We are humans after all
It is with real sadness that we are announcing the cancellation of this year’s Voxxed Days Zurich.
Although the Covid-19 situation in Switzerland is much better than in other parts of the world, the numbers are still not going down as they should. People are worried and nobody can accurately predict how the situation will evolve in the next 2 months.
We are developers but we are humans after all, and we feel fear, doubt, discomfort and a whole range of heightened emotions. It is totally fine for us to have these feelings, and it would be wrong of us to ignore them. We cannot ask people to gather for an event which we cannot currently know will be safe for everyone.
Therefore the organization of VDZ20 (September edition) is cancelled.
This decision will hurt us financially but we think it is the right thing to do. We already received great messages of support and trust from our community that make us believe we will come back stronger as soon as possible. For now, we are targeting March 2021 as the next event date and we will open a new CFP, 4 months before the event.
What can you do now
If you want to support the event we kindly ask you to accept our proposal to move your ticket directly to the 2021 edition. There is no action required from your side. This will greatly reduce the administrative work on our side and we will not have to throw away money paying banks and credit cards fees. The event will be easier and faster to organize if we already have hundreds of participants registered.
If you are rolling your ticket over to 2021, you’ll be able to get a 20% discount on online workshops we are organizing alongside Voxxed Days Ticino for the beginning of October.
Whilst it’s not possible for us to meet personally, an online classroom focusing on specific topics is a great way to learn and meet developers with similar interests. Our Program Team has selected trainers who will provide the quality you expect from Voxxed Days and Devoxx events. Please vote (link) on which topics interest you most and we will curate the workshops with your feedback.
If your current situation means you cannot roll over your ticket and really do need a refund, we totally understand and don’t want to be any extra burden. Simply send us an email requesting cancellation and refund to [email protected] with your ticket number. Please send your request from the email address your reservation was made from (that sometimes is not the same as the ticket assignee). Deadline to ask for reimbursement is the 4th of September 2020.
We are a family and we help each other
Finally we have to thank a lot of people and companies that supported us in the past 5 years.
The speakers of VDZ20 have been super professionals and helped us to take fast decisions during the emergency. We would like to thank you all for your support and we are very sad to not see you on stage. We are very proud of the program we built. You are all invited to re-submit your talk (or new ones) for next year edition and we hope we will be able to select you again.
The program committee and the volunteers team: they are experts in our industry and usually very busy trying to find the right work/life balance but always available to use their time to help our community.
Our great sponsors that support and trust us. Some of them are present since the first edition and we are really honoured of the support we have been getting during these hard times. Many already confirmed their interest to move the sponsorship to next year. This means a lot to us. ?
And all the attendees, a growing number of developers that come to the event with a lot of positive energy to enjoy the day.
We now have to work hard to cover the loss from the cancellation fees of the 2020 edition. Starting next year with a clean slate would be a particularly fine outcome from a torrid situation.
We kindly ask your support to find the energies and resources to start again as if it was the first year.
Any help is appreciated!, thanks.
Please – continue to stay safe!
We ❤️ you!
the whole VDZ team