BizBash's 10 Most Innovative Meetings 2022 is sponsored by Quest Events, MyClearText, AccessLOOP, and GTHER.
The basics: Dreamforce, the largest annual consumer-facing event from tech giant Salesforce, returned to San Francisco for its 20th anniversary from Sept. 20-22. With an in-person attendance of 40,000 (attendees are playfully known as "Trailblazers"), it was the largest trade event in the city since the onset of the pandemic. Dreamforce 2022—held at the Moscone Center and produced by George P. Johnson (GPJ)—spanned more than 1,000 sessions and 60 keynotes, and included high-profile speakers like Bono, Jane Goodall, Matthew McConaughey, and Jennifer Hudson.
"We had to rebuild muscles that had not been practiced for several years—not just internally, but with our agency partners, vendors, and community," said Erin Oles, VP of brand experiences and events marketing at Salesforce. "While we didn't start from scratch as we have incredible historical knowledge and expertise from our years past, we had a unique opportunity to re-imagine how every facet of the in-person and digital experience comes to life from our customer's viewpoint." 
"We are fortunate enough to have some of the best talent in the world when it comes to planning and executing our events," said Erin Oles, VP of brand experiences and events marketing at Salesforce. "While I'd like to say there was some secret tool we used, the real secret was ensuring our content and keynote operations and production teams knew they were trusted and had the right level of authority to run fast and at scale."Photo: Courtesy of Salesforce
Key innovations: In addition to its massive in-person footprint, the event drew a large virtual audience via Salesforce+, the company's online streaming platform, which was accessible free of charge. Digital attendees could stream sessions and enjoy exclusive digital-first content, like Dreamforce Today, a morning show hosted by Soledad O’Brien, who reported live from the event each morning.
"Our internal teams always pulse our attendees both in person and online on Salesforce+ to fully understand wins, challenges, and opportunities," explained Oles. "This year, we took and actioned some key elements to make sure our digital viewers felt connected, engaged, and informed. This included creating our unique, broadcast-only segments Dreamforce Today and Dreamforce Tonight, which made it very easy for our global, virtual viewers to plan their experience, action key takeaways from the big moments, and have clear next steps on where to find more content to dive deeper into an announcement."
Oles added, "We also had a 24/7 hour broadcast for the full three days to engage everyone around the world, and enhanced features to navigate Salesforce+ with ease." 
During day one's main keynote, Salesforce co-CEOs Bret Taylor (left) and Marc Benioff (right) unveiled the latest innovations from Salesforce, including Salesforce Genie, Slack canvas, and Net Zero Marketplace. They also showcased how customers like Ford and L’Oreal are using Salesforce products in new ways.Photo: Courtesy of Salesforce
Surprise-and-delight moments: Day one of the event featured an all-new homecoming celebration outside to celebrate a successful first day. Surprise-and-delight moments included a 15-piece marching band, a seven-piece brass band, and nine color guard performers—all provided by BDEntertainment (BDE)—parading down the city's Howard Street and leading attendees to a stage for a DJ performance. A BDE-provided drum line then led into a headlining performance from Fitz and The Tantrums.
"We have four guiding pillars for all our events that were defined based on years of seeing and hearing what our Trailblazers want. That is to learn, connect, have fun, and give back," said Oles. "This means we will always create experiences that bring each of these pillars to life in big ways for our attendees."
She noted that surprise-and-delight moments have the ability to create lasting memories. "From the marching band, to our Dreamfest concerts, to our adored characters mingling with the crowds, to creating physical spaces that inspire serendipitous fun moments and photo ops—attendees will talk about those for years to come," she said.
"My absolute favorite moment was during Dreamfest when I looked out over a full ballpark to see our Trailblazers smiling, having fun, and dancing with each other. It was a reminder that we've all missed in-person connection," she added. "It's more than just the business. The value of reconnecting is rooted deeply in our core as a community, and this turnout reminded us all just how important it is." 
Salesforce president and chief marketing officer Sarah Joyce Franklin also took the stage on day one.Photo: Courtesy of Salesforce
Lessons learned: As this year was the first time the team produced the full in-person experience alongside a robust live and on-demand broadcast experience on Salesforce+, Oles learned a lot about producing two simultaneous experiences for two very different audiences.
"For on-site, we build experiences to explore our latest innovation, dive into hands-on learning, and foster networking and peer-to-peer connection. On Salesforce+, we’re able to extend our reach to our global Trailblazer community with exclusive, digital-first content that’s optimized for the digital viewer and infused with behind-the-scenes exclusive moments," she explained. "Pulling off two, consecutive experiences side by side is no small feat. It took leaning into collaboration across our organization, partner agencies, and the community of San Francisco—and a whole lot of determination."
Learn more about our sponsors:
Quest Events is a go-to event rental partner for industry professionals based in North America. With locations across the U.S. and service capabilities in Canada, look no further for effective and efficient pipe and drape services, as well as scenic, decor, and furnishing solutions across the AV, hospitality, corporate, wedding, and exhibition industries.
MyClearText elevates events no matter the format with high-quality human captioning in real-time. Thanks to the team’s 50-plus years of technical expertise, MyClearText captions are produced at the speed of up to 300 words per minute, delivered at 99% accuracy contextually and grammatically.
AccessLOOP is a leader in adding accessibility features to all livestreamed and virtual events (think: human captioning, live sign language, translations in more than 100 languages, and more). It’s a simple workflow—the browser-based software links to your source stream and stream destinations, loops in your preferred providers, and allows you to set your on-screen layout.
GTHER is a next-gen event experience platform that’s designed to evolve with the ever-changing industry by bringing virtual event functionalities into one place. Referred to as “the Swiss army knife of virtual experience platforms,” GTHER allows its users to chat, livestream, stream real-time content, host networking sessions, create a custom-branded space, and so much more.
