Salesforce's signature Dreamforce conference to be held in person this year, Benioff says

Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference will be held in person this year, CEO Marc Benioff told CNBC’s Jim Cramer in a “Mad Money” interview Thursday.

The company held the high-profile convention entirely remotely in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and this year’s event, set for Sept. 21-23, will maintain a digital component.

However, Salesforce’s decision to welcome back in-person attendees is a noteworthy development in corporate America’s recovery from the Covid crisis, which prompted companies to embrace widespread remote work in a way like never before and led to a sharp slowdown in business travel.

Salesforce will require in-person attendees in the U.S. to be fully vaccinated against Covid, according to a company press release.

Dreamforce will be held across multiple locations in 2021, including San Francisco, where the cloud software maker has its headquarters. The conference will also convene in New York City, Paris and London. Salesforce said the event will be “the first-ever global Dreamforce.”

Dreamforce, now in its 19th year, is a big marketing opportunity for Salesforce. It’s also viewed as a significant driver of economic activity for San Francisco. Speakers in previous years include former President Barack Obama, who spoke in 2019. That year, more than 171,000 people registered to attend.

Benioff’s interview on “Mad Money” came shortly after the company reported first-quarter fiscal results that beat Wall Street expectations on the top and bottom lines.

“This was the best first quarter we have ever had. I think maybe it’s the best quarter we’ve ever had in the company history,” Benioff, who founded Salesforce in 1999, told Cramer. “The revenue, the margin, the cash flow all vastly exceeded our expectations.”