Google canceled its annual conference called Google Cloud Next, amid the novel coronavirus (NCOV-19) and decided to go for a digital conference instead.
The said conference was supposed to happen on April 6 to 8 this year but the tech giant announced that the event would be canceled because of the virus outbreak. The conference attracts more than 30,000 people all over the world to discuss innovations in tech and digital learning.
This year, Google plans to make the event digital with interactive learning and streamlined keynotes. There will also be breakout sessions and digital ‘ask an expert’ sessions to learn more from Google teams.
“The health and well-being of Google Cloud partners, customers, employees, and the overall community is our top priority. Due to the growing concern around the coronavirus, and in alignment with the best practices laid out by the CDC, WHO, and other relevant entities, Google Cloud has decided to reimagine Google Cloud Next ’20,” said the spokesperson.
The event will still push through on the same dates mentioned but will only be digital. Participants who paid for the conference tickets will be registered in the digital conference at no charge, plus tickets will be refunded.
Google Cloud Next ’20 was originally scheduled to happen at Moscone Center in San Francisco, with more than 500 sessions for labs and training. According to the organizer, this event will be one of the biggest in the record, plus it will be special because CEO Sundar Pichai will be present. Additionally, there will be a question and answer session with Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, which is assigned to lead the talks on keynotes.
Aside from the Cloud Next ’20, there is also another big event that is bound to happen, which is the I/O 2020, however, Google hasn’t announced anything yet. The I/O 2020 will happen in May this year but according to experts, Google will likely resort to a digital conference due to the NCOVID-19 outbreak.
The recent cancellation of the event follows Facebook’s annual developer conference last week. This was also linked to the virus outbreak, which likely affects employees and people attending the conference. Instead of the physical conference setup, Facebook announced that it will be resorting to ‘locally hosted events, videos, and live-streamed content.’
The F8 developer’s conference is bound to happen a week later than Google’s I/O 2020 and Microsoft Build conferences. However, there are still no announcements on the cancellation of the two events.
