At this point, you’re probably good and primed for all the “How to get the most out of Dreamforce” articles hitting the web. Not wanting to miss out on the action (and since we have quite a few seasoned Dreamforce vets on the team), we thought we’d offer a few of our own tried and true survival tips you can take with you to San Francisco — which we hope will help you thrive at the biggest sales conference of the year!
1. Get Ready to Walk
If you’re like us and hail from a place more heavily reliant on automobiles for transportation, expect that to change. The rule of thumb at Dreamforce is walk, walk and walk some more. Though there is a Dreamforce shuttle; it’s often faster to walk.
2. Make an Investment in Shoes
On that same note, since you’ll be walking non-stop for 4 days, you’ll want to make sure you have a pair of comfy walking shoes that are broken in and ready to go. Heck, you might even want to invest in a new pair because there’s no doubt you’ll be putting some mileage on whatever pair you bring.
3. Eat, Sleep, Be Healthy.
It might sound obvious, but there’s seemingly always stress from travel, booth preparations, meetings and any number of other last minute fires — so you have to make it a priority to take care of yourself. Stick to these tips to make sure it happens:
- Set goals for what you want to get out of Dreamforce, like which sessions you’d like to attend and who you need to make time to meet. Setting realistic goals will help keep you from becoming overwhelmed, while fostering a more productive and fruitful experience on the whole.
- Get plenty of sleep before leaving, because even with the best planning you’ll likely have some late nights and early mornings.
- Bring vitamins and other medicinal basics. You never know what might come up!
- Bring warm clothes. San Francisco is absolutely beautiful, but temperatures can really dip down in October. Should the temperatures head that way, staying warm will make your Dreamforce experience considerably more enjoyable.
- Schedule time to eat and stick to it! It can be tempting to put off little things like eating, but making time for healthy meals will keep your energy levels optimized throughout the day.
4. Eat Some Fish
San Francisco is a prime seafood location, so you’d be wise to make eating fish a staple of your trip. It’s fresh, more consciously sourced, tasty and is packed with enough protein and energy to power you through those longs day. Americans on average consume only 15 pounds of seafood per person, per year, compared to an average of 195 pounds of eggs, pork, beef and chicken. Consider changing that up for this trip.
5. Register for Sessions Ahead of Time
Get into the Dreamforce agenda builder and start registering for sessions – they fill up fast! And since you’re making the trip, you won’t want to find yourself on the outside looking in.
6. Didn’t Register for a Session? Arrive Early.
If there are sessions you want to attend but didn’t register for, arrive at least 30-min ahead of time to secure the front of the backup line. There will be registrants who don’t show up — so the more important the session is to you, the closer to the front of that line you’ll want to be.
7. Make Time for Friendly Faces
Stop by and visit our booth! We’re booth N1123 in Moscone North, and will be talking the latest in sales motivation and technology, showing off new product features and just having a good time. Look forward to demonstrating your golf prowess by sinking a hole in one on our putting green, which if you’re successful, will put you in the running for some fancy prizes we’re giving away.
You can view and save this graphic for our full Dreamforce schedule, and check out some of the exciting sessions and events we’ll be a part of.
Have some good Dreamforce tips of your own? Let us know in the comments or @leveleleven on twitter!
