Google I/O Cancelled Over Coronavirus Caution

Google announced they are cancelling the physical/in-person version of their massive developer conference, Google I/O, over concerns with the Coronavirus. This was no surprise, as Facebook, Amazon, and other big tech companies have done the same.

Google wrote:

Due to concerns around the coronavirus (COVID-19), and in accordance with health guidance from the CDC, WHO, and other health authorities, we have decided to cancel the physical Google I/O event at Shoreline Amphitheatre.

All guests who have purchased tickets to I/O 2020 will receive a full refund by March 13, 2020. If you don’t see the credit on your statement by then, please reach out to [email protected]. Guests who have registered for I/O 2020 will not need to enter next year’s drawing and will be automatically granted the option of purchasing an I/O 2021 ticket.

Over the coming weeks, we will explore other ways to evolve Google I/O to best connect with our developer community.

For additional questions, please contact [email protected].

We are exploring new ways to connect and support our global developer community. Stay tuned.
More info soon → https://t.co/mSTQKlTa90 (2/2)

— Google Developers (@googledevs) March 3, 2020

Many, if not most, of Google employees are now working from home. John Mueller said he is not physically going to conferences, he will instead do them over video conferencing:

Canceled all international travel, and unfortunately there aren't a lot of conferences in Switzerland. VC'ing in it is.

— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) March 3, 2020

I've seen numerous reports that Google Ads teams stopped traveling to clients and now do video calls instead:

Anyone else in #ppcchat world getting directly/indirectly impacted by coronavirus? My UK based Google reps just had to cancel our QBR because they are not being allowed to travel for work internationally until further notice.

— Jon Kagan (@JonKagan) March 3, 2020

I personally decided to postpone my vlogging trip to NYC (45 minutes away) today but most people said I should not have:

I have meetings with 6 people in four offices in NYC tomorrow for the vlog - there are coronavirus cases (1 confirmed & bunch quarantined) all around my community here - do I cancel? I feel fine and healthy.

— Barry Schwartz (@rustybrick) March 3, 2020

In any event - I do hope this all settles down soon and we all stay healthy.

Forum discussion at Twitter.