With the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, pretty much all in-person events have been canceled, postponed, or have went digital. Microsoft went all-digital with its MVP Summit, and will do so with Build and Inspire 2020. The latest to be confirmed to go digital is Ignite 2020, which was slated for September in New Orleans.
Microsoft is going further than that though, as all in-person events are going digital for the rest of the calendar year, a spokesperson confirmed to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley. The statement is as follows: "In light of the challenges presented by Covid-19, we are adjusting our event calendar and strategy. For the remainder of 2020 we are embracing the opportunity to experiment with new platforms to provide our partners, customers and developers the highest quality, digital-first experiences."
The report also claims that not only is Microsoft canceling events planned for the rest of this year, but also the first half of next year. The company didn't confirm this bit though, only saying that it's going to "continue to evaluate the event landscape".
It's not surprising that Microsoft won't confirm that 2021 events will be held digitally, even if it is planning this internally. After all, Build hasn't even happened yet, and we never get details of next year's Build conference before this year's. The firm will see how this one goes, take feedback, see what they can do better, and decide how to move forward.
