I’ve been to my fair share of tradeshows. Usually they’re pretty good: sessions are informative, food is ok, drinks are free, and I walk away with a handful of new connections in that industry (and a bag full of schwag that the kids can divvy up when I get home). This year is my first trip to Dreamforce (not for lack of trying in previous years) and already I can tell:
Dreamforce is different.
Last year’s Dreamforce announced Chatter…a social network that runs inside the enterprise. Less than a year later, Salesforce is using that same tool to dramatically change the tradeshow experience. Within the Dreamforce registration portal, users will find a new Chatter instance dedicated to conference attendees. I can start connecting with other users right now… to share our background, interests, and goals for the week. I uploaded my photo so that people might recognize me and start a conversation (I might have to wear my orange hat). And, I can follow groups and individual sessions to learn who else will be there and what they want to learn.
Suddenly, Dreamforce is not a 4 day conference in December where 16,000+ people watch a keynote, attend sessions, network, and party celebrate. (well, it IS still all of that…don’t panic). Now it’s a gathering of community members that have been talking long before day one. We’re not walking around looking to shake hands with anyone who will shake back. We’re seeking out colleagues with similar interests for that first face-to-face meeting. We’re not walking into a session with no prior knowledge about what it will cover and who else will be there. We’ll have been talking about it for weeks…months even!
That’s different. That’s cool!
If you’re signing up for Dreamforce now, make sure to fill out your Chatter profile and start talking. If you’ve already registered, go back in and get started. Every new discussion benefits the entire Dreamforce experience.
Look me up once you’re in there and let’s connect.
Oh…and for you exhibitors…you could disclose your schwag now (via Chatter) so I can get my kids’ order up front….just sayin’.
Don’t get me wrong…Salesforce.com’s “Sales Cloud” and “Service Cloud” are top-notch. But I’m a developer, so I’m all about the Custom Cloud. If you’re just tuning in, Custom Cloud represents the Force.com development platform that makes the rest of Salesforce.com hum. With it, you can customize Salesforce.com to your heart’s content. Or, you can build brand new applications that have nothing to do with sales or customer service.
Ingo, 
@forceDotMom, 
Jimmy and 2 others are discussing. 
Very cool, thanks for sharing!
You VF code is not showing up, though, even wrapped in pre and code tags. Have to view source to get the VF tagged code. Tried Chrome, FF, and IE.