San Francisco is now officially back to poaching major tech conferences away from other cities, as Microsoft has moved its Build 2026 conference to San Francisco, snubbing the conference’s longtime home of Seattle.

Long before there was a San Francisco Doom Loop narrative, there was the legitimate problem of SF losing its best tech conferences and professional conferences to other cities. Maybe it was because Las Vegas offers cheaper accommodations, maybe it was because of the homelessness, and maybe, just maybe, that trend has now reversed.  

Probably thanks to the crazy amount of money being thrown around by the AI industry, SF just lured a tech conference from another city. SFGate reports that Microsoft is holding its Build conference in San Francisco in 2026, a conference that has been held in Seattle for most of the last ten years.

The Build conference has been held in Seattle every (non-COVID-cancellation) year since 2017. But Microsoft Build used to be a San Francisco conference, and was last held here in San Francisco in 2016.

Microsoft-owned GitHub CEO Kyle Daigle seems to be speaking as the de facto spokesperson of this year’s Build conference, likely because Microsoft thinks he has more cred with the AI set. “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,” Daigle said in an interview with The Verge.

Translation: Let’s move this to where the AI money is, to hopefully remain more relevant, and sell more conference tickets,

If you care to attend, this year’s Microsoft Build conference will be June 2–3 at the Fort Mason Center.

Related: Take That, Florida! SF Swipes Major Conference From Sunshine State Over Florida’s Anti-Diversity Agenda [SFist]

Image: SAN FRANCISCO, CA - MARCH 30: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella delivers the keynote address during the 2016 Microsoft Build Developer Conference on March 30, 2016 in San Francisco, California. The Microsoft Build Developer Conference runs through April 1. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Castro just lost a big conference in the ten-year-old Lesbians Who Tech summit, but there may be no love lost, as Castro Street merchants had been bitter over how the summit shut down and gated off the neighborhood’s main corridor for five days.

There’s something of a normal script that gets followed when a tech conference leaves San Francisco: The conference announces they’re going to another city, the wealthy CEOs complain about homelessness and drugs, and the SF “doom loop” narrative fires up for another round. But there’s something very different about the just-announced loss of the ten-year-old Lesbians Who Tech Summit, which was traditionally centered at the Castro Theatre, but in recent years had also closed off and gated two blocks of Castro Street, drawing the ire of Castro Street shop owners who say their business was decimated over those five days.

And the Bay Area Reporter had the news last week that Lesbians Who Tech announced the would move the summit to New York City for 2024. That announcement follows the release of a November survey by the summit announcing “we are exploring a new location for our Summit in 2024,” and requesting feedback. That survey was released just days after the Castro Merchants Association voted against future closures of Castro Street for the event, as Hoodline reported at the time.

One one hand, the looming year-and-a-half closure of the Castro Theatre for renovations did take away the summit’s main hub for 2024. But on the other hand, neighborhood merchants made it well-known that they hated the recent gating and street takeover of the conference’s new indoor-outdoor format. Auto Erotica owner Patrick Batt told the Bay Area Reporter that the neighborhood resembled an "armed camp" when the conference was in town.

Summit organizers had taken to walling off the entirety of Castro Street between Market and 19th Street, creating a two-block footprint accessible only to conference attendees — and creating an unpleasant barrier along sidewalks and in front of storefronts.

"Issues such as unimproved barriers segregating the community, inadequate delivery points, unreliable garbage and recycling pickup, insufficient bus rerouting information, and noise disturbances from overnight construction have negatively impacted our residents, businesses, and the overall well-being of our district," Cliff’s Variety co-owner and Castro Merchants Association president Asten Bennett wrote in a letter to city officials in November. "Our members held a vote, with the majority expressing their view that the current format, which involves taking over the middle of Castro Street to host the conference, is not conducive to visitors or businesses."

Lesbians Who Tech founder and CEO Leanne Pittsford has not returned comment to multiple media outlets since the move to New York was announced last week. But Pittsford’s remarks to Hoodline in November illustrated there was little chance for a compromise.

"It's just not economically viable for us to not have the street closure," Pittsford said. "This is not Pride or Castro Street Fair," she added. "This is a three-day professional conference that costs millions of dollars to put on."  

"Clearly the Castro Merchants voted that they don't want us there in the way that works for us and our event," according to Pittsford. "They are not even willing to have a conversation."

Many attendees, and neighborhood locals, say that Lesbans Who Tech had “outgrown” the Castro. And that may be, in a number of ways. After all, the summit now calls itself “Lesbians Who Tech & Allies,” and the current leadership team includes a number of men. So this is perhaps no longer the niche conference it used to be, and as shown in the tweet above, it’s drawing more attendees from the Tesla and IBM set.

So “Lesbians Who Tech & Allies” has kind of grown into something else. And some San Franciscans aren’t sorry to see it grow somewhere else.

Related: SF Restaurants Complain That APEC Has Basically Ruined Their Business for the Week [SFist]

Images: Steven Bracco, Hoodline

The National Black Nurses Association has just yanked their annual conference out of Florida and moved it to San Francisco, calling Florida “a hostile dangerous environment” for Black medical professionals.

Usually when you hear a story about professional conferences in San Francisco these days, it’s a story about the conferences leaving for another city. But SF represented itself pretty darned well with this year’s Dreamforce conference and last month’s APEC Summit, so maybe we’ve turned a corner.

And while it may be more for unrelated, external political reasons, Chronicle reports that SF has poached a major nurses’ conference from Florida, the 2024 National Black Nurses Association (NBNA) National Institute and Conference.

The NBNA had been scheduled to hold their six-day 2024 conference in Hollywood, Florida. But their members voted in October to move the conference out of Florida over the state’s legislators’ anti-diversity initiatives. And the Chron confirmed that they’ve chosen San Francisco as the site of their conference this coming summer.

In their October statement announcing they were ditching Florida, the NBNA said, “Our primary reason for this cancellation and move is our duty to ensure the safety and well-being of NBNA members, given the current political and social climate in Florida. The passage of anti-Black policies and laws, which have taken a destructive position to erase and silence Black history and restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools, together with the NAACP travel ban and the recent senseless, racially motivated, hate-fueled murders of three innocent Black Americans in Jacksonville, Florida has created a hostile, dangerous environment in the state.”

And now we know the conference is relocated to the Marriott Marquis at Fourth and Mission streets. That’s the hotel with the The View lounge, that 39th floor rooftop cocktail bar with unparalleled views of the city. (And it has underground ballrooms that connect to the Moscone Center.)

Neither the NBNA nor the Marriott Marquis would confirm to the Chronicle how many guests were expected to attend. But the NBNA website says the conference normally attracts “over 1,200 nurses and nursing students” and “over 100 exhibitors.”

The NBNA National Institute and Conference is now scheduled for July 23-28, 2024, right here in San Francisco.

Related: SF Loses Google Conference to Las Vegas, But Scores Big AI Conference From ChatGPT Company [SFist]

Image: Marriott

Google has reneged on its deal to hold the 2024 Google Cloud Next conference at Moscone Center, instead moving the event to Las Vegas, but SF did just score a big AI conference from ChatGPT producer OpenAI.

The San Francisco tourism and convention industry took a punch in the gut in July when the Red Hat Summit and Facebook/Meta's Business Group Summit both pulled out of San Francisco for their 2024 events. And Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently threatened to pull the granddaddy of them all, Dreamforce, out of San Francisco next year if street conditions were not to his liking. (Dreamforce 2023 is still starting next week at the Moscone Center.)

But more bad news for downtown hotels and restaurants came this week, as the Chronicle reports that Google has moved the 2024 Google Cloud Next conference out of Moscone Center. This particularly stings, because Google parent company Alphabet had already booked the Moscone Center for that 2024 conference, and has instead booked the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas for the event. Google Cloud Next had been in San Francisco for the pre-pandemic years of 2017, 2018 and 2019, and did return here in 2023.

The back-out apparently happened a couple months ago. “In early July, Google canceled its Moscone Center booking for the Google Cloud Next ’24 summit,” SF Travel spokesperson Lori Lincoln said in a statement to the Chronicle. “San Francisco Travel notified stakeholders and the hotel community at that time. The Google Cloud NEXT ’24 had been scheduled to be held at Moscone Center in February of next year.”

But on the flip side, San Francisco gained a highly anticipated AI conference on Wednesday. The current leading AI startup, ChatGPT creator OpenAI, announced they’re holding their first-ever developer conference in San Francisco OpenAI DevDay, on November 6, 2023 in San Francisco, according to TechCrunch.

“The one-day event will bring hundreds of developers from around the world together with the team at OpenAI to preview new tools and exchange ideas,” OpenAI said in their announcement. “In-person attendees will also be able to join breakout sessions led by members of OpenAI’s technical staff.”

As they noted, it’s only a one-day event. So it’s not the same financial tourism boost that the three-day Google Cloud Next event would have brought. But AI is currently a much brighter, shinier new object than Google Cloud services, so there’s likely to be more media attention to OpenAI’s first developer conference. And it’s a good bet that company’s tech-press darling CEO Sam Altman will deliver the keynote.

Though it’s unclear if OpenAI DevDay will be held at the Moscone Center. The company’s announcement thus far simply say the event will be “in San Francisco.” OpenAI says that “Registration to attend in person in San Francisco will open in a few weeks,” so the location may not be revealed until then.

Related: Marc Benioff Threatens to Move Dreamforce Conference Out of SF Over Homelessness, Drug Use [SFist]

Image: SFTravel

At long last a conference will be held in honor of tacos, the superior taqueria treat. Taco Conf 2012 brings together tacos and cycling where one can pedal around both sides of the bay to discuss food, culture, and technology. Attendees will get the chance to ride their bicycles on a tour of some of the best antojitos in the Bay Area. Yes, you're going. What to bring? According to Taco Conf's site. all you need is a bicycle and some cash to buy savory, sublime tacos. You can also bring your kids too! It's a family event.

"Be prepared to bicycle between taco trucks and taquerias and hear presentations from interesting people," we're told. Who, exactly? Well, for starters, the very rad Burrito Justice. Also, these people whose Twitter handles you might recognize: @aq @izs @abright @philipn @brian_mount @st_luke @digitalctzn @cfarivar @cramforce @CATacoTrucks.

For more details visit tacoconf.com.

Want to follow what's going on at South by Southwest? Then, please, head over to Austinist, our sister site smack-dab in the center all the action at the annual music and technology conference.

There's lots to do on this foggy three-day weekend coming up!

ALL WEEKEND

We have the annual Carnaval shaking up the Mission District on Saturday and Sunday. The Festival runs both days on Harrison St between 16th & 22nd St from 10 a.m. to 6p.m. The Parade is on Sunday, starting at 9:30 a.m. at 24th & Harrison, going west along 24th St, then turning up Mission all the way to 17th St. Check out the Entertainment Line-up for both days.

Soupstock: Food Not Bombs Convergence is a concert and conference celebrating 29 years of Food Not Bombs, providing a forum for planning future actions amid economic crisis. On Saturday, there will be a Conference from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the 5lower Shop (992 Peralta Ave), which will include speakers, workshops, panel discussions, and a film screening on how “we can do more together than any of us can do on our own.” The Concert is on Sunday at McLaren Park from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

On one hand: saying "welcome" is good manners, and the APTA thing -- a big transit conference -- is kind of prestigious. The main highlight, according to a Muni press release, is a "rodeo" that sounds like it'll be an obstacle course for buses trains. Oh and also there's going to be several days' worth of meetings about safety, traffic planning, rail corridors, energy conservation, budgeting, and so on -- topics that, frankly, sounds more important than a frigging rodeo, but the press release doesn't go into much detail about them.

And on the other hand: ehhhhh, sure, the message is meaningless to 99.9% of San Franciscans; and kind of irritating, we guess, if you need to know in a hurry which bus is coming. We could only find one stop where it's actually a problem: at Fulton and Stanyan, on the practically-identical 5 and 21 routes. For some reason, the 5 and 21 stop on opposite sides of an intersection; so if you're going downtown, you have to stare into the distance to see which bus is coming, and then scurry across the street to the corresponding stop. So ... yeah, there's one intersection where things will be a little tense. Considering how sad Muni news can sometimes be, we're willing to give them a pass for now.

The west coast leg of the Web 2.0 Expo is here! Yay!

Wait, just what is this Internet-y web 2.0 exposition, exactly? Aside from the open-bar fetes presumably laced with cocaine and boobs, that is. According to their site, Web 2.0 Expo is:

Co-produced by TechWeb and O'Reilly Media, [Web 2.0] is a conference and tradeshow for the rapidly growing ranks of designers and developers, product managers, entrepreneurs, VCs, marketers, and business strategists who are embracing the opportunities created by Web 2.0 technologies.

Confused? So were we until we heard from entrepreneur and SFist commenter Dan Berkes. He skillfully describes this week's expo thusly:

O'Reilly. I won't pay them a cent because every geek desperate for e-fame sucks their cock. And their conferences are full of people very impressed with themselves. If they would let me attend for free and disperse some poison gas, I would gladly attend.

Ah, that's more like it. And in an area of the world littered with smarmy and backstabbing e-fame and political whores, we can only image what poison gas-worthy people will be in attendance. (Including SFist, of course, the Tara Reid of local online celebrities.) This also begs the question: just what the hell is this newfangled web 2.0? But that's another story for another time.

Anyway, for mere $100 you can rub elbows with industry leaders and tech folk of note, all of whom makes loads more money that you ever will in your entire life. For a schedule of events, go here.