NXT Global Summit cancels Las Vegas conference amid coronavirus fears

Another upcoming conference has been cancelled following concerns by the event’s sponsors over the spread of COVID-19.

This summer’s inaugural NXT Global Summit, focusing on emerging trends in technology and media, was expected to be held July 14-15 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

NXT Global Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Cameron Tendler said ticket holders will be refunded or they can choose to transfer their ticket for next year, which is when the event is now expected to be held.

“We’ve put about a year of planning into this,” Tendler said, adding that about 1,000 people were expected to attend. “We’re a new event and with some of our large sponsors pulling out, it was just a nail in the coffin for us.”

While the event was not expected to run for another four months, Tendler said some sponsors were concerned about the potential spreading of coronavirus and opted to bow out of the two-day summit.

The conference was planning to cover a range of topics on technology, media, brand marketing and entrepreneurship through multiple keynote, panel and workshop sessions. It was being developed by Las Vegas-based venture capital firm 8420 Nevada Group in partnership with global events marketing firm GES.

A spokesperson for the Las Vegas Convention Center contends the summit was not a cancellation as a contract had yet to be signed.

Tendler said that’s because the company was waiting on a new lease to sign after restructuring its space and receiving an approved hold on their location.

“The space was locked for us pending the new lease so it wasn’t a cancellation in terms of the space,” he said. “We just released the hold, but we did have a lot of foundation laid — vendor partner contracts signed, community partners, speaker agreements in place.”

NXT Global’s announcement comes on the heels of software company Adobe, engineering company Aruba Networks, and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations cancelling their planned conferences.

Many other upcoming conferences in Las Vegas still are scheduled as planned.

Contact Subrina Hudson at shudson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @SubrinaH on Twitter.