Event Accessibility at Dreamforce 2024

A snapshot of this article:

• Salesforce Strengthens Its Commitment to Accessibility: Dreamforce 2024 aims to be more inclusive than ever, providing extensive accommodations including motorized scooters, accessible shuttles, and sensory-friendly spaces to ensure all attendees, including those with disabilities, can fully participate.
  
  
• A Comprehensive Accessibility Guide: Salesforce has launched a detailed digital guide for Dreamforce 2024, providing insights on navigating the event with a disability, from security procedures to session participation—helping attendees better prepare and feel more comfortable.
  
  
• Added Accessibility Training & Support: Accessibility staff at Dreamforce 2024 are well trained in social etiquette and equipped to assist attendees with disabilities, including providing sighted escorts and offering ASL interpreters and captions to enhance the experience for everyone.
  
  
• It’s About Continuous Improvement: Salesforce is dedicated to ongoing progress in accessibility, utilizing feedback from Dreamforce 2024 to refine future events, ensuring its commitment to inclusion continues to grow with each conference.

Professionals living with disabilities frequently dread in-person conferences.

They wonder what accessibility barriers they’ll encounter and whether vital accommodations will be made to ensure their full participation in panels, breakout sessions, and interactive activities.

At Dreamforce 2024, Salesforce is doing its best to alleviate those concerns.

The cloud-based software company has made a name for itself as a champion for accessibility and inclusion, and its annual event is its next major opportunity to showcase progress.

To prepare for the roughly 180,000 attendees who will be in San Francisco from Sept. 17 to 19 for the event, Salesforce has created its Accessible Guide to Dreamforce.

The Dreamforce 2024 Accessibility Guide

This digital guide is designed to answer a wide range of accessibility questions and give a preview of available accommodations. It’s written in the first person to emphasize the very unique and individual way disabilities impact a person’s conference experience.

It’s no secret professional conferences have a long history of failing to accommodate the needs of those living with disabilities.

Just reflect on how many conferences you’ve attended where microphone cords or electrical wires have created frustrating barriers for people using wheelchairs and other mobility devices. Then, of course, there are the many panels conducted without sign language interpreters or closed captioning available.

An extension of Salesforce’s unwavering commitment to making the tech world more accessible and inclusive, this guide provides an extensive preview of what to expect.

First off, attendees are encouraged to download the Salesforce event app from the App Store or Google Play. It includes event agendas, food and beverage offerings, a campus map that spans several buildings across four blocks and 87 acres in the South of Market neighborhood, and more.

When registering for the conference, attendees can request accommodations for a disability or medical condition. They can also email the Disability Help Desk for further questions.

The Dreamforce 2024 accessibility guide frontloads useful information about security protocols, acquiring conference badges, keynote speakers, and breakout sessions. This helps professionals with disabilities prepare for potential obstacles and plan the event around their particular disability needs.

Designing Dreamforce 2024 to Be Accessible for All

Dreamforce 2024 is the culmination of many lessons Salesforce has learned about increasing accessibility at other in-person events throughout its 25-year history. The global tech company is committed to creating a phenomenal and inclusive experience for all attendees.

Toward that end, attendees can expect the following accommodations:

• To remove mobility barriers, all buildings will be fully accessible (i.e., low-friction turf and low-height surfaces). Restrooms will be located on every floor of the Moscone Center and include accessible stalls. Attendees will have access to motorized scooters, which will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Recharging assistive technology and mobility devices shouldn’t be an issue either; a bounty of electrical outlets will be available.
  
  
• Salesforce is providing an accessible shuttle to transport attendees between buildings throughout the three-day event. It should be scheduled at least one hour in advance to give the transportation crew enough time to arrive.
• Not only will Dreamforce 2024 maintain three quiet spaces to alleviate sensory overload, but accessibility staff will manage this tech-free zone to ensure its peaceful nature. These are places of relaxation for everyone. Interactive maps are accessible on the Salesforce event app, as well, reducing challenges that attendees may encounter while navigating the numerous buildings and halls throughout Dreamforce 2024.
  
  
• All accessibility staff are trained on social etiquette, such as proper language use, avoiding ableism and making assumptions, and subverting exclusionary cultural practices.
  
  “For the sighted escorts, if they’re going to be helping somebody who is blind navigate the venue, that can be a little bit of pressure,” explains Amy Wood, Accessibility Manager for Salesforce’s Office of Accessibility, remarking on integrating accessibility staff into an in-person conference. “Training is about giving them a quick download on how to do it. Taking this pressure off of them helps a lot, so they’re not overthinking it or worrying that this person is going to get hurt. It empowers them to do a good job.”
  
  
• Attendees who are d/Deaf or have experienced hearing loss will benefit from English captions on screens for all breakout sessions and keynotes. Dreamforce will also provide ASL interpreters for the Broadcast Theater and elsewhere upon further request.
  
  
• Salesforce encourages those who are blind or visually impaired to download the free Aira app to their smartphone. This connects users to highly trained remote agents for assistance with visual surroundings. Plus, sighted escorts will be available to help people move between sessions and get to where they need to be.
  
  

Evaluating Dreamforce’s Accessibility Is an Ongoing Process

Advancing accessibility never stops.

Once this massive annual event comes to a close, Salesforce’s accessibility team will immediately review Dreamforce’s successes and failures, how it enhanced participation for attendees, and what can be done to improve the next in-person conference hosted by Salesforce.

Feedback from both attendees and accessibility staff is vital for improving subsequent events, including insights gleaned from attendees in real time.

“Ultimately, we’ve been able to collect more feedback because people know who we are now,” Amy Wood says, remarking on how the Office of Accessibility has become much more integrated into in-person event planning. “Our team might say, ‘My customer was at Dreamforce and they experienced this barrier. How are we going to fix it?’ We’re going to collect all of that information, good or bad.”

Improving accessibility is an ongoing process, but Wood remains optimistic. “I’m hoping that since we now have a seat at the table,” she continues, “we’ll have more accessibility sessions and get more of the things that we’re asking for” at future conferences.

Salesforce is a founding partner of InclusionHub, a resource for digital accessibility committed to helping businesses and organizations prioritize inclusion in the workplace. To learn more about how your organization can better support professionals with disabilities at your in-person events, visit Salesforce’s a11y website.