New to Dreamforce? Developer’s Perspective


The Dreamforce experience is one of a kind. There is no denying it. Dreamforce is one of the largest conferences in the United States, shutting down entire blocks of downtown San Francisco. Last year there were stages set up in the middle of the street with live music during the entire conference. There was a putting green. There was even a station where attendees could use bicycles to charge their electronics. If you haven’t bought into the hype of Salesforce before you go, trust me, you will be drinking the kool-aid by the time you leave. It is just extraordinary and breathtaking.

Now, with all of that said, it is important to know that Dreamforce is not a tech conference. It is more of a sales/marketing conference with some tech mixed in. The good news? Well, the tech part of this conference is bigger than most pure tech conferences. Dreamforce has the Developer Zone. The Developer Zone at Dreamforce is the largest gathering of cloud developers anywhere. This year, the Developer Zone contains 300 tech sessions focusing on Apex, Visualforce, and basically anything technical about the Force.com platform. It contains a Hackathon, a programming contest with great prizes, as well as collaboration stations to meet and work with other developers of the platform. On top of all of the planned sessions, the Developer Zone also hosts Breakout Sessions, which are unscheduled sessions where anyone with a cool idea can come present. It is an amazing place to learn and grow your personal skills with some outstanding technical minds.

With the size of the conference, it can be a bit daunting to really know what to do and when. If you are new or old, here is some information/links that may help you get the most out of your experience:

  • Dreamforce FAQ provides a ton of great information
  • Join the discussion on Twitter using the #df13 hashtag and follow @Dreamforce
  • When building your agenda be sure to take into consideration time to eat lunch, time to travel (check the location of each session – again, this conference is HUGE and traveling takes time!), and time to socialize
    • Under each session in the Agenda Builder, there is a Location accordion that can be expanded to view the layout of the conference to the location of the session.
  • Give yourself some time to experience the Expo
  • Dreamforce is a ton of fun and that means parties! Make sure you get a chance to get to some of these
  • Get certified for half price on Monday Nov. 18th
  • Show up to sessions early! It could take as long as 5-10mins to get into a session (you have to be registered and they will scan your Dreamforce badge to verify)
  • Wear comfortable shoes. You will be walking all day, each day.
  • See Green Day perform at AT&T park as part of your conference pass
  • On the My Agenda tab of the Dreamforce App, you can download your agenda as PDF or Outlook/iCal
  • Get involved in Dreamforce’s Chatter

At the end of the day, the most important thing to do is to get out there and enjoy yourself. This is a one of a kind experience. Have fun, learn, and meet some great people. If you see me out there, say Hello!

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