4 ms·

I’m still wondering if the Mobile World Congress will get canceled because of this. 5 companies pulled out already. Gsma minimizes the impact and consequences,

I’m still wondering if the Mobile World Congress will get canceled because of this. 5 companies pulled out already. Gsma minimizes the impact and consequences, but think about this: what if one single person is found positive? How would they manage the quarantine of the tens of thousand of attendees? If you were Barcelona’s mayor what would you do? Prioritize public safety and risking the bankruptcy of the event organizers, or let everything happen risking a health crisis? Hard decisions...

optymizer 7y ago
Risk of getting coronavirus is the reason I decided not to attend MWC after having registered and made all arrangements. I have family that will not survive an infection if I end up being infected. I was trying to rationalize that maybe it is not that risky but then I saw there are several companies attending that have "Wuhan" in the name, e.g. Wuhan Silicon Technologies Inc. Even if those were banned, there are dozens (hundreds?) of companies from China attending. Personally I decided it is too risky for my situation, but that's not to say others shouldn't go. I just worry about getting 300,000 people in a venue for 3 days. Sounds super risky. I might actually work from home for 2 weeks after my colleagues come back from the conference just to be safe.
totalZero 7y ago
In my view there's little upside to attending MWC this year for most large companies. They can publicize their new products just about as well by sending devices to reviewers and making cool videos, so there's very limited upside. And the downside is immense. Travel does a number on the immune system. Plus, if they're anything like me, people who travel to MWC for work will tend to get short-changed on sleep. That said, I don't think it really hurts the industry as a whole if MWC is cancelled, in the long term. But it may hurt MWC.
- camillomiller 7y ago
  Last year at MWC I slept 8 full hours. Over 5 days. It’s the forced networking after running around all day that really gets you... I hardly remember a year that I didn’t get back with a cold, a hurt back, a sore throat and so on. Why do we still do this to ourselves? I will absolutely cheer the first company that organizes the first streaming only event. Just get the products in the hand of reviewers a day or two before... What we don’t consider though is that mwc is also basically a place where salespersons and clients sit down to sign contracts. Not sure what it means for them if it gets canceled

optymizer 7y ago

Risk of getting coronavirus is the reason I decided not to attend MWC after having registered and made all arrangements. I have family that will not survive an infection if I end up being infected. I was trying to rationalize that maybe it is not that risky but then I saw there are several companies attending that have "Wuhan" in the name, e.g. Wuhan Silicon Technologies Inc. Even if those were banned, there are dozens (hundreds?) of companies from China attending. Personally I decided it is too risky for my situation, but that's not to say others shouldn't go. I just worry about getting 300,000 people in a venue for 3 days. Sounds super risky. I might actually work from home for 2 weeks after my colleagues come back from the conference just to be safe.

totalZero 7y ago

In my view there's little upside to attending MWC this year for most large companies. They can publicize their new products just about as well by sending devices to reviewers and making cool videos, so there's very limited upside. And the downside is immense. Travel does a number on the immune system. Plus, if they're anything like me, people who travel to MWC for work will tend to get short-changed on sleep. That said, I don't think it really hurts the industry as a whole if MWC is cancelled, in the long term. But it may hurt MWC.

camillomiller 7y ago
Last year at MWC I slept 8 full hours. Over 5 days. It’s the forced networking after running around all day that really gets you... I hardly remember a year that I didn’t get back with a cold, a hurt back, a sore throat and so on. Why do we still do this to ourselves? I will absolutely cheer the first company that organizes the first streaming only event. Just get the products in the hand of reviewers a day or two before... What we don’t consider though is that mwc is also basically a place where salespersons and clients sit down to sign contracts. Not sure what it means for them if it gets canceled