Google Cloud Next ’22 Conference Slated For Oct. 11-13

The format for the annual event — in-person, virtual or hybrid — has yet to be determined.

Google Cloud has set the date for its annual conference for partners and customers, but whether it will have an in-person element remains up in the air.

Google Cloud Next ‘22 is scheduled for Oct. 11-13, after the annual conference ran virtually for the last two years thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s too early to determine how the event experience will span the digital and physical worlds, so please stay tuned for updates as we plan with the health and safety of the attendees in mind,” Alison Wagonfeld, Google Cloud’s chief marketing officer, said in a blog post.

Google Cloud declined to comment on its plans.

Google Cloud Next typically includes keynotes addresses from Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, customer testimonials about using Google Cloud and its services, technology sessions, product demos, hands-on training and new tools, services and partner announcements.

Last year’s Google Cloud Next ’21 was free and held virtually for three days in October. The 2020 event ran as Google Cloud Next ’20: OnAir, a free nine-week online series between July and September. Google Cloud added that format after it cancelled both the in-person Next ’20 conference that had been slated for that April in San Francisco and a subsequently planned online Google Cloud Next ’20: Digital Connect event.

Fellow cloud provider Amazon Web Services returned to an in-person format for its AWS re:Invent 2021 conference in Las Vegas from Nov. 29-Dec. 3, but also offered a virtual version. In-person attendees were required to show proof of vaccination against the coronavirus – with no exceptions – and wear masks. The 10th annual event attracted more than 26,000 in-person attendees and “hundreds of thousands” more virtually, parent company Amazon.com said in its fourth-quarter earnings release on Thursday.