From Small Town Anxiety to Big City Dreams: How Dreamforce Changed Everything for Shannon Tran

About Shannon Tran

Salesforce & AI Whisperer (Principal Architect Director)

Shannon Tran is a Salesforce consultant who’s been working in the ecosystem for over a decade. What makes her story unique isn’t just her professional success it’s how Dreamforce literally changed her life trajectory, from helping her overcome big city anxiety to eventually leading her to move across the country. Based in Los Angeles now, Shannon has attended Dreamforce five-plus times, but it’s her first experience in 2014 that remains the most transformative. Her journey from a small-town Florida girl terrified of cities to a confident consultant living her best life on the West Coast is proof that sometimes the biggest breakthroughs happen when you push past your comfort zone.

Shannon’s Journey Highlights:

🌟 First Dreamforce in 2014 – overcame major city anxiety to attend

🏢 Transitioned from Salesforce Admin to successful consultant after one pivotal session

🌉 Fell so in love with San Francisco that she and her husband moved there

📱 Connected with online Salesforce friends in person for the first time

☀️ Now calls Los Angeles home while maintaining deep SF nostalgia

💼 Built a decade-long consulting career sparked by Dreamforce insights

🤝 Masters the art of prioritizing connections over content at conferences

The Beer, Dramamine, and Big City Terror

Shannon’s first Dreamforce story doesn’t start with walking into Moscone Center—it starts with pure terror in a rental car driving into San Francisco.

“I don’t remember the exact moment I first walked into Dreamforce, but I vividly remember the car ride into San Francisco in fall of 2014,” Shannon recalls. Growing up in a small town in Florida, the biggest city she’d experienced as an adult was Atlanta. “While Atlanta is big, it’s still a ‘garden city’ of the South and spread out, low-rise, with building height restrictions that let you see the horizon.”

But earlier that year, a trip to Boston had revealed something unexpected about herself. “I was completely unnerved by the feeling of not seeing beyond the tightly packed skyline. The older, denser cities block the gradual fade into the distance that Southern cities allow.” The experience hit her with such anxiety that she “physically felt like I couldn’t catch my breath, with the structures in downtown boxing me in.”

So here she was, having just discovered that big cities made her want to “scream, cry and honestly just leave,” yet planning to travel to San Francisco for Dreamforce. Her solution? “I chugged a beer and took a dramamine after landing at the airport in San Francisco, prepared to be slammed with unbeatable anxious feelings and nerves.”

The irony wasn’t lost on her: “I was definitely more worried about the city part than the conference part, if that makes any sense at all.”

When Online Friends Become Real People

Shannon’s first Dreamforce was about more than conquering her city phobia—it was about finally meeting the people who had become her professional community online.

“This is cheesy but I met up with so many of my online-friends in person for the first time at my first Dreamforce,” she admits. “My camera roll from that year is full of faces I had only seen through screens prior to the conference. I learned a lot in the sessions, but the coffee chats were unbeatable. Photobombing with Chris Duarte was a blast.”

There’s something magical about that first moment when a LinkedIn profile picture becomes a real person sitting across from you at coffee. For Shannon, those connections weren’t just nice-to-have networking—they were the foundation of relationships that would support her career for years to come.

The Salesforce community had been her lifeline as she navigated her role as a Salesforce Admin, and Dreamforce was where those digital relationships became real friendships.

The Session That Changed Everything

While Shannon treasures the networking and connections from her first Dreamforce, there was one session that literally changed the trajectory of her career.

“My first Dreamforce, I was toying with the idea of pivoting to consulting but felt that I didn’t know enough to become a consultant,” she explains. “I went to a session about making the transition from Admin to Consultant and it changed my life, literally. I’ve been consulting for about 10 years now.”

It’s one of those perfect Dreamforce moments—walking into a session uncertain about your future and walking out with a completely new career path. That single session gave Shannon the confidence and roadmap she needed to make the leap from Admin to consultant, a decision that’s shaped the last decade of her professional life.

Sometimes the most important thing you learn at Dreamforce isn’t a new feature or technical skill—it’s permission to believe in yourself and your capabilities.

How a Conference Made Her Fall in Love with a City

Perhaps the most unexpected outcome of Shannon’s first Dreamforce was falling head over heels for San Francisco itself.

“My first Dreamforce was a mixture of spending time with inspiring people and enjoying the sights in an inspiring city,” she reflects. “I’m grateful the conference is held in SF because it opened my eyes to how beautiful the city is, and my husband and I eventually migrated west to California because of our experiences in San Francisco.”

From anxiety-inducing terror to life-changing love affair—that’s quite a transformation. Shannon credits Salesforce as an unlikely matchmaker: “If there is such a thing as a location-matchmaker, Salesforce introduced me to my favorite city in my favorite state.”

The small-town Florida girl who needed dramamine to face the San Francisco skyline not only survived but thrived. “Glad to report that I survived Dreamforce in the City by the Bay. After the second day walking from Fisherman’s wharf into SoMa, I felt like a pro. Also glad to report that just a couple of years later, we moved to SF and lived in the Bay Area for several years sans anxiety.”

Her message to fellow small-town folks? “To my fellow small town friends: the newness washes away, eventually.”

The Evolution of a Dreamforce Strategy

Shannon’s approach to Dreamforce has evolved significantly since that first anxiety-filled experience in 2014. Her networking strategy now reflects someone who understands the true value of the event.

“My first Dreamforce, I let fate decide who I would run into,” she explains. “At following events, I spent more time connecting with friends well ahead of the conference to find out what the plans were each day to see if we could sync up either between sessions or after.”

Her philosophy is clear: “I prioritized connections over a lot of the content because many sessions are recorded and available to watch at your leisure later, while in-person conversations are invaluable and ephemeral.”

This shift from reactive to proactive networking shows the wisdom that comes from experience. Shannon learned that the magic of Dreamforce isn’t just in what happens during the official programming—it’s in the conversations between sessions, the spontaneous coffee meetups, and the relationships that develop when you put effort into connecting with people.

From Coast to Coast: A California Love Story

While Shannon now calls Los Angeles home, her heart still belongs to San Francisco. “No shade to LA, where we reside now, but SF still holds a special place in my heart.”

The journey from small-town Florida to LA via San Francisco—all sparked by that first terrifying, transformative Dreamforce experience—is a testament to how conferences can change not just careers but entire life trajectories.

“Dreamforce changed how I feel about big cities, my career trajectory, and finding friends,” Shannon sums up. That’s a pretty comprehensive life overhaul for a single conference experience.

Advice from Someone Who’s Been There

Shannon’s advice for first-time Dreamforce attendees comes from someone who understands both the terror and the triumph:

Her #1 tip: “Prioritize networking!”

Essential preparation: “Reach out to your network ahead of time to plan your meetups.”

The biggest mistake she sees: “Wearing uncomfy shoes.” (Practical advice from someone who learned the hard way about navigating San Francisco on foot.)

Her perspective on networking is particularly valuable: “Connecting with others at conferences like Dreamforce is special. It’s a place to forge deeper relationships and build better bonds with people you want to be successful, and who want you to be successful.”

The Ripple Effects Continue

Ten years later, the ripple effects of Shannon’s first Dreamforce continue to shape her life and career. The consultant career that started with one pivotal session. The California lifestyle that began with conquering city anxiety. The friendships that evolved from online connections to real-world relationships.

Shannon’s story is proof that Dreamforce’s impact extends far beyond the official conference agenda. Sometimes the most transformative experiences happen in the spaces between—in the car ride into the city, in the coffee conversations, in the moment you realize you’re braver than you thought you were.

Her journey from dramamine-dependent small-town girl to confident West Coast consultant shows that growth often requires us to do the thing that scares us most. For Shannon, that thing was facing a big city and a big conference. The reward was a completely transformed life.

Whether you’re preparing for your first Dreamforce or your fifteenth, Shannon’s story reminds us that the biggest breakthroughs often come disguised as our biggest fears. Sometimes you just have to chug a beer, take a dramamine, and see what happens next.