Adobe is canceling its annual conference in Las Vegas amid mounting concern surrounding the coronavirus. Instead, the Adobe Summit 2020 will take place as an online event.
It joins other tech companies like Facebook and Twitter, who also said on Monday that they would be pulling out of various events such as SXSW due to the outbreak.
Adobe said in a statement that it was keeping tabs on COVID-19, but canceled its event to “protect the health and wellbeing of Adobe Summit attendees.” Last year, more than 16,000 people attended its marquee Vegas event, which featured a speaker list that included Reese Witherspoon and Drew Brees.
Adobe had already been describing Summit as “the digital experience conference,” which draws interest from both creatives with tools such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Creative Cloud, and chief marketing officers with cloud solutions to target consumers with ads. This year’s event, originally scheduled for March 29 to April 2, was expected to focus on Adobe’s recently launched customer data platform.
Google made a similar move with its Cloud Next event in San Francisco, also saying it would be held online. The company said it made its decision, "in alignment with the best practices laid out by the CDC and WHO,” adding that "Innovation is in Google’s DNA and we are leveraging this strength to bring you an immersive and inspiring event this year without the risk of travel.”
Last week Facebook said it would cancel its F8 developer conference and on Monday announced it wouldn't be attending SXSW. Twitter will also skip the conference in Austin, Texas. Adobe declined to comment on whether it is also considering pulling out of SXSW.