💃 An Introvert's Guide to Dreamforce 🕺

Good morning, Salesforce Nerds! Crowds. Strangers. Organic conversation.

Palms sweaty 😬?

Welcome to Dreamforce 😅!

Where 50,000 randos are thrown together in forced-social settings for 3 full days PLUS afterhours activities!

In a big, dense city.

Unfamiliar public transportation. Self-driving cars. Unexpected mountains to climb 🏔 (If you’re west of downtown, don’t walk, take a bus 🚌!).

Not exactly an introverts elixir…

Don’t worry, we got you 🙌! Read on ⬇️

SCENARIO

Dreamforce for Introverts

You wake up in your hotel, to the morning fog of The City 🌁. It’s Tuesday 5am.

Day 1 of Dreamforce!

You’re excited 😃!

And then the butterflies 🦋 attack your senses - you will be immersed in a sea of strangers all day 😟.

But you’re prepared for this!

✅ You went to bed early last night, having already planned the week’s outfits (bring layers!).

✅ You woke up early today, with plenty of time for your morning routine!

✅ With the time you have before Dreamforce Kickoff, you deliberately stack your 5 coins (more on this in the below section).

These 5 coins will get you through the day. Your strategy on using the coins will get you through the week 🥳.

You need coffee ☕️, and in a strategic move 🧠, you make do with the Keurig option in your room. You don’t want go to a coffee shop and risk any of your coins to potential interactions, especially on Day 1.

You settle into your shower routine 🚿, and begin warming up the social tools.

✅ You get into a curious mindset. “I wonder what others are most looking forward to and which sessions they’re attending?” “I wonder how many people have been to previous Dreamforces. And I wonder how they think this one compares to the past events?”

✅ You practice your introduction, out loud. Name, role, and your intent to check out the Salesforce Park when you have a chance (seriously, it’s amazing!).

✅ You remind yourself of your exit strategies - it’s ok to remove yourself from the fray - leave a session or a social setting and find a quiet place. Everyone’s focus is Dreamforce, not an attendee. And, besides, the Salesforce community is amazingly kind ❤️!

By the time Dreamforce kicks off, you are in an excellent mindset.

You’re awake, you’re curious, and you have a stack of coins, ready to cash your first one 💪!

By noon, you should have roughly 3 coins remaining. 2 for your remaining Dreamforce sessions, and the last one for happy hour 🍻.

At any time, if you feel like you are tracking to run out of coins, use one of your exit strategies. Take some alone-time, relax, and take careful inventory of your remaining coins and how you’ll use them to close out your day 🙂.

Finally, when you are back at your hotel for the evening, you allow yourself to decompress. Call your family, play games on your phone, crush some room service dessert 🍨…whatevs 🤷.

Note- if you are responsible for work tasks while at Dreamforce, you need to carve out significantly more time to manage your work stuff!

That may mean missing happy hours or reducing decompression time. Plan accordingly!

COINS

Simon Says…

You can see the full context of the quote here.

The only thing you may want to add is that coins can be used fractionally. For example, a “Hello, my name is ChaCha and I am a Salesforce Nerd 🤓 🤝,” and then the interaction is over….that’s $0.10 🙂.

On the other hand, a long, engaging, conversation over a few hours is easily more than 1 coin 😅.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Takeaway

✅ The Coin concept is simple, use it!

✅ Don’t panic if you’re running low on coins. Use an exit strategy.

✅ Plan ahead 👇

1. Plans conserve energy for social interactions.

2. You’re in an unfamiliar big city that can sap your energy. Account for that.

3. Being curious is free energy! Free coins! Have a method to warm up your curiosity 💯!

SOUL FOOD

Today’s Principle

and now....Your Salesforce Memes