Dreamforce 2024 Recap

Dreamforce, the annual Salesforce User conference, took place September 17th – September 19th in San Francisco. Among the record 45,000 attendees were all four members of Paciolan’s Salesforce admin team. With over 1,500 sessions packed in to three days and keynote speakers such as Jensen Huang, Mark Cuban, and Governors Gavin Newsom and Spencer Cox, the team was able to divide and conquer to bring home insights and best practices to share with all their clients. Check out each of their recaps below!

Eugene Edwards

Attending Dreamforce in person for the first time was an unforgettable experience, and I’m incredibly grateful to have been part of it. Among the many tools and innovations, Salesforce Code Builder stood out as a must-have for admins like me managing multiple orgs. Here’s why it’s such a game-changer:

1. Efficient Multi-Org Management - Managing multiple orgs can be a challenge at times, but with Code Builder, I can log into all my orgs from one centralized workspace. No more jumping between different environments. This will be a huge time-saver, allowing me to streamline tasks and stay focused on what matters most.

2. Faster SOQL Queries - One of the biggest improvements I’ve seen is in how fast I can run SOQL queries across orgs. Code Builder allows me to query data in real-time with no lag, which is essential for making quick decisions, troubleshooting, and getting reports when I need them. Speeding up these processes will drastically improve my ability to work efficiently when it comes to reporting.

3. Easier Collaboration on Projects - Code Builder also shines when it comes to collaboration. Having everything integrated with version control systems like Git allows team members to share, review, and work on projects seamlessly. This makes collaboration smoother and more efficient, with all the tools we need in one place.

Looking Ahead: Custom Solutions - Beyond the immediate efficiency gains, I’m excited about the potential for custom solutions. Salesforce’s native features are great, but they have limitations, and Code Builder opens the door to building custom automations, workflows, and integrations that go beyond those limits. This will allow us to innovate faster and tailor our solutions to the exact needs of our orgs.

There will be a learning curve but I’m eager to skill up and explore the possibilities!

Harrison Gore

Getting back to Dreamforce for the second time was wonderful. There was so much material to take in it was almost impossible to keep up. Here are a few highlights I enjoyed:

1.      Reactive Screens

Reactive screens will provide users with a faster completion, reduce errors, and open up new possibilities. A standout feature is the real-time formula calculator, allowing instant calculations within your workflow. In Winter ‘25, users can even pull data they don't already have with a simple click. This includes auto-populating addresses and changing display text dynamically.

2.      User Management

Permission sets in Salesforce streamline user management by offering reusable, easy-to-deploy access controls. You can assign them directly or indirectly through Permission Set Groups (PSG), making them both flexible and role-specific. Permission Set Groups (PSGs) allow for assigning multiple permission sets efficiently, ensuring role-based access control without performance issues. This method will be replacing traditional profiles in the near future, and we will look to roll this out to our clients.

3.      Did You Know Sales Engagement Could Do That?

Salesforce Sales Engagement now automates prospecting through a powerful prospecting center. Users can filter lists by marketing segments and access AI-generated buying attributes with a single click on an account. Guided Selling simplifies the sales process further by pinning the to-do list to the utility bar, ensuring it's always accessible when working with contacts. With Cadence Builder 2.0, building predefined sales steps for reps is easier, using clicks rather than code. Lastly, the Salesforce Google plugin lets users update Salesforce records from within other Google platforms, further enhancing productivity.

The conference was a wonderful learning opportunity. The new capabilities coming to the platform will certainly make everyone’s lives a little easier.  I can’t wait to put what I learned into action!

Andrew Campbell

Each year, Dreamforce sparks inspiration with new and exciting features in the Salesforce ecosystem, and this year was no different. What made this year extra special was that we were able to bring our full Salesforce Admin team for the first time. With all four of us there, we covered so much more ground—soaking in sessions, getting hands-on with new Salesforce tools, and brainstorming ideas to help you sell tickets to your events.

One of my main takeaways this year was realizing just how vast and powerful the Salesforce AppExchange is. I typically avoid installing apps in my clients' orgs; I find the technical debt cumbersome, and, quite frankly, I’ve had concerns about trusting someone else’s code or automation. However, after attending several sessions on effectively utilizing apps, my perspective is shifting. For example, Salesforce Labs offers an entire exchange of apps built and verified by current Salesforce employees, which certainly helps ease trust issues. Plus, some of the apps shared were very impressive! I’m excited to dive deeper into some of these specific apps and can’t wait to see how we can apply them to our client’s needs.

Christopher Carney

I am fortunate to have attended five previous Dreamforces, and I have to say the 6th was truly my favorite. Besides being able to attend with the entire Salesforce team (as well as meet up with a few clients!), I felt this year was particularly well organized. For the first time in years, Salesforce allowed attendees to reserve sessions ahead of time. This allowed the team to effectively split up the agenda without fear of having to line up an hour early for a session or show up only to be turned away.

There was much more sport participation this year, as both the Indiana Pacers and the Indiana Fever were featured speakers. I attended the Fever's presentation, and was encouraged to see that a lot of what they were presenting as best practices or break through innovations for them in the past year are things most of our clients are already doing. One thing I did take away from their session was how much they are doing with 'Favorite Player' data they collect on forms - whether it is personalized ads with that player or unique emails with content like "Caitlin Clark averages 5 more points per game when you attend a home game", I think the Pac community can definitely use this data more (especially as we enter the true NIL Marketing era).

AI was understandably the biggest focus as Salesforce is currently putting all of their efforts into building more accessible and powerful AI tools. My main goal in attending these sessions was to discover which of these features, if any, would be free to use for our clients. For those utilizing Salesforce Unlimited Edition licenses, some of these new AI features are available for use! For those on Enterprise edition, there are some AI tools available on a freemium/trial basis, but there are plenty of non AI tools available in your orgs today that we can begin to take advantage of. One example that stuck out was Salesforce’s suite of Sales Intelligence tools, available to all Salesforce users now in their org. If you need help determining what version of Salesforce you or using or understanding what features may be available to you, reach out to your admin today!