DON’T:

10. Do What You Do at Home

This is mainly for the people who don’t live in the Bay Area.  San Francisco is an amazing city, with tons to offer.  Take advantage.  Salesforce was kind enough to hold their conference in an awesome place, so you should make the most out of travelling out here for work.  Go to a good restaurant, check out a baseball game, grab a local beer, see some sights, ride a trolley...DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT.  You can sit in a room, drink Bud Light, watch TV anywhere. Do something you can only do in San Francisco.

9. Eat at the Chevy’s Across the Street from Moscone

First off, let me say we have no problem with Chevy’s.  We’ve eaten at that Chevy’s multiple times as a team, and the food is exactly what’d you’d expect...it’s Chevy’s.  San Francisco is known for its Mexican Food, with amazing burritos, tacos and all other sorts of south of the border goodies.  So check out one of the local places, if you feel like having some Mexican food.  Take a cab to the Mission or do some Yelping and find some local Tacos or a burrito...it’s worth it.  This is San Francisco, it has a lot to offer, and Mexican food is one of its specialities...ENJOY IT!

8. Talk to the Nay-Sayers Outside the Conference

Every year there is a Circus of Haters outside of Dreamforce.  This is usually a wide range of Salesforce competitors trying to spread the same old negative propaganda.  Just ignore them.  Don’t argue with them, don’t pay attention, don’t take their papers or books or whatever they have to give out.  It’s all useless.  If you do see some vendors out there, feel free to take those free 5 hour energy drink samples, they definitely came in handy last year.

7. Take a Leisurely Stroll Through the Tenderloin

The Tenderloin is one of the less favorable neighborhood in San Francisco that is rather close to the Moscone Center. It has a reputation as one of the rougher/less friendly areas in the City.  The blocks outlined in the wikipedia entry can probably be extended across Market Street to Mission Street, and stretch between 6th and 12th streets on that southern side of Market. If you happen to venture into this neighborhood, you’ll probably see some interesting urban scenarios happening.  It’s just not the greatest place to go walking around.  We recommend avoiding it, unless you are looking for something specific there. If you want to go for a walk, head towards AT&T Park or the Ferry Building, you get to see the Bay and you can avoid the sketchiness of the ‘Loin.

6. Collect a Bunch of Paper You’ll Never Read

Some people have this amazing habit of roaming the Expo floor, and collecting marketing materials from every booth they see.  They put it in their bag to read it later, and eventually throw it out 6 months after the conference.  Don’t be one of those people.  Save some trees.  Ask for digital copies of the materials you want.  And try to  just pick up the stuff you really want to know more about and let the rest stay behind.

5. Go to Bed Early/Hide in Your Hotel Room

I think this is one that we actually talk about during our internal Dreamforce training. There is a ton going on, so get out there and do something.  Dreamforce is filled with like-minded people in similar industries.  So meet some new people, go to a party, go grab dinner with some new Dreamforce friends, make the most of being at Dreamforce.  If you go to bed early or hide in your hotel room, you’re going to regret it.  When you get home from Dreamforce and you’re exhausted and full of amazing memories, you’ll know it was all worth it.

4. Go To Fisherman’s Wharf

It’s just not worth spending the little time you have in San Francisco in a place like this. The Wharf  is the definition of a tourist trap.  It’s full of trinkets, and souvenirs, and other rather inauthentic things.  People will tell you to go here to get some seafood, but that’s really not necessary since there are plenty of other places all over the City to accomplish that.  If locals are the litmus test for what to do, let me tell you that no one who lives in San Francisco, will ever go to the Wharf unless they are seriously jonesing for some In N’ Out Burger.  But if you’re really into touristy stuff, or are dying to see the Wharf, feel free to ignore this ‘DON’T.’  And when you end up down there, try to go out to Alcatraz (it’s the best thing going on) and watch out for Bush Man.

3. Spam the Chatter Org or Twitter Hashtags

It’s ok to send out promotional info to these social media channels, just don’t spam them.  Filling the entire Twitter stream with tweets about your booth or how your company can help do X, Y and Z is not helping anyone.  In all honesty, it’s probably turning off a lot of potential prospects, while at the same time, making it more difficult for people to communicate through these mediums.  Keep the promotional stuff to a minimum.  It’s fine to let people know about a party, TweetUp, promotion or contest, just don’t post it 25 times in a row.

2. Get Drunk and Make a Fool Out of Yourself

At Dreamforce, and honestly most Tech Conferences, there will be an ample supply of free booze.  There’s Happy Hours on the Expo Floor, Happy Hours hosted off-site by vendors, Welcome Parties, Regular Parties, After-Parties, the list goes on and on and on.  So enjoy the free drinks, but be careful.  This is a business event after all, and that last thing you want to do is lose your job because of your actions at a party.  With camera phones everywhere, and everyone being in the same industry, it’s a very dangerous environment to let the alcohol get the best of you.  By all means have fun, we strongly encourage it, just DON’T BE THAT GUY/GIRL and regret what you did the next day. If you do you might end up paying for it with more than a hangover.

1. Get Sick

You’re going to shake a lot of hands and interact with a lot of people at Dreamforce, along with travelling and everything else, these actions put you at a high risk of getting sick.  So be prepared.  Drink your OJ, take your vitamins, wash your hands, pick up some hand sanitizer (some vendor is probably giving it away for free), and stay healthy.  There is nothing worse than having to miss out on all the fun because of illness, so be careful and take the extra steps to avoid getting sick.