How many people are going to Dreamforce? (Dreamforce attendance by year)

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In terms of overall attendance, Dreamforce is the world’s largest software conference and the second-largest technology conference next to CES.

And Dreamforce’s current growth, it’s poised to overtake the consumer technology event in 2017. But what are the officially reported attendance numbers (“registered attendees”) for Dreamforce? How about when the conference first started in 2003?

Look no further, we’ve done the research and you see the dramatic growth of the conference from small gathering to humongous, traffic-congesting, downtown-swallowing, economy-impacting B2B circus that draws nearly 200,000 attendees and draws acts such as U2, Foo Fighters and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Dreamforce Attendance by Year
Dreamforce # Year Attendance Growth YoY Source
14 2016 170,000 6% source
13 2015 160,000 19% source
12 2014 135,000 4% source
11 2013 130,000 41% source
10 2012 92,000 100% source
9 2011 46,000 53% source
8 2010 30,000 58%
7 2009 19,000 86% source
6 2008 10,200 46%
5 2007 7,000 40%
4 2006 5,000 67%
3 2005 3,000 50%
2 2004 2,000 54%
1 2003 1,300 n/a

Having attended six Dreamforces (2011-2016), I’ve seen firsthand how Dreamforce has grown. I was able to see the “campus” sprawl across downtown San Francisco; where companies took over (officially) cafes and other storefronts. The venues have ranged from AT&T Field to Civic Center to the Cow Palace.

The conference continues to sell out faster and faster and if you don’t have your hotel a month out, you might be staying near the airport (taking a Lyft from SFO into the city) or a friend’s house.

At the conference’s current pace, it’ll hit 200,000 registered attendee within the next five years. That is a quarter of the city’s current population! How long will Dreamforce continue to grow and if it does, how long before it becomes too big for San Francisco?

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