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In light of Covid-19, Microsoft said that all external and internal events will be held as digital-first experiences until July 2021.
Microsoft has announced that all upcoming conferences and events will be held online until July 2021, in response to the Covid-19 crisis and restrictions put in place around the world to limit the spread of the virus.
In an email to Microsoft MVP & RD Summit attendees, the company said that it has been “closely monitoring the developing global situation and re-assessing the overall company-wide in-person event strategy” in light of the challenges presented by Covid-19.
“As a company, Microsoft has made the decision to transition all external and internal events to a digital-first experience through July 2021. This will include the future MVP & RD Summit, which is currently scheduled for 28 March to 2 April 2021,” it added.
“We will continue to evaluate the situation and look forward to connecting in person when the situation allows.”
This year’s MVP Global Summit, which was supposed to be held in California in mid-March, was also run as a digital event.
Event changes
Throughout the coronavirus crisis, the tech event industry has taken a significant hit, with many national and international events being called off to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
In February, Microsoft was one of a number of companies that pulled out of the Game Developers Conference, before the event was cancelled. Other large industry events such as E3 and Mobile World Congress were cancelled, and Apple decided to move its Worldwide Developer Conference online..
More recently, Microsoft announced that its Build 2020 event, due to be held in Seattle in May, would also transform into a virtual conference.
With the company’s latest decision, events such as Microsoft Ignite, which was set to be held in September 2020, will happen online. It will also likely impact the company’s plans to attend CES 2021 and the Build 2021 event.
The company has also cancelled its Inspire event for partners, which was supposed to be held in July, and it is unlikely that the company will hold any in-person Surface hardware launches this year.
