Scenes From Salesforce.com's Dreamforce Conference

Capacity Crowd

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff welcomed an estimated 18,000 attendees to Dreamforce 2009 in San Francisco last week. Originally the company expected some 12,000 attendees. Benioff said the huge turnout is a sign of how quickly cloud computing is catching on. "Cloud computing has been a huge shift for the industry," Benioff told the assembled crowd.

Chattering Away

Salesforce used Dreamforce as the launch pad for Sales Cloud 2 and Service Cloud 2, updates to the vendor's popular Software-as-a-Service CRM and service applications.

Software You Can, Uh, Sink Your Teeth Into

Posters like this one promoting Salesforce Chatter were ubiquitous throughout the Moscone Center. To further make its point the company handed out thousands of plastic, wind-up false teeth to attendees.

Small Cars, Big Conference

Salesforce had a fleet of Mini Coopers at the Moscone, painted sky blue with clouds and the company's "no software" logo. Salesforce had paraded the same cars around the Moscone Center in October during Oracle OpenWorld in an effort to annoy Oracle executives.

What Is that…?

That's "SaaSy," the Salesforce mascot. The name comes from "SaaS" or Software-as-a-Service. He (or she, or it, no one is really sure) could be seen during the conference walking about the Moscone, getting his picture taken and trying to high-five attendees.

Don't Get Sassy With Me

Dreamforce attendees were offered the opportunity to get their pictures taken with SaaSy. It looks like they were expecting more people to take advantage of the photo op.

But Their Feet Are Firmly On The Ground

More than 150 IT vendors, service companies and solution providers that have jumped onto the cloud computing bandwagon exhibited at the Cloud Expo portion of the Dreamforce conference. Traffic on the exhibition floor was heavy for the duration of the show.

Take Me To Your Database

One of the more popular attractions on the exhibition show floor was this robot who chatted up attendees about Dun & Bradstreet's D&B Insight which offers a database of information on 150 million businesses. Subscribers can tap into that data and use it with the Salesforce CRM application.

Making A Fashion Statement

Astadia is one of Salesforce's biggest solution provider partners and one of Astadia's customers is Crocs Inc., the footwear designer and manufacturer. As a promotion Astadia handed out 3,000 pairs of comfy Crocs to Dreamforce attendees.

Top Gear

Dreamforce attendees who signed up for the Salesforce App Exchange newsletter were entered in a drawing for a chance to take a test drive in a BMW, an Aston Martin or a Tesla Roadster (pictured), the high-performance electric sports car from Tesla Motors. Alas, even if you won the test drive, you didn't get to keep the car.

The Story Of The Man Behind The Cloud

Copies of Benioff's book "Behind the Cloud," the story of the founding and early days of Salesforce.com, was available in the pressroom at Dreamforce. But the book's debut may have been overshadowed that week by the release of "Going Rogue," the tell-all autobiography of former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Get Off Of My Cloud

The Dreamforce "Global Gala" party featured the Black Crowes rock band, which performed some of the group's best-known songs including, "Jealous Again" and "She Talks to Angels." The group also indulged in some lengthy jamming. The band Truth and Salvage opened for the Crowes.

Attention!

Colin Powell, who once held the posts of U.S. Secretary of State, National Security Advisor and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, delivered a closing keynote that was at times funny and always inspirational.

networking

Uplifting Finish

Today Powell is active in organizations that seek to improve the quality of education for Children in America. "I believe the education of Americans is the most important challenge we face," he said. Calling the dropout rate "a national disgrace," Powell said: "We can't afford to waste a single mind by not getting [every child] an education."