Dreamforce Day 1: Here's what went down

Okay, so we miiiiight have kicked off the festivities a little early on Sunday, because we’re a) overachievers and b) we like to have fun, but we have good reason so don’t judge us. The Partner Innovation Awards ceremony happened over at the Hilton and we took home some serious hardware for Sales Cloud, FCR Media Belgium and Automotive, Jaguar Land Rover China. BRB, going to buy an extra suitcase to haul these home.

Also going down at the Hilton (it’s a happening place, seriously) was the Salesforce Women’s Network Women in Tech event. Our own CMO Alicia Hatch joined Neeracha Taychakoonavudh, SVP, Salesforce; Robin Washington, CFO of Gilead Sciences, and Fiona Tan, SVP, US Customer Technology, Walmart to discuss finding your voice and learning to walk the walk in a constructive way. We left feeling extra inspired by the great advice these incredible women gave us and ready to get up and live the Dream(force) the next day. But first, we had to party.

Over at Novela, we got to hang with our colleagues for our annual internal kickoff party and revel in the fact that we’re all really fun but also very cool and smart and brilliant. So much so that we gave ourselves awards.

Then we all went to bed early (jk lol) so we could get up and at ‘em for Day One.

We’re up! We kicked off the day (in our sensible shoes) at our Deloitte Digital Salesforce Practice meeting over at the Four Seasons where we scarfed our muffins and were entertained by the award-winning a cappella group Vocal Rush from the Oakland School for the Arts, who were INCREDIBLE and then also made us realize when we sing in the shower we’re not that great after all.

They were a tough act to follow, but our leaders did it in style. We had the distinct pleasure of hearing from our Global Salesforce Practice Leads, alliance partners, heads of DD and Deloitte Consulting, and special guest stars from Salesforce including Chief Inclusion Officer Tony Prophet, who has pretty much the coolest job ever and we’re all secretly a little bit jealous.

After the Practice Meeting, our people had to skooch, because they had places to go and things to talk about. First up? DD principal Tracie Coker Kambies, over at the Equality Lounge, brought to you by Deloitte Digital and The Female Quotient.  Tracie was part of a thought-provoking panel entitled “Creating and Equality Culture in STEM”. Samantha Parent, co-author of “Geek Girl Rising” kicked off this panel discussion with some sobering statistics about women in tech. Over the course of the hour, panelists talked about the merits of sponsors vs mentors, unconscious bias, connecting with like-minded people, and more. Some great advice we picked up from Tracie? Solicit specific and timely feedback from people you work with, and it can help you grow in your career. We wrote that down and underlined it – twice.

Next up in the Equality Lounge (programming so good, we couldn’t tear ourselves away!) was a can’t miss discussion on “How to Fuel the Next Generation of Female Leaders”, moderated by Meridith Maskara of Girls Scouts of America. The Girl Scouts are changing the world by introducing STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) to a generation of women and inspiring future leaders, and in this panel, Deloitte TMT leader Sandy Shirai, herself a former Girl Scout, troop leader and now board member, shared her own experience as computer science major and first female leader of the US technology, media, and communications (TMT) practice at Deloitte.

Over yonder at the Intercontinental, we checked out an awesome panel called “Staying Above Water in the Data Lake - Audience Engagement Strategies”.

Deloitte Digital’s Daniel Ledger and Sony’s Gulliver Smithers gave us an overview of the success of Crackle and its integration with Salesforce products. We were stoked to hear how with Salesforce, they’ve been able to give Sony incredibly detailed data that influences their targeted marketing and user retention. They’ve focused on building a relationship founded on emotion and connection to users, backed by metrics and UI. Overall, the 16-week project was completed with almost no technical challenges and provided Sony a clear path in customer acquisition and retention—we’re calling that a win-win-win. Golf claps all around.

Elsewhere at the Marriott, Deloitte Digital’s Anthony Abbatiello and Mike Bentley were dropping serious knowledge about “How Shifting Your Workforce Mindset Can Activate Your Digital Organization”. They started by taking us on a trip down memory lane, reminiscing about Fortune 500 companies that are now extinct. From there, they outlined how companies can avoid that same fate by shifting their mindset from “doing digital” to “being digital.” They also stressed the importance of not declaring “success” too quickly. Digital maturity is an ongoing process that requires organizations to value the employee experience in the same way they value the customer experience.  Now, we’re trying really hard to take their advice, but we’re just gonna go ahead and call this session a success right now.

Still at the Marriott (because it’s filled with DD geniuses and also, we’re Tracie Kambies groupies) we wanted to hear Tracie speak about how leading brands are adopting AI to drive value through customer engagement. She talked about how leading brands, including her own client delta, are using artificial intelligence to create value. Did you know? Using AI can help to increase customer satisfaction and ultimately sales effectiveness – two things that we’re completely on board with.

:: Out of breath from running across town::  We’re cool, we’re cool. Back at the Equality Lounge, we capped off our Day of Learning with a super-inspiring panel about Shattering Stereotypes: How to Be a Bias Interrupter. What’s a bias interrupter, anyway? It’s someone who isn’t afraid to speak up when they see bias (conscious or unconscious) happening – to them, or others. Led by Shelley Zalis, CEO of The Female Quotient, this panel discussed how growing people from within requires not just a removal of bias, but open minded-ness and a willingness to challenge how things have always been done.

Each year, Chairman and CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff, shares Salesforce’s vision for the future in a packed keynote address. This year’s keynote was no exception, bringing inspiration, entertainment, and education to the Dreamforce campus.

After a traditional Hawaiian blessing and hula dance to open the show, Marc took the stage to begin his much-anticipated keynote. 

“Ohana” has created an incredible Salesforce economy — one that will drive the creation of 3.3 million new jobs and more than $859 billion in new business revenues worldwide by 2022.

Another big theme of this year’s keynote: the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The world is in the midst of a wave of innovation and technology that is radically changing our economies, our societies, and our daily lives. Technology like artificial intelligence, robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are transforming the customer experience.

In a final surprise announcement, Marc revealed a new global strategic partnership with Google to deliver smarter, more collaborative experiences for customers.

And we did, to San Francisco’s historic Fillmore for an amazing concert featuring LA’s Tangerine and the one and only Anderson .Paak. It was our pleasure to host our clients and friends for an incredible night of live music, dancing and fun that capped off our first day of Dreamforce. We can’t wait to see what the rest of the week has in store!