Dreamforce is virtual — fund to aid vendors

The world’s biggest software conference has gone virtual, and it will leave San Francisco’s streets emptier this fall.

Salesforce has revealed new details of its allremote Dreamforce conference, which in normal years draws 170,000 registered attendees to the Moscone Center and a host of other venues in downtown San Francisco.

It will set up a $ 2 million fund for San Francisco small businesses with between two and 50 employees, similar to a program that it created in April that offered $ 10,000 grants to 300 businesses.

“The world has changed this year for everyone, and we wanted to be very mindful of the gap we could leave by not hosting our inperson event,” said Ebony Beckwith, CEO of the Salesforce Foundation and the company’s chief philanthropy officer.

San Francisco Travel has estimated the contribution of Dreamforce to San Francisco’s economy at more than $ 150 million, as Salesforce and other companies hire event vendors, rent restaurants and other venues and book hotel rooms for employees. Little of that spending will occur for the virtual Dreamforce.

“We can’t plug all the holes, but we can do what we can,” Beckwith said.

The event is expected to feature a keynote speech by CEO Marc Benioff on Nov. 12, streamed instead of presented live.

The company is using the virtual format to accommodate more people. In normal years, Salesforce invites 400 Bay Area students for mentoring and workshops. This year, that program will be expanded to 10,000 young people around the world, including 1,000 from the Bay Area, Beckwith said.

The digital event allowed Salesforce to “open it up and level the playing field,” she added.

Salesforce is also donating $ 3 million to five nonprofits to address hunger, health inequalities and climate change.