Global Azure and COVID-19

In light of the developing situation with the coronavirus and COVID-19, and out of an abundance of concern for the health of people attending and those travelling to events, the Global Azure Admin team has taken the difficult decision to cancel this year's event.

Why have we made such a decision?

With so many people attending around the globe, usually in the order of 25.000, we are conscious of not wanting to create a situation where organizers put speaker's and attendee's health at risk, and moreover the health of other more vulnerable people in their larger communities.

A key aspect of Global Azure is the way communities come together for a whole day or days of Azure in over 300 locations around the world. Whilst some of the locations run events for 20 people, others run events for more than 500, it really is a globally inclusive event.

As we are still 7 weeks away from the event and the situation with COVID-19 is developing rapidly, including both the number of reported cases and travel restrictions, we also wanted to give local organizers enough time to change plans.

We know that some locations would still be able to go ahead, but we have also been asked by others to consider alternatives.

What are we considering?

In 2020, we are going to facilitate two events: Global Azure Virtual and Global Azure Lite. You can learn more about Global Azure Virtual here. We are also thinking about having a more time distributed Global Azure Lite event later in the year, potentially around October or November.

This is still in discussion, but currently we are considering providing the usual digital giveaways and the science lab and allow locations to run an event during a period of two weeks. This would still be a Global Azure event, but unfortunately we would NOT be able to offer the usual catering support or Azure Passes that we have been providing for the annual Global Azure event.

What now?

Of course, it is up to local organizers to decide if they want to continue to run an event on the original dates, but unfortunately this would not be a Global Azure event and we would not be able to provide digital giveaways, Azure Passes, the science lab or lunches.

We are really sorry we've had to do this, please keep an eye out for an email about a potential "Global Azure Lite" later in 2020, and we hope that you can support our decision to put responsibility and the health of organizers, speakers and attendees first.

Many thanks,

Alex, David, Karl, Magnus, Martin, Sjoukje and Wesley