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SmashingConf San Francisco and COVID-19

Thursday, March 12.

Dearest friends,

Over the past few weeks, the Smashing Team has been following the CDC, SF Mayoral and Public Health offices, and WHO policies and recommendations. As of March 11th, San Francisco has banned all large-scale events for the next two weeks. Now, while this doesn’t apply to us, as we are well under 1000 people and are still 6 weeks away from the event, it brings a lot more to light.

There are plenty of restrictions in place, including travel for some of our attendees, speakers, sponsors, and team. It seems likely these will only increase in the coming weeks. It’s also not just the practical considerations, we have to consider the people. we cannot ask our attendees to prioritize a conference commitment over their health or the health of their friends and family.

For these, and many more reasons, SmashingConf SF will be postponed until November 10–11, 2020.

We hope we can fully express how hard this decision has been for the team, but we do believe it is the best way forward for our event, and the safety and health of you, our dearest Smashing Family ❤️


What Does This Mean For You And Your Ticket?

We would love your support and, if possible, transfer your ticket to the new date or another event. But, of course, there are options!

Keep Your Ticket And Attend The SF Conference On November 10–11.

If our new date works for you, then we can’t wait to see you in SF! Can you please send us a quick email to (hello@smashingconf.com) and tell us the name you have booked under and ticket number and confirm you will attend at our future SF date?

Our goal is to keep the same line-up, but some speakers / workshop leaders may not be available. This may mean you will be asked to change your workshop choice, but we will contact you as soon as we have all of the information available. However, if you don’t see the workshop you were hoping to attend on the new list, you can get a refund for that portion of your ticket as well.


If keeping your ticket for the future conference doesn’t work for you then we have the following options:

Swap To Another Conference

We do still have tickets available for our Austin conference (June 9–10), our Freiburg conference (September 7–8), and our New York conference (October 20–21), plus all workshops at these events.

To swap, please email (hello@smashingconf.com) with the name you booked under, your ticket number, and the conference and/or workshop you would like to be moved into.

Transfer Your Ticket

Can’t come to any of the future dates but have a colleague or friend who can? No problem! Email (hello@smashingconf.com) with the name you booked under and your ticket number, and let us know who you would like to take your place. Easy as that!

Can’t come, but don’t want a refund? We’ve got some amazing scholarship candidates that would love to take your spot.

Email (hello@smashingconf.com) with the name you booked under and your ticket number, and we’d be happy to give your seat away to someone who can’t afford to join us at a later date.

Full Refund

Can’t come, and would like a refund? We understand that you registered for a specific date / time that we cannot proceed with, and you are eligible for a full refund. We do hope that you’ll be able to join us later in the year, but we know some people already have commitments and that’s just not possible.

If that’s the case, please email (hello@smashingconf.com) with your name, which conference you are attending, and ticket number, and state that would like a full refund due to postponement.


Accommodation and Travel Advice

We know many of you have your accommodations and flights already sorted. In our research, many airlines are offering free changes to flights, instead of cancelation. In addition, if your airline isn’t offering this yet, it may be worth waiting a little bit, as more airlines have announced upcoming cancelations.

For in depth resources on flight tips, we’ve been following: Cntraveler.com and Thepointsguy.co.uk.

Staying at the Argonaut Hotel?

As our as partner hotel, anyone who booked through our arrangement can rebook within 2020 for no fee. If you have not booked through our arrangement we advise you to contact them directly.


Timings Around The World

  • CityTime
  • San Francisco, USA 🇺🇸9AM–4PM
  • New York, USA 🇺🇸12PM–7PM
  • Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 🇧🇷2PM–9PM
  • London, UK 🇬🇧5PM–12AM
  • CityTime
  • Antwerp, Belgium 🍫6PM–1AM
  • Kyiv, Ukraine 🇺🇦7PM–2AM
  • Mumbai, India 🇮🇳9:30PM–3:30AM
  • Singapore, Singapore 🇸🇬12AM–7AM

Our Global Partners

  • Mozilla
  • The Web We Want
  • Netlify
  • Hopin

Our San Francisco 2020 Partners

  • Coil Technologies Inc.
  • HP
  • Gatsby
  • Balsamiq
  • Anima