2022: Salesforce Events are Back!

After nearly 2 years, in-person Salesforce events are slowly starting again. Whilst I've enjoyed the virtual events during the pandemic, I think we can safely say there is absolutely no substitute for in-person events, especially when it comes to Salesforce ones.

It's only just struck me that many people reading this newsletter, who will be attending Salesforce events this year, will be doing so for the first time. As I've been in the ecosystem for the whole of my professional career, I've never really attended any other type of conference, and I think it's safe to say I've been spoilt with the events that are put on in the Salesforce ecosystem.

They are equal parts fun, inspiring, informative, and fantastic for growing your network.

One of my favourite aspects of these events is the diverse set of individuals you get attending, and the informal, relaxed atmosphere that the organisers create. Everyone has something in common with each other that they're passionate about, which makes talking to strangers, networking, and learning, very easy.

Connecting with old friends and meeting new ones is a highlight for me at Salesforce events, no matter where you are in the world you're sure to run into someone you know. The after-parties are pretty legendary too. It makes me laugh that after I got interviewed by Salesforce alongside a bunch of thought leaders at Dreamforce '19, the only part they decided to use in a compilation video was me talking about the parties I'm going to (0:15 seconds)!

So what can you expect for 2022?!

Types of Salesforce Events

Not including Salesforce User Groups, there are a few types of events in the Ecosystem. Starting in descending order of size, you have...

Dreamforce - Arguably one of the biggest and best tech conferences to ever exist. Salesforce pretty much shuts down the city of San Francisco for a week whilst 180,000+ attendees flood the city to learn and network.

World Tour - As the name suggests, World Tours happen in major cities across the world including London, New York, Paris, Munich, Sydney and many more. Usually, it's a smaller 1-day event that takes inspiration from Dreamforce (but still with 1k-10k attendees).

Special Events - Whilst Dreamforce & World Tour's are focussed on the general market, Salesforce has started launching more specific, large scale events for a certain group of people. Take TrailblazerDX for example (Previously TrailheaDX), an event put on for Developers, Admins & Architects. Or Salesforce Connections put on, especially for marketers.

Basecamp - Similar to World Tours, but on a smaller scale and hosted in smaller cities across the world.

Community Events - All 3 of the above events are officially organised by Salesforce, whilst these events are organised by the Salesforce community. 10 years ago you might have found only 2 or 3 of these events only in the USA - now, you will find them all across the globe.

Whilst plenty of community events have been announced for 2022, Salesforce usually plays their cards quite close to their chest for their official events. Dreamforce is usually announced 3-4 months beforehand, and the pandemic makes planning this even more difficult, especially with the number of people we are talking about.

Hopefully, with the success of the scaled-down Dreamforce event last year, and Dreamforce NYC back in December, hope is looking up for large scale official Salesforce events. Salesforce has also launched Safety Cloud, a product they used at their own events last year to verify vaccination and testing status.

Salesforce Events in 2022

So without further ado, here is a list of mostly confirmed events...

FlowFest - Ok not an in-person event, but FlowFest is happening next week. This hack-a-thon style competition is going to be a lot of fun!

DevOps Dreamin' - The first-ever DevOps Dreamin' is happening on March 31st & April 1st in Chicago.

TrailblazerDX -TrailheaDX is back rebranded as TrailblazerDX, an official Salesforce event for the more technical side of the ecosystem. Announced for April 27-28th in San Francisco.

Texas Dreamin' - Community event on April 28-29th in Austin Texas.

Northeast Dreamin' - A community event for the Northeast of the USA, April 28-29th in Providence, Rhode Island.

World Tour London - Whilst World Tour London hasn't been officially announced, I would like to hope that it will go ahead around 19th May. With around 10k attendees, London World Tour is one of the biggest events outside of Dreamforce, and based on the success, could define the official event roadmap for the rest of the year.

Czech Dreamin' - The first large-scale European event of 2022, Czech Dreamin' takes place in Prague, Czech Republic on May 27th.

London's Calling - A favourite for all community members in the UK and beyond, London's Calling is back as an in-person event on June 10th.

Southeast Dreamin' - Southeast Dreamin' hosted in Atlanta, Georgia is back on June 20-21st.

Midwest Dreamin' - One of the longest standing Salesforce community events (possibly the OG?!). Midwest Dreamin' is taking place on July 20-22nd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

WITness Success - WITness Success, is a community event designed to empower, support, and invest in Salesforce Woman in Tech. This 2-day event is hosted on July 22-23rd.

Florida Dreamin' - Back for 2022, Florida Dreamin' is a community event taking place in Orlando on October 27-28th.

Dreamforce - Whilst we are many months away from an official date for Dreamforce being announced, the question on everyone's lips is: will we return to the glory days of a 4-day mega-conference with 180,000 attendees? Only time will tell...but you can expect a date between September & November.

I'm very excited for a return to normality when it comes to Salesforce events, and I hope the pandemic allows all events to go off without a hitch. Big shout out to all the community organisers that spend a lot of their free time putting on these events for us, and I hope to see you at one soon!

Until next week,

SFB