Microsoft Build is a flagship annual developer conference held by Microsoft since 2011. In 2017, Microsoft relocated Build from San Francisco to its home turf in Seattle. The proximity to its main campus allowed greater participation from its own engineers and executives, offering attendees a more integrated experience.
Today, Jonathan Choe revealed on X that Microsoft has decided to move its Build developer conference out of Seattle. He discovered this information via an email sent by Visit Seattle to its members. Visit Seattle is a private, non-profit destination marketing organization that promotes travel to Seattle and King County. As a result of the move, Seattle-based hotels could lose approximately 9,314 room nights annually.
Surprisingly, Visit Seattle’s message included several details about Microsoft’s reasons for the change. The primary reason appears to have come from within Microsoft itself. The company feels that Build lost momentum post-COVID, and the scheduling conflict with Google I/O, a competing event, has made it harder to attract the intended audience…