While Spring normally marks the start of conference season in the marketing community, concerns around the coronavirus outbreak have forced the cancelation or postponement of a number of events this year. Adobe, SalesLoft, Oracle and Demandbase are among the marketing technology leaders canceling or postponing their upcoming in-person events.
Large-scale marketing conferences are among many business meetings being shut down worldwide, with direct economic loss reaching $666 million, according to estimates from PredictHQ, a data intelligence company.
A survey of 400 businesses by the Global Business Travel Association also revealed that early two-thirds (65%) of GBTA companies report they have canceled at least a “few” meetings or events. Nearly one-fifth of respondents (18%) report that they’ve canceled “many” events, and one-fourth (25%) have canceled “some” meetings or events.
The list of sales and marketing events which have been canceled or rescheduled due to the virus includes:
- SalesLoft’s Rev2020 event, which was scheduled for March 9-11 in San Francisco, SalesLoft CEO Kyle Porter wrote on LinkedIn that more than 2,000 attendees were expected.
- Demandbase postponed its upcoming ABM event, 2020 ABM Innovation Summit, scheduled for March 17-18 in San Francisco, and is planning to reschedule the event in the Fall. The company will be airing a virtual keynote on March 17th from 9-10 am PT.
- Oracle’s Modern Business Experience, which was scheduled for March 23-26 in Chicago, is postponed. The company plans to broadcast keynotes during a free virtual event on March 24.
- Adobe announced plans to turn its Adobe Summit 2020, originally scheduled for March 29 to April 2 in Las Vegas, into an online event.
- Outreach announced plans to cancel its Unleash 2020 conference (originally scheduled for April 7-9 in San Diego), with plans to convert the program into a virtual event.
