Overview

Dreamforce 2025 provided a sharp look at how AI, experience design, and leadership are evolving in tandem. Across keynotes, conversations, and the energy of the campus, one message was clear: AI is accelerating everything, but human connection, creativity, and culture continue to shape the outcomes that matter most.

AI’s Role in the Future of Experience Design

Dreamforce made it clear that AI will play a defining role in how experienced creators and event teams think, create, and collaborate. Three themes stood out:

 1. Removing friction to unlock strategic thinking
AI’s greatest value lies in simplifying the workday, allowing teams to focus on meaningful, strategic, and imaginative thinking.

2. Enhancing, not replacing, creativity
AI will amplify creativity by giving people more space to explore ideas, experiment, and innovate, rather than getting caught in repetitive and administrative tasks.

3. Creating capacity for higher value work
For experienced leaders, the opportunity is to use AI to enable sharper creative strategies, create deeper client partnerships, and make bolder decisions, shifting energy toward work that genuinely moves the needle.

Dreamforce as a Blueprint for Experience Design

Dreamforce demonstrated how a large-scale event can operate as a fully connected ecosystem, one that drives brand relevance and long-term loyalty. Several design principles were particularly resonant:

1. Designed for ongoing engagement
Salesforce utilizes Dreamforce to integrate storytelling, personalized content journeys, networking, and data capture into a seamless brand engagement loop. The event becomes a platform for ongoing engagement rather than a moment in time.

2. Scale can fuel curiosity
The sheer size of Dreamforce, with more than 1,500 sessions, sparked constant movement and exploration. The layout encouraged people to wander, discover, and participate in ways they didn’t plan. This sense of discovery strengthened both engagement and memory.

3. The measures of success are human
Success was visible in the energy of the rooms, the quality of conversation, and the sense of belonging among attendees. These human signals remain the strongest indicators of meaningful experience design.

Leading with Purpose

The leadership discussions at Dreamforce highlighted the qualities necessary to lead organizations through ongoing change and growth.

1. Culture at the heart of transformation
Technology alone doesn’t move a business forward. Leaders who prioritize human experience, curiosity, and accountability create more adaptive and resilient organizations.

2. Agility over perfection
Teams need clarity and trust to act quickly. When decision-making is supported rather than slowed by process, organisations can respond more effectively to shifts in client needs, emerging technologies, and market changes.

3. Learning is an ongoing discipline
Listening, inviting new perspectives, challenging assumptions, and treating setbacks as opportunities are essential behaviours for leaders navigating rapid change.

Final Thoughts

Dreamforce reinforced that the future of our industry will be shaped by the relationship between AI and human intent. When technology simplifies the operational load, teams gain the space to think creatively, act boldly, and design experiences that feel personal, connected, and meaningful. The organizations that combine intelligent tools with intentional experience design and a culture of curiosity will be best positioned to lead their next chapter of growth.