These are your new Philly Tech Week 2020 dates

Unprecedented times require innovative thinking. Luckily, that’s in our DNA — and accordingly, the 10th annual Philly Tech Week presented by Comcast will now be celebrated throughout 2020, both virtually and IRL.

Starting this May, Philly Tech Week will blend a unique mix of virtual events that will run through to the fall, when we will cap off our yearlong celebration with our tradition of in-person events, now scheduled for Sept. 21 through 25.

Details regarding a reimagined 10th annual Philly Tech Week were shared in a live Google Hangouts session and interactive Slack chat led by Technically Media CEO Chris Wink and the PTW20 organizing team on April 6.

Below are key takeaways from the virtual town hall:

Event updates

• Introduced by Technical.ly Conference — Friday, Sept. 25 at Convene
• Signature Event — Friday evening, Sept. 25 at Cira Green
• Dev Conference — Date and location TBD
• Community events — Head through the week of Monday, Sept. 21 through Friday, Sept. 25

To indicate your interest in hosting an event during the week, fill out our updated Community Organization Participation Survey.

Also, save the date: We’ll be hosting a special PTW-related event on Thursday, May 7. Details to come!

Watch the presentation

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Download the full presentation (PDF)

FAQs and their As

Here are some of the questions that were asked, and our answers:

• Are these new dates public? — Yes! Please share with everyone you know.
• So, will partners post virtual events tied in with the tech “week”? — Virtual events will tie in with the themes of Philly Tech Week. We are currently building out the specific details for these events so be sure to follow us online, participate in the survey or reach out to your PTW point of contact.
• How many proposals will be accepted? — We’ll prioritize folks who were already approved, but we’ll be monitoring the number of submissions.

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• Will you consider a unified webinar platform as a backup? — Yes, we are looking into a variety of options and are actively reviewing contingency plans if IRL no longer becomes an option.
• If our event involves students, and the Monday through Friday dates do not necessarily work with student schedules, does the calendar of events extend to the weekends before or after PTW20 to have events posted? — PTW20 in the fall will just be during the stated week. However, we are “celebrating” from May through until September. Perhaps a break-out event, or virtual engagement, could be considered.

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• If we already had an event accepted, should we complete the community organizer participation survey or wait for something else? — Yes please do! If you were already approved, we’ll prioritize your submission.
• Do y’all need donations and financial support to cover loss? — Thanks for this kind message! Please learn more about contributing to the journalism fund here.
• At this time, do you have estimated costs associated for participating in virtual or in-person events? — For in-person events, event organizers are responsible for all of costs associated with organizing their event (catering, venue, etc.). However, we do not charge to be a part of the week.

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• For virtual events, are they pre-determined or are you looking for applicants? Is there a general focus for event topics? (We had a demo we were going to show at the event in person, but could still hold a demo.) — We have only determined the new IRL dates, as well as the fact that we plan to do virtual events throughout the year. As we hone in on more specifics, we will communicate that out to everyone. I’d recommend completing the survey, as we will use that as the central source for developing all of this.
• Will the event hubs still be a thing for September? [Editor’s note: More info here.] — Yes! We’re working to confirm them now.

Stay tuned for more

The 10th annual Philly Tech Week has evolved, and we look forward to celebrating with you. To get updates on virtual events, speakers, sessions, attendee specials and more, subscribe to #PTW20 emails, etc.

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