Atlassian's current thoughts about the Coronavirus?

[Joerg Mueller-Kindt]

I hate to be the harbinger of doom, but after the press-release by the CDC yesterday and we saw the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona cancelled because of it and even the Olympic Games are thinking about cancelling, i have to ask what are Atlassian's current thoughts about this? 

[Andy Heinzer · Accepted solution]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to make sure this thread has an updated response from Atlassian.  This week Atlassian made a difficult decision to cancel in person Atlassian events through the end of June.  This means that Summit 2020 will not be taking place in Las Vegas this year as originally planned.  More details can be found in https://www.atlassian.com/company/events/summit

Instead of an in person event this year, Atlassian will instead make Summit 2020 a virtual event.  You can find more details on that on the link above.  There is also an FAQ on that page that has a lot more updated info for your consumption.

Cheers,

Andy

[Mickie · Accepted solution]

When I went to the registration page today to look at some of my details, there was the note below:

A note from Atlassian...

The safety of our employees and attendees at all of our events is paramount. Together with the conference venue, Mandalay Bay, and in consultation with public health experts, we are taking every measure to provide a healthy environment at Summit 2020 and have no plans to cancel the conference. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at summit@atlassianevents.com.

[Monique vdB]

Yes, this is the official message from Atlassian!  If we get any updates I'll share them here as well. Thanks @Mickie!

[Jen]

Definitely keep us posted.  I don't want to get too paranoid, but I do want to be aware and take reasonable steps to ensure we all come away with not only great knowledge and broader networks, but healthy as well.

[Michael Kuhl _Appfire_]

I'd suggest moving that message from Atlassian to the front page or FAQs.  Anybody who is already registered are unlikely to see that message yet those are the ones most interested.

[Nils Bluemer · Accepted solution]

I predict that the summit will be cancelled (along with all major events starting in 2-5 weeks). The reason is that in this time frame there will be some 1000 high-risk locations (i.e. spots with at least one infected person) worldwide and certainly more than 1000 cases in the US, but we will not have reached the pandemic stage yet (when the majority of travelling people have been exposed to the virus). So the focus will still be on slowing transmission by all possible means.

Interesting information about the symptoms: https://www.healthline.com/health-news/heres-what-happens-to-the-body-after-contracting-the-coronavirus

[Nils Bluemer]

The cancelation of the in-person-event was inevitable. The situation now looks much worse than on Monday from my perspective. The current numbers of Corona cases in the US appear completely dominated by the lack of proper testing.

I wouldn´t be surprised if the true number of Corona infected persons had already passed the mark of 1000. If the administration doesn´t improve their response, the number of Corona related deaths in the US could be in the same ballpark by the end of March.

It is, therefore, even more important to slow the spread (currently by a weekly factor of 10 in many regions of the world) of the virus.

[Matthew Dell · Accepted solution]

FWIW Adobe cancelled their summit in Las Vegas scheduled to take place the same week.
https://www.adobe.com/summit.html
Now I'm curious what steps Atlassian and the venue plan to take to mitigate the risk if Adobe and their venue decided the only way to accomplish this was to cancel the event.
Atlassian, maybe release a public DACI and risk mitigation plan to allay fears.

[Joe Puoci]

A very difficult and responsible decision. Thanks for the update

[Martin Seibert · Accepted solution]

I have now invested pretty much time in two events on Sunday before Summit. Atlassian calling Summit off would wreck this which would be a super big bummer for me. #meh

You can help me by signing up for the event before it's called off ... #hihi

Please Atlassian. We had 25k deaths in the flu season 2017 / 2018 in Germany. 0 from Covid-19 in DE so far. I have heard each year 80k people die from influenza in USA. Some may have been even catching it at former Summits. 

I am all for following official guidelines of WHO and rules and laws in USA. But it's not for facebook, Adobe, Google or other tech companies to influence how health politics should be governed. I dislike Atlassian Summit with less than 5k people being called off while Germany has tens of soccer games with over 30k people every week. I am sure they keep on happening in USA as well.

But I admit. I am biased to my own time investment here. Call me a fool ...

[Guillermo _DEISER_]

Same feelings, Martin. We all should stay at home, no matches, no theaters, no crowded hotels, nothing, if we really want to stop this. But there are and there will be. I'm afraid this is, some times, what we call in Spain politically correct decisions.

We would like to keep going with our plans or even meet with all the people that are still planning to go there. 

Maybe I am biased too.

[Martin Seibert]

@Guillermo _DEISER_ Let me reassure you. You're as biased as I am. We're running one of the mentioned events together. #muhaha

[Peter Jessen · Accepted solution]

@Joerg Mueller-Kindt,

Your concern is valid, especially with multiple community spread cases reported in the US in the last 24 hours and 2 deaths in the US.

Due to what appears to be a significant increase of risk in the US, I've made the decision to cancel attending the Summit this year due to elderly, respiratory compromised family members I'm in significant contact with on a regular basis. I'm fairly confident I would recover after a few weeks due to no health indicators, but I'm not comfortable risking potentially spreading it to my relatives who have health issues and are in the 60s - 80s.

I'll be catching the live stream or the recordings.

Regards,
Peter

[Kat Warner]

Good call @Peter Jessen. It is a real head-scratcher of a question for us deciding if we should go or not. 

[Annie Ioceva · Accepted solution]

Thank you for asking that question!

Our concerns are rising.

[Kat Warner]

The first question on the Summit app will be "who has hand sanitiser for swag give aways?" :P (Who knew there were already tons of options?)

I wonder if there will be branded surgical masks?

I, for one, will be endorsing the business fist bump over handshakes!

* Please forgive my dark sense of humour if it offends you.

[Jen]

Super funny, but then...what if it only takes a fist bump! Eek! \_*o*_/  I really need some emojis here.

[Kat Warner]

Palms are bug friendly (more likely to be damp and warm).

Unless you (@Jen) lick your knuckles before and after you fist bump someone? 

[Jen]

@Kat Warner True - but knuckle licking definitely sounds like me. hahhaha!  j/k

[David Pinn]

No,.. but wait, but.. why do you lick your palms, Kat?

[Martin Boehme · Accepted solution]

I'm pretty fearless and hope you don't cancel or postpone the Summit.

[Martin Seibert]

👈

[Peter Jessen]

@Martin Boehme

In the end (after data is collected for 6-12 months and beyond) Covid-19 may not have a higher mortality rate than influenza (10-year average of 0.1%), but right now based on all available data the mortality rate is running above 3% and trending higher.

As I said, I'm not concerned with my own chances of dying from it, but the chances of elderly family members (and as my wife pointed out, my young daughter) catching it from me.

In the end, we all need to do our own risk calculations and decide with the info we have available in the moment.

[Deleted user]

While I am not planning to cancel my attendance at the moment, I am still observing the status, as we probably all should.  The mortality rate is one valid data point to look at as a point of concern.  3%, if it bears out, is considerably higher than the 0.1%-0.2% that has been reported for the flu.  Additionally, as there is no vaccine for COVID-19, it has the potential to spread more easily than the flu presumably.  So given the comparison to the flu, that could mean a lot more infections and therefore a lot more deaths.  Stay safe and healthy, all.

[Annie Ioceva]

I see two more risks:

- if any of the attendees from outside US, when arriving in US has a higher body temperature, he or she may be refused to enter the country 

-  also by the end of the month US may reject flights from mode destinations (as now Italy)

It is more the unknowns than a health risk that I see... 

[Philippe ROUSSEL]

I'm french and of course i'll be in Vegas.

Don't cancel!!!

[Miles Faulkner · Accepted solution]

I found the following analysis very enlightening.  

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/10x-worse-than-flu-110th-bad-1918-spanish-pandemic-rex-briggs/

As we all search for valid data to make decisions on.  But then I kinda like quantitative research...

[Carlos Carrera · Accepted solution]

I am split on this one... while I want to go really bad (this is my first Summit) and I do think there is a bit of hypersensitivity on this issue across the board, as a head of my family and father of 2, I think about my loved ones and if it is worth risking them.  While this is like the Flu, there is an unknown aspect that makes it harder to assess.

Nevertheless, I do think that (just like other major companies), Atlassian should cancel the conference out an abundance of caution and prioritizing the wellbeing of their partners and customers over a conference that can be done at any time in the future.   Many companies have done it, and this is what shows what is at the core of a corporation.

[Carlos Carrera]

BTW, on Sunday (March 1) I emailed the Atlassian summit team asking for their position on how in advance I can cancel my registration, and if they do exceptions to the two weeks timeframe.  So far I have not heard back from them yet.  In the past they do reply within 24-48 hours, so either they are swamped with email inquiries, or they re-assessing at the moment and waiting to respond until after the decision has been made.

[Carlos Carrera]

Well, just I suspected, they were working on a wider announcement....  I just received the following email, which I'm sure everyone else should have it in your inboxes:

Hello Carlos,
The health and well-being of every Atlassian, customer, partner, and sponsor is our top priority. Over the last few weeks, we have been closely monitoring the unfolding coronavirus (COVID-19) situation around the world.

After careful consideration, Atlassian has made the difficult decision to cancel the in-person event this year, and change the format to a virtual experience, which we are calling Atlassian Remote Summit 2020. Our teams are working hard to turn this event into a fully remote, interactive experience. Sign-up today to unlock free access to the Remote Summit to watch general sessions, power sessions, and more.

You will be fully reimbursed for your conference pass and any training purchased. We will cancel any hotels booked through an Atlassian-hosted hotel block, and you will have no financial obligations for your lodging. For more information, please visit our FAQs.

Every year, we look forward to connecting with our customers, partners, and sponsors at Summit. We're deeply saddened by the tough decision to cancel this year. In this uncertain environment, we believe this is the right decision to preserve everyone’s health and safety.

In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at summit@atlassianevents.com.

Atlassian Events Team

[Monique vdB]

@Carlos Carrera thank you for posting this. I'm so sorry I won't get a chance to meet you all this year in person.

[Manish Gupta _EduBrite_]

yes, I received the same. Will miss meeting wonderful folks. It would be interesting to see how the virtual summit is going to be. 

[Inna Gordin]

While the cancellation is definitely unfortunate, I think this was the right decision at this point. 

[Michael Kuhl _Appfire_]

Truth:

[Jen]

It definitely does!

[Dharma Ramos]

ROFL

[Lisa Bowen]

LOL!!