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Microsoft Build proves splashy tech events can thrive online - CNN

Microsoft Build proves splashy tech events can thrive online - CNN

Microsoft Build proves splashy tech events can thrive online - CNN
May 21, 2020 1 min, 40 secs

More than 230,000 attendees registered for the online-only event, up from the 6,000 who attended in person last year, Microsoft told CNN Business.

It was also the tech giant's time to prove a multi-day conference filled with product updates and breakout sessions for developers was even possible.

But it was a reminder that Microsoft was made for this moment: a company built to help us work better is now trying to show it's attuned to the new challenges of how we're working today.

Despite clear hiccups during its 48-hour livestream (yes, 48 hours of continuous Microsoft content to accommodate time zones, including panels, analysis and demos), Build may have just unveiled a vision for the future -- not by introducing a new product, but by showing how splashy tech keynotes and conferences can still take place at a time when we have no idea when there will be large in-person gatherings again.

Rather than physically traveling from one room to another in time to catch crowded breakout sessions, and consequently missing good chunks of them, the livestream format saves attendees time by cutting straight to the presentations and allowing more time for demos, noted Ramon Llamas of IDC Research, who has attended multiple Build events in the past.

He noted the datasets shared on screen were sometimes hard to read due to the small type size, but the same challenge may present itself when you're in the audience in a large auditorium.

Perhaps the most obvious incentive to attend a fully-produced tech event virtually rather than attending in person is the cost savings: Instead of paying $2,395 for a pass this year, Microsoft made the conference available to anyone who wanted to watch for free.

(Not to mention the savings associated with the cost of a plane ticket and hotel room.)

The massive increase in attendees from last year is a big victory for the company, giving more developers the ability to learn how they can build products for Microsoft from the sessions that wouldn't have otherwise made the livestream.

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