Category Archives: Event

Dreamforce 2022: A Guide of What to See & Do

September is almost here, and Dreamforce is just around the corner! The Oktana team will be attending this year, so we’ve been keeping ourselves busy preparing for it with much anticipation.

This year marks the event’s 20th anniversary, and the theme they’ve selected reflects the significance of this momentous achievement: “Go Big and Come Home”.

It will be held at its regular venue, the Moscone Center in San Francisco, from September 20th to the 22nd.

Dreamforce 2022: A Guide to What to See & Do

Why Attend Dreamforce 2022

Dreamforce brings together thought leaders and industry pioneers for a week of idea sharing. You’ll learn, you’ll network, and you’ll grow. And most importantly, you’ll have a ton of fun.

Here are four reasons why we love attending Dreamforce so much…

1. Learn: Dreamforce will have over 1,000 sessions and workshops this year, learn about new products and releases, have hands-on experiences, and get inspired. This is the ‘World’s Largest Software Conference’ after all.

2. Connect: It is the perfect place to meet new people, build careers, and completely transform your career by networking.

3. Give Back: Salesforce is all about Philanthropy, Dreamforce couldn’t be different. By attending Dreamforce, you’re giving back too. Over the years, over $100M has been raised and donated during Dreamforce to a variety of charities and communities.

4. Have fun: When Trailblazers get together, it’s a party. And Dreamforce is the biggest one of all. Dreamforce is a celebration of the community. And this year, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are performing live!

Who is going to be there this year? 

  • Tens of thousands of like-minded Trailblazers from around the world.
  • The Red Hot Chili Peppers! 
  • World celebrities, activists, and athletes 
    • Bono | Lead singer of U2; Co-Founder of ONE and (RED)
    • Jennifer Hudson | Emmy, Two-Time Grammy, Oscar & Tony Award-Winning Artist
    • Matthew McConaughey | Academy Award-Winning Actor, NY Times Bestselling Author & Salesforce Brand Partner
    • Earvin “Magic” Johnson | NBA Legend and Chairman & CEO of Magic Johnson Enterprises
    • Simu Liu | Actor & Writer
    • Dina Asher-Smith | Two-Time Great Britain Olympian
  • Salesforce Chair & Co-CEO Marc Benioff and Co-CEO Bret Taylor

Recommended sessions

The Dreamforce agenda has been released, and great content will be available for all kinds of roles, products, industries, and more. So, how do you ensure to get the most out of your experience? 

Take a look at these curated lists of Dreamforce sessions we recommend attending based on your role…

Recommended sessions for developers dreamforce
recommended sessions for designers
recommended sessions for admin & architecs dreamforce

See you in San Francisco!

This year we will be attending Dreamforce. We booked a meeting room nearby the Moscone Center (see the map below), so you can meet the Oktana team and chat about Salesforce technologies, languages, and frameworks to enable your company’s innovation.

Interested in setting up an appointment to meet with someone from our team during Dreamforce? If yes, then follow this link to select a time that’s convenient for you.

Here’s the Details…

Where: Mindspace | 575 Market Street @2nd

When: September 20-22 | 10 am – 5pm

Amenities & swag:

  • Lounge spaces with phone booths
  • Kitchen with coffee, water, tea, fruit, and sweets
  • Custom knit socks
  • Webcam covers
  • We’re ordering dozens of freshly baked alfajores as a way of sharing our company’s South American culture with those visiting our meeting space
 
Oktana team attending Dreamforce:
  • Jaime Solari | CEO
  • Marcos Solari | Co-Founder
  • Dennis Picht | CRO
  • Christine Burnham | VP of Sales
  • Jon Parker | Strategic Account Executive
Meet Oktana at Dreamforce
Oktana at Dreamforce

Building A Better Einstein (Robot)

One of the coolest projects we’ve had the opportunity to work on this year was without a doubt the Einstein Voice robot that we built in partnership with our friends at Salesforce. If you attended or followed along with Dreamforce this year you know that Einstein Voice was a very big part of the show for Salesforce and in the lead up to the event, they knew that they needed something special to really highlight what could be done with Einstein Voice and that’s how the project began. How could everyone get wowed at Dreamforce? Our team at Oktana took up to the challenge of making that happen in collaboration with Salesforce.

Einstein and Einstein Together At Last

Salesforce had already played around with the idea of taking a toy Einstein and turning it into a robot but found it to be too difficult to repurpose an already built toy into something that fit their needs. Luckily, our project leads had actually been involved in puppeteering as a hobby and had a hunch that a puppet would be the perfect fit for a project like this. It could be custom made and be designed with movement in mind. After deciding to use a puppet it was time to find someone to build it and that’s when we found FurriFingers from the UK who were able to build Einstein and install the motors he needed for his eyebrows, mustache, and neck to come to life. The team at FurriFingers built the Einstein puppet in the UK and then he was flown to Uruguay to meet our team

Einstein is Starting to Come Together!

Once puppet Einstein was all put together it was finally time to bring him to life! First, we needed to find a way to control the motors which drive the different expressions Einstein can make and for that we opted to use an Arduino. Next, we needed to find something that would both control Einstein’s movement, sending commands to the Arduino, but also listen to voice commands and respond to them as a smart speaker does. For that, the decision was made to use a Raspberry Pi. The pairing of an Arduino and Raspberry Pi allowed us to do everything that was needed while also keeping things small enough to fit inside puppet Einstein. At this point, we paired the tools that our partners at Salesforce had developed for Einstein Voice with new tools built specifically for this project to allow puppet Einstein to understand your requests and get that data for you from your Salesforce instance while looking like he’s thinking and speaking to you.

Finally, Einstein was alive and ready to take the stage! But the long road from the UK to Uruguay and finally to Dreamforce wasn’t over yet because before heading to San Francisco he had a little layover in Hawaii. While there he got to show off his talents in front of a group at a smaller VP level Salesforce conference as a prelude to his bigger performance. Thankfully, everyone liked him so much that they offered him his own stage at Dreamforce! Now he had the chance to strut his stuff every 15 minutes in the Einstein park. Additionally, at Dreamforce, our project lead did a full presentation on this project so if you want to hear even more about how we brought Einstein to life be sure to check that out here.

You might be wondering, what’s Einstein up to now? Right now he’s living with the Einstein Voice team at Salesforce in San Francisco but that doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of him. So, be on the lookout because he just might show up at the next Salesforce conference you attend.

See You Soon!

Interested in reading more success projects? We highly recommend visit our portfolio, monthly we share some of our best success customer stories.

5 Reasons Why We Think You Should Join Us At Dreamforce 2017

Salesforce’s annual conference, Dreamforce, takes off in San Francisco and it gets bigger and better every year. We’re extremely excited to announce that Oktana will be attending this coming November again for the four-day event and we can’t wait to share what we’ve been up to!

While we’re super stoked and eager to plan our Dreamforce 2017 adventure, many of you are probably asking: “What’s in it for me?” 

Dreamforce 2017

Dreamforce conference 

Do you ask what exactly is all of the big hype around Dreamforce? It’s just a tech conference, so why is it important for people outside of the tech industry?

1. Well, to start off, Dreamforce isn’t just any kind of annual tech conference. Sure, it’s in San Francisco (aka the hub for any kind of high-tech event or news), but over every other tech event, Dreamforce is the largest software conference in the world. This means that there are more people and more opportunities related to software and innovation here than at any other conference in the world. That, itself, speaks volumes.

2. In today’s world, almost everything is run by technology. Additionally, the pace of technological revolution is at its record high, and sometimes, it can be difficult to keep up with. This conference is here exactly to help bridge that gap. There are over 2000 learning sessions and learning programs at Dreamforce for everyone that teach attendees the latest Salesforce products and how to utilize them to the furthest potential. This is great for those with no tech background because, at the end of the day, we all want our businesses to be successful and absorbing all of this knowledge is the best way to make that happen.

3. With it being the biggest software conference in the world, people from all over the globe are attracted to this event. All types of executives and creatives come to see what’s offered, making Dreamforce the perfect opportunity to network. People aren’t just here to learn about Salesforce and its products, people also come to meet more folks! The number of doors that Dreamforce can open for a person is countless.

4. With so much intelligence packed into a four-day Salesforce conference, there will be so many ideas sparking from every corner! Whether it’s a new app possibility or a solution to a consistent issue, Dreamforce attendees can discuss these thoughts with industry leaders already present at the conference to make these ideas a reality.

5. Technology has constantly been changing the way we live on a global level. In the hospital, the classroom, or even the laboratory, the creation of innovation has helped humanity reach levels of success like no other. Salesforce supports this ideology and continues to make Dreamforce an event of giving back. There are plenty of ways to contribute to the community since the conference partners with many organizations such as (RED), Girls Who Code, and Vetforce. Dreamforce wants to help society and give to those that need it, and by attending, it’s giving that much more support to an initiative to improve our world.

Bottom line: Dreamforce is THE event to go to for the year; no matter what, there’s always something to be taken away from it. Oktana is honored to be part of this event, and we look forward to hopefully seeing you there!

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