Is Dreamforce getting too big for its boots?

More than 160,000 people have registered to attend Salesforce’s annual conference this week in San Francisco but the city can no longer house them all.

Dreamforce has grown so large that the cloud software giant has been forced to pay for a 964 foot cruise ship to be docked at San Francisco’s Pier 27 due to a shortage of hotel rooms in the city.

The Celebrity Infinity cruise ship, which currently has a Salesforce balloon attached to its bow and has been dubbed “Dreamboat” for the week, can accommodate up to 1,100 people.

In addition to accommodating a number of conference attendees, Salesforce is also using the boat for a number of parties, including a media welcome party this evening. 

Last year, 135,000 people registered to attend Dreamforce, equal to approximately 12 percent of San Francisco’s overall population. 

The size of the conference means that it causes some disruption to locals, blocking roads and making it nearly impossible to book a table at certain restaurants.

But the overall economic impact is hugely positive. Last year more than $220 million was infused into the local economy during Dreamforce and that figure will only rise with more visitors. 

During this year’s Dreamforce, a number of well known figures from the business and entertainment world will make an appearance.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella are both due to make appearances, as is actress and businesswoman Jessica Alba. The conference will be closed with a gig on the waterfront that will see Foo Fighters, The Killers and Gary Clark Junior play.

Box CEO Aaron Levie is also speaking at Dreamforce. He took to Twitter to explain his feelings on the conference.

Several other large technology conferences, including Apple’s WWDC and Google I/O, take place in San Francisco every year, with most of them centred around the Moscone Centre, which has close to a million square foot of space.


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