Salesforce Cancels In-Person Dreamforce Conference, Will Stage Virtual Event

Also canceled are Tableau Software’s annual customer and partner conference, which will also go virtual, and other Salesforce events.

Salesforce has canceled its massive Dreamforce annual conference, one of the IT industry’s biggest annual events with as many as 200,000 attendees, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and will hold an online virtual event in its place, the company said late Wednesday.

Dreamforce had been scheduled for Nov. 9 through 12 in San Francisco.

Also canceled is Tableau Conference 2020, the business intelligence and data visualization software developer’s annual conference that attracted some 20,000 attendees. (Salesforce acquired Tableau Software in August 2019.) Tableau’s conference, scheduled for Oct. 5 through 8 in Las Vegas, will also now be a virtual event.

[Related: Salesforce Co-CEO Keith Block Stepping Down]

Also canceled and being turned into online events are Tableau Conference Europe, Salesforce’s TrailheaDX India developer conference and the company’s World Tours.

“As the COVID-19 situation continues to evolve, our first priority is to help ensure the health and safety of our customers, partners, employees and communities. With this in mind, we have decided to reimagine our events through the end of the year in new and virtual ways,” said the blog post authored by Amy Weaver, Salesforce president, legal and corporate affairs, general counsel and secretary.

“As we’ve done with other events, we’ll continue to create innovative digital experiences for our ecosystem. For example, we turned our World Tour Sydney into a virtual event in March, taking what is typically an 11,000-person event into one viewed by 80,000 people. We're looking forward to building on that success over the coming months,” Weaver said.

The company has posted a FAQ with additional details. The company, for example, said it will refund all purchased passes for Dreamforce and refund all sponsorship fees.

“We will miss bringing everyone together in person, but we are excited to shape our virtual events in ways that bring all of the fun, innovation, and learning to our dedicated community of Trailblazers,” Weaver said in her blog.