Current Status (October 15, 2020)
The FIRST Board of Directors has made the unfortunate but necessary decision to cancel our in-person Annual Conference this year. The 32nd Annual FIRST Conference: Where Defenders Share – Virtual Edition will be held November 16-18, 2020 – and details can be found at https://conference.first.org. The virtual conference will be held November 16-18, 2020 from 13:00-17:00 UTC daily. Registration is free to attend, register now.
Questions, comments? Please send email to events@first.org
Past Status Notices
July 22, 2020 Update - The FIRST Board of Directors has made the unfortunate but necessary decision to cancel our in-person Annual Conference this year.
Our events planning team has spent a great deal of time working with the hotel in an effort to provide a safe environment for an in-person gathering. Unfortunately it is simply not possible given the current state of Covid-19 to hold a conference that we feel will be up to our standards for a safe and effective conference.
Attendees and sponsors may request full refunds of their fees or they can be applied to the 2021 conference. Our events team will be following up with registered attendees and sponsors in the coming days. Please be patient as this may take a few days time.
Officially cancelling the in-person conference allows us to focus our efforts on designing a virtual conference later this year. We will share details of the virtual conference as they become available.
Thank you for your patience and support through this process. Stay safe and we hope to see you in Fukuoka, Japan next June.
Questions, comments? Please send email to first-2020@first.org
May 20, 2020 Update - The FIRST Annual Conference in Montreal has been rescheduled to the week of November 15-20, 2020. We are still working out the specifics and plan to share additional details on the format and program in the coming weeks. Registration will remain temporarily closed until further notice.
Stay tuned and save the dates!
Questions, comments? Please send email to first-2020@first.org.
March 25, 2020 Update - The Conference will not be taking place in June, alternative plans are still being discussed. Registration is temporarily suspended as we review options. Updated information will be made available as soon as possible and communications will be emailed to registered delegates and our sponsors. Please note that the volatility of the current situation may force us to update our plans more than we wish.
At this time, the Canadian government has extended its ban on foreign nationals traveling to Canada through June 30, 2020. This makes it impossible for FIRST to hold our Annual Conference as regularly scheduled. The hotel is being extremely flexible in these challenging times and we are currently investigating if it makes sense to target new dates in the fall.
Attendees and sponsors may request full refunds of their fees (please be patient if it takes a few days) or they can be applied to the conference in the fall if it takes place or to the 2021 conference. Please contact the events office at first-2020@first.org.
We continue to explore multiple possible options including virtual meetings, streaming of content, re-configuring the conference, etc.
This letter will again be updated as new information becomes available.
The single biggest value of FIRST is our community, our ability to work together on responding to incidents of any nature. COVID-19 is an incident unlike anything any of us have experienced, but we strongly believe in the community of FIRST and our shared willingness to work together for the benefit of the planet. Please be safe, continue to support each other, and act with the spectacular professionalism that makes FIRST such a wonderful organization.
FIRST
