At Dreamforce there were lots of Flip Cameras and iPhones capturing all the action. If you've got a video you'd like to share with the community, post it to YouTube and tag it with Dreamforce. We've been watching YouTube and have already started to see some great stuff. We'll add to the playlist and start assembling the best clips from the community.  

When you get home from Dreamforce upload your photos to Flickr and share them with the community. If you tag them as "Dreamforce" or "DF09" and we can go through and add the best ones to our favorites album. We're already starting to see some fantastic photos turn up!

Keep an eye on our Facebook Fan Pages as well (Dreamforce & Salesforce). We'll be adding photos there in the coming days. 

Join the conversation at Dreamforce
There are plenty of ways to connect via social media channels. To join the conversation on Twitter, use hashtag #df09.

THURSDAY HIGHLIGHTS
General session - Force.com platform
"When are you going to ask for innovation," salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff challenged the audience, before introducing Force.com and the new Chatter social platform as “fresh, exciting ways to break out of the status quo” presented by traditional platforms. Executives from companies including BMC, Vetrazzo, Japan's Lawson, Avon, CA, Appirio, and Accenture joined Marc on stage to demo new applications built on Force.com.

Special general session - General Colin Powell inspires
An impassioned Marc Benioff took the stage to showcase the great work the Salesforce.com Foundation does for the community, including donating $2 million to a new University of California San Francisco children’s hospital. He warmly introduced his friend, General Colin L. Powell (Ret.), who received a standing ovation.

General Powell regaled the crowd with funny stories of life after his Secretary of State post, such as becoming a proud owner of a Corvette. He imparted the audience with notions of ideal leadership, including contributing to society, always taking care of one’s “troops,” being a disciplinarian when necessary, and most importantly, being trustworthy. General Powell held the 8,000+ audience rapt, and reminded us all to be self-motivated and inspired.

4th annual Appy Awards
Congratulations to all our Appy Award winners! We’re in awe of the amazing ways they’re using salesforce.com technologies.
Sales Cloud Appy: Jamie Cornell, Chief Marketing Officer, Prudential Retirement (deployment by Deloitte)
Power of Us Appy: Susan Troen, Director of Data Services, Year Up
MVP Admin Appy: Emily Kranz, VP of Customer Facing Operations, Listingbook, LLC
Chief Innovator Appy: Yoichi Yokomizo, EVP and CIO, Lawson, Inc.
Custom Cloud Appy: Joe Drouin, CIO, Kelly Services, Inc.
Enterprise Deployment Appy: Junichiro Hisada, Director of IT, Sompo Japan Insurance, Inc.
Best Partner App Appy: DocuSign (as voted by thousands of Dreamforce attendees and tallied by a Force.com custom app designed by CloudConnect)

Tons of sessions
Thursday was packed with sessions, starting bright and early at 7:30 a.m. In our ever-popular hands-on sessions, attendees got to practice what they were learning right in salesforce.com.

Missed a session? You can download the slides for this or any of the Dreamforce sessions in the Attendee Portal. After Dreamforce ends, most sessions will be available on YouTube, and in early December, we'll add them to the Dreamforce Web site. So even if you missed something, you won't miss a thing!

Cloud Crawl
At press time the Dreamforce crowd was making their way to the Temple Nightclub to get their drink on. Partygoers collected stamps from Cloud Crawl sponsors to earn an invitation to experience San Francisco’s South of Market nightclub scene.

Are you ready for your close up? See photos from Dreamforce on our Facebook page, and feel free to post your own!

ON TAP TODAY
As you attend the final sessions of Dreamforce 2009 today, take a moment to pull out your calendar and...

Save the date for Dreamforce 2010
It's never too early to get excited about the next Dreamforce! Enter December 6-9, 2010 into your calendar.
We'll see you next year!

TODAY'S FEATURED SESSIONS
See the future: Find out what’s in store for salesforce.com in upcoming releases.

Platform Road Map: Administrator Tools of the Future
10:15–11:15 a.m.
Esplanade 310
Adam Torman, salesforce.com; Patricia Orr, salesforce.com; Mary Scotton, salesforce.com

The Service Cloud Road Map: What’s Next?
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
North 121/122
Larry Robinson, salesforce.com

Product Road Map: Sneak Peek into the Future
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
North 133
William Moxley, salesforce.com

Analytics Road Map
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Esplanade 306
Thomas Tobin, salesforce.com; Leo Tenenblat, salesforce.com

DON'T MISS
Cloud Expo
Have you made you way to the Cloud Expo yet? If not, head over there this morning before Dreamforce winds down so you won't miss the latest cloud-computing innovations from over 250 sponsors. Prepare to be wowed with over 1,000 solutions, ideas, and advice.

And don't forget to stop by the AppExchange Test Drive Zone, where you can learn what's new with the world's first marketplace for cloud-computing applications. While you're there, find out how you can get behind the wheel of a Tesla, the world's first high-performance, 100% electric vehicle.
Location: Moscone North, Hall D

AND FINALLY...
Have fun! Get out there and explore the sessions, meet people, get your questions answered, and enjoy your time at Dreamforce.

And don’t forget to tell us what you think about the sessions you've attended. Take a session survey by logging into the Attendee Portal or finding a survey kiosk in Moscone South. Complete a survey, and you'll be entered to win one of several iPod Nanos in our daily drawings.

Thursday's iPod Nano winners:
David Ledrowski, Progress Software
Joy Tewksbury-Pabst, Hayes Management Consulting
Mike Burroughs, Benelicious-ISV Edition
Rob Burkett, Benefitfocus.com, Inc.
Toshiyuki Zamma, Gartner Co, Ltd.
Jessica Rush, Jobing.com
Deborah Parker, Liberty Mutual
James Scott, Tiburon
Jamie Hooper, Independent Community Bankers of America-ICBA
Heather Deloughrey, M Squared
Ethan Granger, Land Advisors Organization LLC
Tilmin Hudson, CPP Inc.
Robert Duncan, Make-A-Wish Foundation of British Columbia and Yukon
Sujata Nakhre, Network Solutions LLC

Thanks for making Dreamforce such a huge success… Hope to see you next year!

Join the conversation at Dreamforce
There are plenty of ways to connect via social media channels. To join the conversation on Twitter, use hashtag #df09.

WEDNESDAY HIGHLIGHTS
Opening keynote - Join the conversation
Marc Benioff’s rousing keynote actually began not with a speech, but with an amazing video of people surfing through the clouds into the future… and the future looks bright. Marc revealed upcoming additions to the popular Service Cloud 2 and Sales Cloud 2 applications and unveiled our latest innovation: Chatter, which had the crowd buzzing over the potential for this new way to collaborate at work.

The audience was also treated to a sneak peek of the new user interface for salesforce.com (coming in 2010) and a special welcome from San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who talked with Marc about the many ways the Salesforce.com Foundation makes an impact in the community.

Sessions, sessions, and more sessions
It's the number-one reason people come to Dreamforce: the information-packed sessions, filled with best practices, how-tos, expert panels, vertical case studies, and more. Like Wednesday's Platform State of the Union session, where Force.com platform experts laid out the vision and direction of salesforce.com's cloud platform, and encouraged everyone to raise their expectations of what a platform can be.

Missed it? You can download the slides for this or any of the Dreamforce sessions in the Attendee Portal. After Dreamforce ends, most sessions will be available on YouTube, and in early December, we'll add them to the Dreamforce Web site. So even if you missed something, you won't miss a thing!

Gain quick access to Dreamforce conference information using your mobile device:
iPhone
BlackBerry

Developer Hackathon
Hundreds of developers flooded the Force.com Zone to race against the clock in our biggest-ever Hackathon. Beginners and experts alike put their best code forward in Mission: Impossible-themed challenges, competing for iPods, a Dell Alienware M15x, and a MacBook Air. Go to blog.sforce.com to see who took top honors, and thanks again to everyone who took part!

Global Gala – The Black Crowes keep the energy flowing
Wednesday night was capped off with good food and great entertainment as everyone rocked out to the Black Crowes, "the most rock 'n' roll rock 'n' roll band in the world," according to one critic. Veteran rockers the brothers Robinson and company played to a packed house that was ready to cut loose after the first full day of Dreamforce. C’mon, you were dancing, admit it…

Are you ready for your close up? See photos from Dreamforce on our Facebook page, and feel free to post your own!

ON TAP TODAY
Here are some of the highlights from today's agenda:

General session: Marc Benioff and special guests (9:00–11:00 a.m.)
The sky's the limit when building apps in the cloud. Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff talks about new platform and infrastructure innovations that will change the way you think about platform as a service.
Location: Moscone South, Halls B & C

Birds-of-a-Feather lunch (12:30–1:30 p.m.)
Satisfy your hunger at the Birds-of-a-Feather roundtable lunch. Today you’ll network and nosh with people in your industry who are facing many of the same challenges and triumphs you face.
Location: Moscone North, Hall D

Special general session: Colin Powell (4:15–5:45 p.m.)
--> Plus the 4th annual Appy Awards
Former U.S. Secretary of State General Colin L. Powell (Ret.) shares valuable lessons on leadership in the era of real-time collaboration. And, we'll celebrate our heroes as we present the 4th annual Appy Awards.
Location: Moscone South, Halls B & C

Cloud Crawl (9:00 p.m.–2:00 a.m.)
You don't need no stinking sleep! Join the nightcrawlers at the Temple Nightclub. Earn access to this exclusive Force.com party by collecting stamps from the sponsors listed on the Cloud Crawl card in your badge holder.

TODAY'S FEATURED SESSIONS
Join the breakfast club: Get Thursday off to an early start with coffee and sessions.

Running IT in the Cloud
7:30–8:30 a.m.
Esplanade 307
Kirsten Wolberg, salesforce.com; Russ Nelson, salesforce.com; Jeff Smits, salesforce.com

How Salesforce.com Uses Salesforce CRM for Marketing Excellence
7:30–8:30 a.m.
North 134
Lisa (Plotczyk) Lee, salesforce.com

Eureka: Data Nirvana
7:30–8:30 a.m.
Esplanade 304
Tracy Johnston, Freeman; Erik Karlberg, salesforce.com; Suzanne Serwe, Brady Corporation

Salesforce CRM Admin Excellence: Setting Up Salesforce CRM for Sales Success
7:30–8:30 a.m.
North 132
Jenny Truong, salesforce.com; Randy Edgar, salesforce.com; Heather Ramsdell, salesforce.com; Michael Fullmore, salesforce.com; Sriram Iyer, salesforce.com

Managing Change: How to Win Friends and Influence People
7:30–8:30 a.m.
Esplanade 306
Laura Hendrix, Freeman; Joe Harris, Beazer Homes; Jennifer Olaru, salesforce.com

DON'T MISS
Force.com Zone
The Force.com Zone is the conference-within-a conference for technical attendees and partners. Build an app with self-paced tutorials or get help from a Force.com expert. Attend technical sessions to expand your knowledge. Get your problems solved or do a code review with 1:1 consultations. Lounge and learn with a hot cup of coffee. There's truly something for everyone in the Force.com Zone:

• Immersion Lab
• Code Consultations
• Partner Sessions
• Partner Conversations
• Stratus Cafe
• Twitter Vue

Location: The Esplanade in Moscone South

AND FINALLY...
Have fun! Get out there and explore the sessions, meet people, get your questions answered, and enjoy your time at Dreamforce.

And don’t forget to tell us what you think about the sessions you've attended. Take a session survey by logging into the Attendee Portal or finding a survey kiosk in Moscone South. Complete a survey, and you'll be entered to win one of several iPod Nanos in our daily drawings.

Wednesday's iPod Nano winners:
Adam Bataran, Crossbeam
Link Cornelius, James Hardie Building Products
Kent Manning, LI-COR, Inc.
Jeffrey McAleer, Wells Fargo Advisors
Kathy Miller, Univar
Thad Puckett, The Karis Group Inc.
David Schild, Phoenix Technologies
Tahir Sheikh, Ingenuity Systems
Brandy Wallace, DeRoyal Industries Inc.
Steve Weinberg, Inolex Chemical Co.
Brian Wenzl, Demand Solutions Group
Saranda West, DAXKO
Patricia Wheatley, Tendril
Michelle Wiest, Transilwrap Co., Inc.

With 19,000 attendees registered from more than 60 countries, it’s clear that Dreamforce 2009 is the global cloud computing event of the year!

The excitement kicked off yesterday with attendees swarming the Cloud Expo eager to see the latest offerings from the incredible partners exhibiting. Despite the lack of wiggle room, an aloha vibe permeated the floor (fostered by the spirit of the attendees and the hula dancers who greeted guests with leis). The energy only grew for the keynote today, with many attendees standing along the sides of the keynote space eager to hear the latest news from salesforce.com.

Marc Benioff began his address by thanking customers, members of the press, and analysts for their belief in the cloud computing model and company. It was inspiring to hear about the nearly 70,000 customers on the service. Salesforce.com’s focus on all companies—and democratizing the industry so all companies can succeed—resonated as strong as ever. “Salesforce is a great equalizer if a little company like mine can benefit,” an excited Denise Jackson, vice president of client services at Medical Research Consultants in Houston told me over lunch.

Several guests joined Marc on stage this morning, including San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom (who ditched his tie when he saw Marc without one). In addition to sharing interesting facts about San Francisco, the birthplace of the United Nations, and a city of “dreamers, doers, entrepreneurs, and on the leading and cutting edge of technology,” Mayor Newsom recognized salesforce.com for its dedication to the eco center being built at Bayview Hunter’s Point and Project Homeless Connect, which has used Salesforce CRM to track the impact of its work. (Since monitoring its data trough Salesforce CRM, Homeless Connect has tracked that it has taken 10,133 people off the street.) “What you folks did is a big deal,” said Mayor Newsom. Jay Banfield, the executive director of Year Up in the Bay Area also visited and shared how the nonprofit received seed funding, hundreds of volunteer hours, and Salesforce CRM to support its mission of helping urban young adults earn careers in technology. The results of the program are incredible: after working with the organization, 85% of participants find work within four months.

Of course everyone was waiting to hear the latest about salesforce.com technology and after sharing details about the next generation of services: Sales Cloud 2, Service Cloud 2, and Custom Cloud 2, Marc introduced a new cloud, a new category for salefsorce.com, and a multi-billion market opportunity. Describing it as the  “biggest and most important breakthrough in salesforce.com’s 10 and a half year history,” Marc revealed Salesforce Chatter, a secure enterprise collaboration application and social development platform, which will change the way businesses work. 

In addition to being introduced to Salesforce Chatter and an entirely new way to work, customers, partners and developers were also pleased to meet Chatty, a new best friend for Sassy, and a welcome new addition to the salesforce.com family.

Stay tuned for more exciting news from salesforce.com at Dreamforce tomorrow!

Just a few minutes ago, Marc Benioff took the stage for Dreamforce's opening keynote and unveiled our biggest breakthrough ever,  Salesforce Chatter. Salesforce Chatter represents a new secure enterprise collaboration application and social development platform and salesforce.com's first enterprise-wide app.  Salesforce Chatter brings the best of the consumer Web’s social networking models to the enterprise, allowing all employees across any business to collaborate in real time with a secure, private social network. 

Social computing has changed the game on the consumer Web by allowing people to gain insight -- in real time -- into what’s going on in their world.  But despite the obvious efficiency benefits, this kind of collaboration hasn’t made it to the enterprise level.  Traditionally, content, applications and people have been disconnected and part of separate conversations.  Determining what employees were working on, or determining the status of any given opportunity meant scrolling through endless e-mail chains (we can practically hear the frustrated sighs) or scheduling back-to-back conference calls for updates.  The result?  Time, energy and resources wasted.

Salesforce Chatter changes that.  Content, applications and people can now -- securely and privately -- join the real-time conversation.  Employees will be able to efficiently collaborate and share up-to-the-minute information via profiles, status updates, feeds, groups and more.  And content and applications will be able to join the conversation by talking to users through their feed when ever there is a change in data or status. And, just as the Salesforce Chatter application will enable businesses to create an effective conversation, the Chatter social platform will empower developers to easily build social enterprise applications -- and all 135,000 native Force.com apps will instantly become social.  This means that whatever application your business needs can be developed and shared with ease.

Salesforce.com is in a unique position to deliver this kind of social, enterprise-class application -- we’ve got proven security, a trusted sharing model and house critical business information in our cloud applications.  What we’re really happy about, though, is being able to leverage this unique position to make companies smarter, more informed and better able to make those critical business decisions that best serve their customers, partners and employees.

More information can be found at http://www.salesforce.com/chatter and be sure to check out Chatter for yourself in the demo video:

Join the conversation at Dreamforce
There are plenty of ways to connect via social media channels. To join the conversation on Twitter, use hashtag #df09.  

MONDAY HIGHLIGHTS
Pre-conference training and certification
Dreamforce is already well underway for many CRM admins, developers, and consultants. Hundreds of them took our popular (and in some cases, sold-out) pre-Dreamforce intensive training classes on Monday, and more classes are scheduled today. Hundreds more are preparing for certification exams today--good luck, everyone. After the exams are graded, the names of the newly certified will be listed near the dining area. Watch for them!

Are you ready for your close up? See photos from Dreamforce on our Facebook page, and feel free to post your own!

ON TAP TODAY
Here are some of the highlights from today's agenda:

First-timer orientation (5:00 - 6:00 p.m.)
Dreamforce newcomers are invited to join Conference Chair Tom Wong and a team of Dreamforce insiders and alumni for a personal welcome. Learn how to get the most out of Dreamforce.
Location: Room 134, Moscone North

Welcome reception (6:00 - 8:00 p.m.)
Greet old pals and make new friends while checking out the latest gee-whiz technology from more than 250 companies.
Location: Cloud Expo, Hall D on the exhibit level of Moscone North

Run in the Cloud: 5k fun run (6:45 - 7:30 a.m., Wednesday)
Have shoes, will travel. Pavement pounders are invited to join co-sponsors Accenture and Salesforce.com Alliances for a 5k fun run at 6:45 Wednesday morning. Pre-register in the lobby of the Marriot Marquis at 55 4th Street.

DON'T MISS
The Custom Cloud in the Salesforce.com Campground
Whether you're a seasoned Force.com developer or brand-new to our cloud platform, be sure to stop by the Custom Cloud section of the Salesforce.com Campground.

Build an app on the spot. Work with a salesforce.com app expert to learn how to architect, then build an application. Your app expert will give you a great formula for how to get started, including suggested next steps. This is a great opportunity to ask questions and see demos, all tailored to your company's needs. Take advantage while you can!

Get 100 free users. Build and run your first custom app for FREE! Head to the Campground for your gift card for 100 free users.
Location: Salesforce.com Campground in the Cloud Expo, Hall D on the exhibit level of Moscone North

Cloud Trivia Live!
Test your salesforce.com knowledge in our trivia game show, and you could win prizes such as iPods, bicycles, music, or a MacBook Air. Ready to play? Watch for questions on the Dreamforce Twitter feed (www.twitter.com/dreamforce) on Wednesday and Thursday, or join us live in the Customer Hero Theatre to play the game or sit back and watch the action.
Location: Salesforce.com Campground in the Cloud Expo, Hall D on the exhibit level of Moscone North

AND FINALLY…
Have fun! Get out there and explore the sessions, meet people, get your questions answered, and enjoy your time at Dreamforce.

Dreamforce is coming... in a matter of days, we’ll all be living the dream. Are you ready? We’re here to help. Check back each business day for a preview of conference activities, so you can start planning your Dreamforce agenda today.

8 REASONS TO GET EXCITED ABOUT DREAMFORCE

Reason #1: Keynotes

Kick off your Dreamforce experience with inspiring speeches from salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff, General Colin L. Powell (Ret.), and more. You won't want to miss a word.

Dreamforce Opening Keynote with Marc Benioff & Special Guests
Wednesday, November 18
9:00–11:00 a.m.
South Hall C
Make sure you're in the room for the opening keynote when Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff reveals the latest news from salesforce.com. Don't miss the announcement everyone will be buzzing about!

General Session: The Force.com Cloud Platform
Thursday, November 19
9:00–11:00 a.m.
South Hall C
The Force.com cloud platform is the fastest way to build apps in the cloud. It’s five times faster and half the cost of traditional platforms. Join Marc Benioff for new platform and infrastructure innovations that will change the way you think about the possibilities of platform as a service.

General Session: Leadership in the New Era of Collaboration
Thursday, November 19
4:15–5:45 p.m.
South Hall C
General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.) takes the stage for an encore appearance at Dreamforce. Join him as he discusses the challenges to leadership we all face in the new era of real-time collaboration. Discover how to apply his principles of leadership to make a difference in your world.

Get ready...

Log in to the Attendee Portal, where you can explore conference activities and create your personal schedule.

See you at Dreamforce!

Missed a day? See the other reasons not to miss Dreamforce:
#8 - Pre-conference training and hands-on sessions (Thursday, Nov. 5) 
#7 - Salesforce.com Campground (Friday, Nov. 6) 
#6 - Force.com Zone (Monday, Nov. 9) 
#5 - Cloud Expo (Tuesday, Nov. 10)
#4 - Breakout sessions (Wednesday, Nov. 11)
#3 - Networking opportunities (Thursday, Nov. 12) 
#2 - Healthy planet, healthy people (Friday, Nov. 13)
#1 - Keynotes (today's post)

Dreamforce begins tomorrow! Check this blog each morning of the conference for our daily Dreamforce blog post.

Dreamforce is coming... in a matter of days, we’ll all be living the dream. Are you ready? We’re here to help. Check back each business day for a preview of conference activities, so you can start planning your Dreamforce agenda today.

8 REASONS TO GET EXCITED ABOUT DREAMFORCE

Reason #2: Healthy Planet, Healthy People

Healthy planet
Less paper, more biodegradable or sustainable materials, recycling stations, and encouraging public transportation... these are only a few of the ways that the Dreamforce team is working to minimize the environmental impact of Dreamforce.

We’d love for you to help! Take advantage of recycling and composting stations throughout the conference center, and quench your thirst at a water station—no need for plastic bottles. If you ride your bike, we’ve got valet bike parking. Plus, bikers and public transportation commuters can enter to win a hot new bike. Find out how we can work together towards sustainability.

Healthy people
We want you to feel good and stay healthy at Dreamforce and beyond. To help prevent H1N1 flu (swine flu), remember to wash your hands often, use tissues to cover coughs and sneezes, and don't touch your eyes, nose, and mouth. For more details on H1N1 flu prevention, visit the CDC's Web site.

Run in the cloud
Join us (early) Wednesday, November 18 at 6:45 a.m. for a 5k Fun Run, co-sponsored by Salesforce.com Alliances and Accenture. Register in the lobby of the Marriot Marquis, right across from the Moscone Center at 55 4th Street and get your blood pumping!