Salesforce's Dreamforce spectacle: photos
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
The event was held at the Moscone Center, which is a linked set of complexes with enormous underground vaults to house the keynotes. The event makes millions of dollars for the city.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
Amusingly, Oracle advertising was not only on many San Francisco taxis during the event, but the company also set up helium balloons directly outside the Moscone Center.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
Inside, registering was the first order of the day.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
Waiting for the keynotes was made more comfortable if you lounged on beanbags. Close to starting time, however, the lines for keynotes were spectacularly long, with delegates saying they were queueing down the street.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
Everyone waited, entertained by Salesforce's mascot, Saasy, and other pre-speakers.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
Then, following a Hawaiian song, the man of the day, CEO Marc Benioff took the stage.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
He talked about the Arab Spring, where social platforms had such a profound effect, calling for a corporate spring where enterprises undergo a social revolution.
(Credit: Salesforce)
There were multiple guest appearances, with music stars MC Hammer and Neil Young having a short time to plug Salesforce in the keynote.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
After the Oracle advertising outside, Benioff didn't have any scruples about striking back with some anti-Oracle slides.
(Credit: Salesforce)
Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts got onto the stage to explain why social was important to the company. She showed the original diagram that Benioff drew to explain the social enterprise to her when they had their first meeting.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
After the day's Salesforce levity, everyone gathered at the centre to watch Metallica perform.
You could watch the performance from outside the Moscone Center...
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...or move inside with the crowds.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
Those who couldn't see the band because of the press, could see them above on the screens.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
San Francisco residents were asking delegates how they could get tickets to the event.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
When Metallica finished their performance, delegates moved on to after parties.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
Delegates dragged themselves into the second day's keynote, which actually started with a marriage proposal on stage by Australian journalist Charis Palmer. However, after that, the keynote was all about platforms. Facebook CIO Tim Campos weighed in about how Facebook uses Force.com.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
Delegates bored of the sessions could hang out in the cloud expo, which even had a squishy cloud floor in one of the sections.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
A massive iPad also features. Salesforce co-founder Parker Harris asked Benioff how he'd like to pull this iPad out of his pants, referring to a previous Dreamforce where he had pulled an actual device from his duds. Apple received a free plug in general, with oversized device models all over the expo floor.
(Credit: Salesforce)
Like Apple, Salesforce has its own junkies.
(Credit: Suzanne Tindal/ZDNet Australia)
With 45,000 delegates, the Moscone Center can look very crowded.
Suzanne Tindal travelled to Salesforce as a guest of Salesforce.com.