Dreamforce 2025 Recap: The Conversations That Mattered for Staffing

Every October, Salesforce transforms San Francisco into something between a tech expo, a festival and a small city of its own. Hotels sell out, restaurants turn into pop up conference spaces and I heard Dreamforce injects over $150 million into the local economy.

You could feel it everywhere, in the energy at Moscone, the packed sessions and the fact that it was nearly impossible to find an open table anywhere within a 25 block radius.

Certinia took over Fogo de Chão for the week, hosting great sessions and co sponsor meetups that drew a strong staffing crowd. Upstairs, the Atrium space was buzzing with side meetings and product demos. Meanwhile, Copado turned their HQ into a full-blown Dreamforce hub, hosting sessions, product demos and networking opportunities. But beyond the spectacle, the key message this year for staffing firms was clear: AI isn’t new, but it’s finally time to get serious about it.

The Shift from AI Fatigue to AI Focus

Let’s be honest, if you’ve attended any conference in the past 18 months, you’ve probably rolled your eyes at another “AI revolution” slide. There’s definitely AI fatigue in the air. But this year at Dreamforce, it didn’t feel like hype anymore. The conversations moved past the “wow” factor and into “how.”

AI and Agentforce were everywhere, but the tone was very different.

Instead of “look what it can do,” we heard:

• “Here’s how we’re embedding Agentforce into daily recruiter workflows.”

• “Here’s how we’re coaching sales teams using real-time AI prompts.”

• “Here’s how Data Cloud is making our staffing data actually useful.”

The upcoming Agentforce 360 release, arriving next month is what we wished the platform was last year: more configurable, more intuitive, and more aligned with how real teams work. To be fully transparent: if this were written in 2024, we certainly would not have pushed this, but we’ve seen enough to sing the praises of adopting an AI and Agentforce Strategy.

And the message for staffing firms was blunt: stop waiting for AI to mature, it’s ready. Now it’s about change management, not technology.

Sessions That Hit Home for Staffing Firms

Dreamforce offered 1,700+ sessions this year and no one can see them all (unless they’ve figured out how to clone themselves, which… might be next year’s AI update, or maybe it was in a session we missed...).

Here are are few that stood out for anyone in the staffing space:

• The Staffing & Agentforce Roundtable: led by Salesforce’s Mike Ketter, Abi Mohan and Tom Hebner, this was the place to hear how firms are actually applying Agentforce today, not hypotheticals, but live examples, including using voice with AI. When I say voice, I mean natural, free flowing, smooth talking voice for Agentforce. The conversation around automating candidate screening and interview scheduling drew a standing room only crowd.

• Eliassen Group’s AI Playbook: a staffing firm sharing real numbers, real workflows and real results. For us, this session hit especially close to home, we had the privilege of being part of that journey and seeing it presented on the main stage by Rob Waddell, was a proud moment.

• Asymbl’s “Hybrid Workforce of the Future”: Asymbl stole a bit of the show this year, not only winning Salesforce’s first ever Customer Success Award but also becoming the first customer to demo their own product live on the Dreamforce keynote stage by Brandon Metcalf. Their message: “human + digital workforce, harmonized as one,” landed perfectly for a staffing audience.

• Certinia’s “Operational Agility for Services Firms” at Fogo de Chão: an impressive example of how to bring financials, delivery and staffing operations together in one data ecosystem.

• The Agentforce Roadmap & Product Keynotes: these weren’t about new slogans, they were about finally seeing AI, data and workflow converge in practical, usable ways for recruiting and sales.

The Real Conversations

Dreamforce has always been as much about the hallway talks as the sessions. We had incredible conversations with clients, partners, and new connections, about where staffing is headed next.

A few recurring themes kept surfacing:

• Change management is critical. Tools are the easy part, adoption is the hard one.

• Staffing firms want fewer partners, doing more. The “one SI per platform” model doesn’t work when everything connects through Salesforce.

• Pilots definitely beat PowerPoints. Firms are done talking about possibilities. They want small, measurable Agentforce pilots they can test and scale quickly.

The Culture, the Energy, and the Music

Beyond the business, Dreamforce still knows how to throw a party. Metallica and Benson Boone headlined Dreamfest at Chase Center, shaking the floor with their world famous and for me- nostalgic songs. Proof that Dreamforce really does have something for everyone.

Between the show, the sponsor events and dozens of side gatherings, you could feel how connected this ecosystem has become. Everyone, from partners, customers, product teams, were talking, sharing, brainstorming and occasionally sprinting across Moscone West or to the Intercontinental Hotel to make it to the next session.

Personal Note: The Swag Challenge

Every year I go to Dreamforce, I set myself one mission outside of work: bring home seven stuffed animals for my seven kids. It started as a small tradition and has somehow become a family expectation.

This year, I wasn’t sure I’d pull it off. But thanks to the incredible generosity of vendors (special shoutout to Copado, who literally helped me complete the set), I did. When I got home, the kids lined up on the couch with their new mascots, more excited about the swag, probably more than seeing their dad.

The Takeaway for Staffing Firms

Dreamforce 2025 wasn’t just another year of buzzwords and keynotes. It was a marker.

AI isn’t new. Agentforce isn’t new. But this year, they became non negotiable.

The conversation has officially shifted from “should we?” to “how fast can we?”

And for staffing firms, the challenge is clear:

• Don’t wait for perfect. Start small. Pilot. Iterate.

• Focus on ROI and enablement, get results from the tools you already have.

• Align with partners who understand staffing workflows, not just Salesforce.

Because the firms that act now are going to own the next couple years of progress.

Dreamforce was loud, inspiring, and (as always) exhausting. But it reminded me why we do this, to connect, to learn and to help the staffing industry evolve alongside the tech that drives it.

Until next year, San Francisco.

Cheers,

Mike