Salesforce CEO Warns Dreamforce Conference Could Be Moved Next Year From SF

Salesforce CEO and Founder Marc Benioff announced on Tuesday that Dreamforce, one of San Francisco’s largest yearly conferences and the largest event for the software company, could be forced out of the city because of the rampant homeless and drug abuse issues plaguing the area.

For years, Benioff has been a defender of the city, and has backed many of the efforts in San Francisco to tackle the city’s homeless problems. Most notably, he was one of the largest proponents of Proposition C, a business tax that would pump more money into city homeless services. But, despite his support, the situation worsened in San Francisco in the 2020s. Homelessness figures have significantly worsened, with the city now having a worse homelessness rate than Seattle or Los Angeles. Drug use has also skyrocketed, with the number of fentanyl deaths this year being on pace to set a new city record.

These factors, as well as others like escalating crime situation in the city, have led to major company pullouts and layoffs in recent years, as well as the headquarters of companies such as Oracle and Tesla moving out of state because of tax reason. Since October of 2022, San Francisco, as well as surrounding Bay cities, have lost tens of thousands of jobs because of mass layoffs.

The situation also affected Salesforce, one of San Francisco’s premier tech firms. It began with Dreamforce attendees e-mailing Benioff to complain about the situation in the city. However, like other companies, this began to decline as well. In January, Salesforce cut 10% of their staff, or around 7,000 people, due in large part to overhiring people during the pandemic. This led to the company leaving an entire office building, known as Salesforce East, in April.

With the situation in the city continuing to worsen, Benioff said this week that Dreamforce, an annual event that brings tens of thousands of people to San Francisco each year and contributes over $50 million to the local economy, could be moving out if the event is affected in any way by the homelessness and drug problems. He also noted that organizers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which President Joe Biden is to attend, are watching Dreamforce closely to see how it goes before their own summit in November.

“If this Dreamforce is impacted by the current situation with homelessness and drug use it may be the last Dreamforce,” said Benioff. “Salesforce is working hand in hand with the city as we always do. We’ll bring a significant number of people to the city — 40,000 people — and it will generate $57 million in the downtown economy. So it’s in all of our interests for it to go well, and for APEC to go well. This should be the focus of the city.”

Big issues in SF

With Dreamforce, trade shows, and international meetings now on the line for the city, experts noted that San Francisco should respond appropriately and provide extra support during this time.

“Usually when a large, prestigious event comes to town, cities do everything they can to remove any visible problems like that,” said large event organizer Shannon Krieger. “Say for a decent sized convention or a big sports game, the city usually works on it a week or two beforehand. They bus out the homeless, run the streetsweepers for days, bring in extra police. All that. Bigger events, or ones with prominent people like world leaders, go for months. Security people run every scenario, places where the people be are secured way beforehand, and even areas where people like protestors go are figured out.”

“Then there are world events like the Olympics or the G7 meeting. These take years. Los Angeles is hosting the Olympics in 2028, and they have been feverously preparing. They’re really pushing homeless housing there for a reason. But beyond that, so much in logistics, security, lodging, and other factors need to be worked out. This is all very general, but you get the gist.”

“Dreamforce and APEC are both big, for different reasons. Dreamforce brings in a lot of people and shows off a company, while APEC is that international prestige. So when Benioff is saying he might leave over how bad the homelessness and drug use in the area has gotten, it is a legitimate grievance. These conventions expect the city to to polish the area beforehand, but it seems like San Francisco is skimping on that.”

“It’s a bold move to show the city warts and all, and I don’t think San Francisco is intending that. And if they don’t act on these, they could lose a major yearly convention and also hurt their chances for bigger events in the coming years. You can see why he is concerned about all this.”

Dreamforce is to be held in San Francisco from September 12th to 14th.