For decades, the rhythm of the tech industry was marked by a series of massive, in-person conferences. CES in January, GDC in March, Apple’s WWDC in June, and so on. These events were a pilgrimage. They meant packed keynote halls with palpable energy, sprawling expo floors showcasing the latest gadgets, overpriced coffee, and utter exhaustion. Most importantly, they were the place where the industry came together to do business.

Then, the world changed. The pandemic forced every event online, replacing the chaos of the convention center with slick, pre-recorded virtual keynotes and digital “booths.” We discovered a new, ruthlessly efficient way to disseminate information.

Now, in 2025, we live in a strange, hybrid world. In-person events are back, but they feel different. Attendance is often lower, and many companies are still opting for digital-only announcements. This has sparked a fundamental debate within the industry: Is the giant, expensive, in-person tech conference an obsolete relic?

The Case for Virtual: The Benefits of Beaming In

The arguments for abandoning the physical conference are powerful and logical.

• Global Accessibility: A virtual event is open to anyone on the planet with an internet connection. It democratizes access, allowing students from emerging markets, independent developers, or employees at companies without huge travel budgets to participate in events they could previously only read about.
• Massive Cost Savings: For the hosting companies, the cost of producing a polished digital presentation is a tiny fraction of renting a convention center, flying in thousands of staff, and building multi-million dollar booths. For attendees, it saves thousands of dollars on flights, hotels, and tickets.
• Efficiency and On-Demand Content: Virtual keynotes are perfectly edited, information-dense, and free of filler. Every announcement, every developer session, is available on-demand immediately after it airs, allowing attendees to consume the content that’s relevant to them, on their own schedule. There’s no question that for pure information delivery, the virtual format is superior.

The Case for In-Person: The Irreplaceable Human Element

If virtual events are so much better on paper, why are we still flocking to Las Vegas and San Francisco? Because the true value of a conference was never just about the information presented on stage.

• The “Hallway Track”: This is the magic ingredient that virtual events have consistently failed to replicate. The most important moments of a conference often happen in between the official sessions: the chance encounter with a future co-founder while in line for coffee, the impromptu product demo for a key journalist, the late-night hotel bar conversation where real deals are made. This serendipitous networking is the lifeblood of the industry.
• Hands-On Time: You can’t truly understand a new piece of hardware by watching a video of it. Being able to actually hold a new phone, try on a new VR headset, or get a deep, interactive demo of a complex piece of software from the engineers who built it provides a level of understanding a livestream can’t touch.
• Building Culture and Buzz: For the companies themselves, these events are powerful rituals. They rally their own employees, create a sense of shared purpose, and generate a level of media buzz and excitement that a simple press release or YouTube video rarely achieves.

The Verdict: The Purpose Has Changed

The giant tech conference is not obsolete, but its purpose has been irrevocably altered.

The role of the conference as a vehicle for mass information dissemination is likely gone for good. Virtual formats are simply better, cheaper, and more efficient for that.

The justification for spending thousands of dollars to attend an in-person event now rests almost entirely on one thing: connection. The future of successful conferences lies in focusing on what can’t be replicated through a screen. They must be designed to maximize networking, foster community, and provide unique, high-value, hands-on experiences.

The keynote may be better online, but the industry-shaping relationships are still built in person.