Dreamforce, Salesforce’s marquee conference, comes to San Francisco annually, accompanied by a new round of handwringing about the city, its reputation, and its future.
This year’s iteration is slated to bring 45,000 people to the Moscone Center and surrounding venues to what the company bills as the “largest AI event in the world.” That numbers 5,000 more attendees than in 2023 and ranks it as the largest business conference in the city since the pandemic.
By and large, visitors from elsewhere said they were pleasantly surprised when interviewed amid the fake waterfalls, cartoon Albert Einstein mascots, and robotic arms holding trays of coffee cups. However, public safety issues were still on some people’s minds given recent events like the shooting of 49ers rookie receiver Ricky Pearsall on Aug. 31.
“I don’t see the doom spiral. It’s still safe enough to have this kind of large-scale event,” said Ryan Goss, who flew in from Dallas for the conference. In his eyes, San Francisco feels “extremely vibey.”
“There’s a lot for everybody — all different types of people, cultures, tastes, and experiences,” he said.
For his part, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff gave props to San Francisco’s fire and police department in his opening remarks for ensuring “this is a safe and trusted environment.” He also thanked the mayor for preparing the city for the program and Gov. Gavin Newsom for sending in a few hundred additional California Highway Patrol officers for security purposes.
Benioff had previously threatened to move Dreamforce out of the city before committing to return in 2024. Leaders in the local hospitality industry uttered a sigh of relief, but many are now holding their breath wondering whether the 2025 conference will remain in SF.
Salesforce leaders said a plan to keep the conference in San Francisco for the next three years is “contingent on our ability to demonstrate a safe and secure environment for Dreamforce,” according to the San Francisco Business Times.
Asked whether he plans to keep the conference in the city next year, Benioff said in a brief interview, “I’d like to as long as everything goes well. If it all goes well, why not?”
Linda Cruces flew in from Austin to attend, and said that in her eyes the media narrative around crime in the city is overblown. On the other hand, she said the AI buzz is palpable.
Cruces noted that her husband, who had never been to San Francisco, was apprehensive about joining her on the trip after reading a string of negative news headlines.
“He got instantly freaked out,” she said. She reminded him that he had lived in Washington, D.C., for years. “In the beginning, he just saw bad headline after bad headline. I was like, ‘Do more research, you’ll be fine.’”
But bad headlines exist for a reason. Nitish Kumar flew into San Francisco on Sunday from Hyderabad, India, with three colleagues who have been coming to Dreamforce since 2015.
They arrived at Rooh, an upscale Indian restaurant just down the road from the Moscone Center, for a 6:30 p.m. reservation and found parking right outside. Two hours later, one member of the group got a text message that their ATM card had been swiped at a Chevron gas station.
Our car was broken into during our visit to #SFO for @Dreamforce ,and my friend passport & valuables were stolen. @IndianEmbassyUS can you please help ?? Friend has travel planned in US this week and next week back to India. pic.twitter.com/Z7MeFD7U7s
— Nitish kumar (@nitish231) September 17, 2024
Outside, they found the car’s window smashed and one person’s laptop bag, containing their ATM card and passport, had been stolen.
“We never thought something like this could happen in front of the restaurant. It wasn’t even late at night,” Kumar said, adding, “I love this city, but it’s not the same city it was.”
The feeling that San Francisco is still staggering its way back to normalcy was a common refrain from visitors, some of whom are frequent visitors to the city.
Jace Young has been coming to Dreamforce from the U.K. for around a decade, and he’s tracked the city’s ups and downs over that time.
“Ten years ago, it was so vibrant. Now it’s slightly different but it’s getting better,” he said, noting that more restaurants and delis appear to be open compared to a year ago. “I’ve never been here without Dreamforce, so I’ve never seen the true streets.”
John Doan, who lives in Southern California and runs the mortgage lending company Equinox Home Financing, flew in for the conference. One of the first topics he raised was news of the Ricky Pearsall shooting in Union Square and the thefts and store closures that have impacted retailers in the shopping district.
When he and his wife brought their kids to the city a couple of years ago, Doan said, they were “kind of freaked out” after seeing homeless people on the streets and needles all over the sidewalks. In his short time here this week, he said San Francisco seemed to be in better shape, noting, “It’s a lot more gentrified.”
Another theme? The idea that San Francisco — for all its challenges — is still the place to go to see a glimpse of the future.
Steve Lamensdorf flew in from New York for his first trip back to Dreamforce since the pandemic. He said he’s looking forward to riding a driverless Waymo for the first time, and has sent videos to his son of robots he’s seen at the conference.
“I definitely feel the AI vibe,” he said. “I’ve been in tech for almost 20 years. San Francisco has always been a hub for firsts in tech, be it Uber to AI.”