us out. Maybe offer a shuttle to the BART or MUNI station to ease a little time off the commute. Also, a lot of us (and not just the locals) still need to work, even though we are at the event. Just look at the people sprawled out in the hallways and corridors sucking up the wireless bandwidth. As a local, some of us are still even expected to make an appearance at the office. That means we have to leave the site, and with travel time we may miss one or two breakout sessions that would have maybe helped us do our jobs better. How about a dedicated, quiet area set aside with decent seating so we can get some work done and don't have to leave? A lot of work has been done to make Salesforce.com "sticky" so we don't leave, make the event the same way. Make it okay to stay. Keep us on site.

Okay, then. Please don't think this is a negative post. Dreamforce is the gold standard for events of this type. I have gone for four years, and plan to go next year. Keep up the good work, guys.