Collision is set to be hosted virtually again next year, due to continued uncertainty surrounding in-person events caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The announcement was made Wednesday, with the organization attributing the decision to “uncertainty surrounding public events around the world.” The decision was made, Collision stated in an email to past attendees, in partnership with the City of Toronto and following the advice of the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Collision was originally set to be held in Toronto for three years starting in 2019.
“With Covid-19 still affecting so many aspects of our lives, we feel it’s too early to know what the world will look like in the coming months and that the most responsible thing to do is host Collision online in the new year,” the email stated.
This will mark the second year the major North American tech conference will be hosted virtually, following the need to move online earlier this year due to COVID-19. Collision had originally hoped to return to Toronto as a physical event in 2021.
Collision was originally set to be held in Toronto for three years and started that three-year stint in 2019. The event was set to be a big-ticket item for the city, attracting thousands of attendees from across the globe.
This year, the organization hosted Collision from Home, reportedly attracting more than 32,000 people from 140 countries. The online event also included more than 600 speakers such as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organization and Parag Agrawal, CTO of Twitter.
To host the online event, the Collision team developed a “proprietary online conferencing platform” that has since been used for its sister event, Web Summit. The organization is looking to use its conferencing software to build out a new line of business; with plans to offer the platform to other partners.
Photo by Eóin Noonan/Collision via Sportsfile