@singhns

Each year we choose a theme to organize our presence at Dreamforce. This year we looked at what was happening in the world around us for inspiration. We looked at everything from the political and economic challenges around the world, how nations came together to overcome national disasters and better enable a sustainable environments, and how our lives were being changed day in and day out from new technologies that were forcing us to become increasingly mobile, social and connected 24/7.

Taking all of this in, we knew we wanted our Dreamforce theme to convey something more than just our corporate positioning and offerings. We wanted to capture the power and need for change across technology, business, politics, philanthropy and popular culture. At the same time, we of course needed it to connect with what we provide to those attending Dreamforce.

We decided that this year was going to be all about Freedom. The freedom to innovate, the freedom to change (IT, business, the world), freedom to think differently and act differently. It’s about what freedom creates, how the cloud and social technologies enable freedom, etc. We then started thinking about how we could show this in a powerful way that wasn’t the same old boring corporate stuff people were tired of seeing. We took some inspiration from one of our favorite customers, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and decided on Pop Art.

American Pop Art was a product of the social revolution of the 1960’s. It’s associated with everyday images that connected people, instead of the esoteric and closed world of more classical predecessors. It’s strongly linked with the rise and globalization of pop music and youth culture, epitomized by Elvis and the Beatles. Pop art was brash and fun and represented innovation without constraint, and showed the power of connecting people in a more open way.

It reminds us of the revolution we are experiencing in the world of technology - by freeing ourselves from the on-premise past we can create cloud-powered businesses - organizations that themselves embody the innovation, effectiveness and agility we associate with the cloud. What better to tie into our theme and Dreamforce’s of enabling a world that is social, mobile and open.

That means we will be bringing you imagery inspired by the leaders of the Pop Art movement - legends like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring and others. We will run a ton of contests that give away thousands of dollars in prizes in ways that encourage you to be creative, free, social, mobile and connected. We are running fantastic events for our customers and friends at pop art inspired venues like the San Francisco MOMA and 12 Gallagher Lane

And most exciting to us, we will be encouraging social change through our sponsorship of the concert benefit for the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and many other exciting Appirio Silver Lining initiatives. So join us and celebrate your freedom in the cloud !

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world

-Beatles, Revolution