Microsoft’s big developer conference returns to San Francisco in June

Microsoft is moving its annual Build developer conference from Seattle back to San Francisco and making some changes along the way. This year, the event will be held at Fort Mason, the former US Army post located in the San Francisco Bay Area, instead of the bustling downtown of Seattle. Microsoft is moving Build to this location to capture the AI buzz of San Francisco and to make the event more intimate.

“There are great conferences that are enormous, and part of it is just the sprawl and scale of it, and there are great conferences that are tiny that are really a personalized experience,” says Kyle Daigle, chief operating officer at GitHub, in an interview with The Verge. “I think we’re trying to fit in the middle of it where meeting with people that attend is just as much a part of the actual conference content, announcements, and using the tech.”

Microsoft is inviting 2,500 developers to register for Build this year, which will be held from June 2nd to June 3rd instead of the typical May timing. That’s less than the roughly 3,000 to 5,000 who have attended the event previously. “I think this venue really forces folks like us to consider the attendees and focus really on those developers coming to the event,” says Daigle. “They’ll be able to go see a keynote, walk into a hall and touch the demo experience, and have way more interaction with each other.”

The move to San Francisco is part of some “bigger shifts” to change Build into a more developer-focused event. Over the years, Build has been host to many Windows-related announcements or news that isn’t always strictly about developers. “We just need to show you what we’ve been doing, what you’ve been building on top of it, and how you can use it,” says Daigle. “Not pitch you on both our vision and a third-party person’s vision over and over.”

Microsoft is also inviting more external speakers to Build, and some of these speakers will also be appearing in sessions. Datasette founder Simon Willison will be speaking at Build this year, as will Thiink’s Priyanka Sharma, AI engineer Shawn Wang, and many more. Microsoft’s own speakers will include Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, GitHub SVP Jared Palmer, and Scott Hanselman, VP of Developer Communities.

“[Attendees] will be able to have access to what we’re announcing, as a developer in a hall with your laptop out,” says Daigle. “It should feel more of a community-centric developer experience where we’re learning from each other and with each other.”

The move away from Seattle doesn’t necessarily mean Microsoft won’t return to its home city at a later date, especially as Build originally moved from San Francisco to Seattle in 2017. Daigle denied reports that the decision to move was related to negative attendee experiences in downtown Seattle, though. “Build has been in many different locations over the years, but it clearly has an identity with the Seattle area, but like with everything in software, it’s a little bit of ship to learn,” says Daigle. “Let’s ship it to San Francisco and see what we learn this year with that audience that can come and join us, and see about the years following.”