Dreamforce 2016 in retrospect

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff welcomed over 170,000 people from 83 countries to downtown San Francisco this week for Dreamforce 2016.

Now in its 14^th year, the conference featured over 3,000 sessions, with keynotes, expos, training sessions and more at venues across the city. Benioff put philanthropy at the heart of his typically enigmatic keynote this year, while using the company’s blockbuster event to welcome new products, put rivals in their place, and address rumours that the company is edging closer to buying Twitter. Here’s the story of Dreamforce 2016 – as told by Marc Benioff:

On the future of Salesforce: “1.9 million jobs are going to be created in the Salesforce.com community over next 3 years.”

On Salesforce Einstein, the company’s artificial intelligence technology: “We are in this incredible new world of artificial intelligence where everything is getting smarter. We can see a world coming where Salesforce has AI built into every core of the platform. We have a hundred of the world’s top AI experts working on this. Our job is to make the complex simple.”

On Trailhead: “Anyone can learn about Salesforce through Trailhead. You can follow trails for product knowledge, leadership and management, and even HR and culture to set off on your path toward being a Customer Trailblazer. [It’s] the zone where you have trust with your customers, your partners, and your communities.”

On reports Salesforce is interested in buying Twitter: “We look at everything. You name it, we look at it. It’s in our interest to look at everything. We have to go deep on everything to understand what is possible for our shareholders and what isn’t. But in the scheme of things, if you look back at my track record as a CEO I think you’ll find I look at a lot of things, [but] I actually pass on most things.”

On putting philanthropy at the heart of Salesforce culture: “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.”

On inequality: “You want to fight inequality? It starts with education.”

On Salesforce recruitment: “The secret to successful hiring is this: look for the people who want to change the world.”

On Oracle’s co-founder Larry Ellison: “He’s a very sensitive person. We’re going to hit $8.3 billion [in revenue] this year. I mean the numbers are not that bad. And Larry Ellison said on his call that ‘We’re the only one selling more than $2 billion this year in cloud,’ and I’m like, ‘Did you look at our financials? or ‘Do you just pretend we don’t exist?’ I’m not sure.”

On the 14^th annual Dreamforce: “These are opportunities to become closer, more connected to our customer than ever before. That’s the power of our community. Today, as a CEO, you have to truly listen to your customers and build trust at every single touchpoint.”

Want to attend Dreamforce 2017? Look out for all the details at salesforce.com/dreamforce.

This piece was contributed by Mason Frank International