An update on React Summit 2020 & the global coronavirus pandemic
Dear React Summit community,
We announce that due to the coronavirus situation in the Netherlands, React Summit has been officially postponed to September 11, 2020.
Despite many months of hard work and preparations for the biggest React conference in the world, we’ve been forced by the circumstances to give up on the original dates of the conference and decided to move the event.
Our team has already booked the original venue for the later date, and the event is still going to be the special edition celebrating the 5th anniversary of the conference. The program is going to be outstanding and you can still count on the original numbers of speakers and attendees.
We will keep you informed about any organizational changes as soon as possible. You can find all the details below, but to give you a tl;dr:
- your ticket will be transfered to the September 11 conf
- you get extra access to a virtual React Summit conf on April 17
- you get a 50% discount for JSNation conf on September 10
- transfers to other events or refunds are possible
- workshops will be held remotely on April 14–16
- miniconfs have been canceled and will be refunded
- you have a good chance of refunding your non-refundable travel expenses
This crisis is a big blow for us, and as a global event we need you, React developers, to show your support in these hard times. We have never been in a similar situation, and the React Summit team is now trying to resolve cancellation fees from multiple venues, audiovisual tech, speakers’ travel expenses, and many months of work that need to be paid out. That’s why we’d like to ask our community to bear with us and attend the September event, if possible.
Conference tickets will be automatically transferred to the later date
Your conference tickets will be automatically transferred to the later date (September 11) retaining the original value and perks. The lineup will be slightly altered based on speakers’ availability, but you can still expect the top React (Native) experts.
In addition to the rescheduled event, we are going to run an alternative virtual conference on the original date (April 17), with the attendees with valid September tickets getting exclusive access to the online conference content via a streaming platform.
The list of speakers that have confirmed their participation online and/or at the September event so far includes among others:
More speakers will be announced soon, and you can rest assured that an important part of the content promised for the April date will take place online. Besides talks, you can look forward to online networking options and also an advice lounge where you will be able to book one-on-one consultations with some of the speakers. Details will be published in the following weeks — we’ll inform you on social media and via emails.
As a bonus, you will receive a 50% discount for JSNation, our JavaScript conference with top JS project core team members, taking place on similar dates as React Summit in September.
Should you decide not to attend the September event and April streaming, you can request a refund via email before April 3, but transfers to other GitNation events (React Advanced London 2020, React Day Berlin 2020, React Summit 2021) are also possible. We will do everything in our power to process your refund in the shortest possible time, and we hope you remain a React Summit fan despite the rescheduling.
Both GraphQL and JAMstack MiniConf have unfortunately been canceled and will be refunded over the course of the following 30 days.
Workshops will be held remotely on original dates
Workshops will be run remotely on their original dates (April 14–16). We will ensure that all trainers will be properly equipped and trained to adjust to the new format, but most of them have solid experience running online courses, anyway.
We trust that a remote workshop can deliver even more value by allowing you to engage with our trainers from the comfort of your home/office. In addition to the originally planned experience, we expect you will receive more individual trainer attention and a bonus home work content with code review performed by the trainers.
On top of that, attendees will receive a partial refund, as we’ll drop catering and some other expenses.
What to do about your travel plans
In case you’ve already booked non-refundable travel / accommodation for April, you now have high chances of being able to refund your expenses due to force majeure, depending on how fair your travel providers are. We're not able to directly request refunds on your behalf, but feel free to pass this statement to your providers as a proof of cancellation of the original date.
Conclusion
Thank you for reading through this statement, and keep in mind that the whole React Summit team is grateful that you're staying with us in these difficult times.
We hope you stay safe and we get to see you soon!
