Editor's Note: This story is being updated as it develops.You can see a list of cancellations and new additions here.
First Twitter. Then Facebook. Now Intel.
Three of tech's biggest players have pulled out of South By Southwest amid escalating fears that the global coronavirus outbreak will continue to spread.
The companies are just three of hundreds from around the globe playing roles at SXSW through promotions, activations and representation on panels and at parties. But the social media and chipmaking giants are also market leaders and their decisions to limit travel and pull out of the the festival could portend addition withdrawals.
Meanwhile, a consortium of Austin founders, tech startups and civic groups are planning a town hall discussion on Friday and a weekend-long hackathon event to explore the best ways for Austin to protect itself from the virus and deal with everyday changes -- from replacing the handshake to helping SXSW ensure attendees use best practices to stay healthy.
Innovators will submit ideas to be included in a lighting pitch session, and some will demo their ideas to fellow participants. The hackathon project has broad community support. Featured participants include leaders from Capital Factory, Voltage Control, Mutual Mobile Sarah Ortiz Shields, Austin Tech Alliance and the Texas Tribune. It also has support from Mayor Steve Adler, Dell Medical School, the Texas National Guard and several other companies and organizations.
"We can be a best-in-class city by stepping up to help other conferences and cities around the world learn from our experience by creating design-oriented solutions that will educate, inform, and prepare the public," Capital Factory founder Joshua Baer wrote in a Medium post Monday.
Twitter announced its decision to abandon SXSW on Monday morning, noting its CEO Jack Dorsey wouldn't be speaking, as planned, and it would cancel its TwitterHouse activation. It was part of the company's move to suspend "all nonbusiness travel and events." Late on Monday, Business Insider reported Facebook's employees wouldn't participate.
Those two moves followed the launch of a petition on Change.org calling for SXSW to be cancelled that has drawn more than 27,000 signatures.
There's no indication SXSW will be cancelled. And Facebook, Twitter and Intel represent just a fraction of the overall conference. But several other tech conferences across the globe have already been cancelled over companies pulling out to protect employees and concerns that such large gatherings could put attendees at risk.
The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was cancelled, so were Nvidia's GPU Technology Conference, Facebook's F8 developers conference, the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco and Google's Cloud Next conference was switched to online-only.
SXSW organizers are working closely with local health officials to monitor the situation, and there are no known coronavirus cases in the Austin area (update: KVUE reports that one person in Travis County is being tested for the virus, but officials say risk to public is low). It has set up a COVID-19 Attendee Information page.
"As a result of this dialogue and the recommendations of Austin Public Health, we are proceeding with the 2020 event with the health and safety of our attendees, staff, and volunteers as our top priority," SXSW said in a statement Monday.
Update: On Tuesday morning, author and podcaster Tim Ferriss, who lives in Austin, announced he won't be attending anymore.
"I love SXSW, but I don't believe the novel coronavirus can be contained, and I view an int'l event of 100K+ people as a huge risk to attendees and the entire city, given limited ICU beds, etc.," he wrote on Twitter.
"Just as EXPO WEST did today, I would suggest SXSW (@sxsw) postpone and plan on announcing new dates next month, after we have more clarity on the spread, severity, and risk of novel coronavirus," he wrote in a follow up tweet.
SXSW, meanwhile, continued to move forward by adding several new speakers to its lineup. Those include keynotes by TBWA/Media Arts Lab Chief Creative Officer Brent Anderson, as well as a a conversation on the future of space exploration with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli, Nick Hague and CNN Business writer Jackie Wattles.
Other newly announced speakers include presidential candidate and entrepreneur Andrew Yang, Eric Andre, host of "The Eric Andre Show," and entrepreneur and model Karlie Kloss.
Additionally, Crunchbase News reported Cody Barbo, founder and CEO of San Diego-based Trust & Will, cancelled his plans to attend; and Bay Area startup Egnyte has restricted all travel and its co-founder Vineet Jain says he decided not to attend. Hustle Fund co-founder Elizabeth Uin also says she's cancelling her SXSW plans.
Music entertainment and video hosting company Vevo told Ad Age its cancelling its SXSW plans, including a music showcase, as well. But representatives from Snapchat and Reddit told Ad Age on Monday they're sticking with their SXSW plans.
Update: TikTok and Capital One have pulled out, per the Statesman. Austin-based careers site Indeed, meanwhile, has told all employees (about 2K in Austin) to work from home out of an abundance of caution, the ABJ reported. Indeed also said it would cancel all near-term Indeed-hosted events, although it didn't mention SXSW specifically. And the Seattle Times reports that an Amazon employee there tested positive for COVID-19.
Update: Amazon Studios has pulled out of SXSW, per Variety.
Update: Apple will skip SXSW, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
But it's important to note that the vast majority of speakers and company activations appear to be going forward as planned, including Bumble's SXSW Hive at Jo's Coffee.
Many others are still considering their options and how a cancellation might impact Austin's economy. In 2019, SXSW and its consultants estimated the festival had a $356 million impact on Austin's economy, with $182 million coming from attendees and their spending.
Not sure what to do here regarding @sxsw - such a great event in #Austin - but safety has to be the top priority with #coronavirus https://t.co/0RG6B6tFPF
— mike smerklo (@mikesmerklo) March 3, 2020
if sxsw gets cancelled y’all need to get out there and support your fave restaurants bars and coffeeshops. their annual finances DEPEND on sxsw and they will be hurting, big time https://t.co/bSWDShJVKp
— Paula Forbes (@paulaforbes) March 3, 2020
Due to concerns regarding the coronavirus, we’ve decided to cancel the Mashable House and MashBash at SXSW. This was a really tough call, but safety is our top priority.
— Mashable (@mashable) March 3, 2020
Intel's out of SXSW: "After careful consideration, we have withdrawn from on-site activities at this year’s SXSW. We are grateful to SXSW for their understanding and look forward to attending and supporting future events."
— Jeremy Kaplan (@SmashDawg) March 3, 2020
In any given year, you could probably find 30,000 people who signed a “cancel SXSW” petition just because they think SXSW is annoying. A lot of those people signed the coronavirus petition going around. They aren’t thinking about the economy around SXSW
— dan solomon (@dansolomon) March 3, 2020
Can we just stick a fork in #SXSW20? This first #coronavirus case we get in Austin, which is just a matter of time, and it'll get canceled. Our @MayorAdler is busy hobnobbing in Dallas but it'd be nice to hear what he thinks. https://t.co/hbgrXmVisa
— Patrick Moorhead (@PatrickMoorhead) March 3, 2020
I think I'm out for SXSW. Just not worth it. I don't think they will actually cancel it but it will be cancelled for all intents and purposes.
— Alexander Taub (@ajt) March 3, 2020
They have to cancel @Sxsw eventually right? I’d really like them to make that decision for me...as I still really want to go but idk
— Linz DeFranco (@LinzDeFranco) March 3, 2020
— Steve Desaulniers (@steve_desaul) March 3, 2020
Looking forward to next time!
— Arlan ?? (@ArlanWasHere) March 4, 2020
It’s time to cancel @sxsw - don’t let financial incentives override public health. #CancelSXSW #SXSW https://t.co/Qd3oHv6Ea6
— Spencer Wells (@spwells) March 4, 2020
I mentioned recently, SXSW will be under immense pressure from other promoters not to cancel. If it cancels Coachella is toast. If those two cancel then there's no turning back for pretty much every North American festival.
— dj Thistle / Coin Street News (@DJThistle01) March 4, 2020
Shoutout to all of the artists from outside of Austin who committed non-refundable, thousands of dollars ages ago to be here for #SXSW. I live here, I'm not going anywhere and I will be rocking right along side you. Let's wash our hands and rock!
— Jackie Venson (@jackievenson) March 5, 2020
SXSW is the perfect place to spread coronavirus. Cancel it. [Opinion] https://t.co/SKsPozlWKi
— Houston Chronicle (@HoustonChron) March 5, 2020
@MayorAdler you are welcome to call me if you would like to talk about the public health risks of proceeding with @SXSW @HIMSS, a conference of tens of thousands, just decided to cancel for health reasons https://t.co/nl9epTnY9y
— Marty Makary (@MartyMakary) March 5, 2020
➡️ RSVP: https://t.co/TrnpLGe3V8
➡️ 3/20
➡️ At @BarracudaAustin - 611 East 7th Street Austin, TX
Get more unofficial #SXSW2020 RSVPs here:
? https://t.co/SXVDYPHmog #sxsw pic.twitter.com/K87qy5B1R8
— Unofficial SXSW 2020 (@SXUnofficial) March 5, 2020
It was a tough call, but I've decided not to present at (or attend) SXSW this year.
I love SXSW (it's what brought me to Austin in the first place!), but it's not worth the risk.
— Caitlin Hudon ??? (@beeonaposy) March 5, 2020
Editor's note: We'll continue to follow this story as it develops. You can follow our additional reporting on Twitter at @AustinInno or by subscribing to our daily newsletter, the Beat.
