Grace Hopper Celebration 开展前两周宣布取消，AnitaB.org 称注册与赞助严重低于预期

Skift Take

The conference couldn’t survive a shortfall in registrations and sponsorships. But its community is finding ways to gather without it, raising questions about whether the value of a conference ultimately belongs to its organizer or its attendees.

The Grace Hopper Celebration was supposed to bring thousands of women in technology to Anaheim, Calif., next week. Instead, the conference, scheduled for the Anaheim Convention Center and sponsored by Amazon, Google, Nvidia, and Bank of America, was canceled on October 13.

“Unlike past events, this year, both individual registrations and sponsorship commitments came in significantly below our expectations and below the level needed to cover critical operating expenses,” AnitaB.org, the organization behind the program, said in its announcement.

Organizers said they considered alternatives to an in-person gathering but concluded that cancellation was the only financially viable option.

Brenda Darden Wilkerson, president and CEO of AnitaB.org, emphasizes that the decision had nothing to do with the host destination.

“While the decision to cancel Grace Hopper Celebration was an incredibly difficult one, we are truly grateful for the partnership and support we received from Visit Anaheim,” said Wilkerson. “Throughout the planning process, their team was collaborative, responsive, and committed to helping us deliver a successful event.”

“Anaheim has been a wonderful partner, and our decision was in no way a reflection of the destination or the exceptional support we received,” she added.

Futurist Sinead Bovell, founder of WAYE, was to deliver a keynote, while technology journalist Kara Swisher was giving the closing address. Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder and president of Cloudflare, was among the speakers.

Members of the Grace Hopper community are moving forward with alternative gatherings.

“A canceled conference shouldn’t mean the end of a space to share and connect, especially at this pivotal time for women in tech,” said Dr. Sunny Shuoyang Zhang, founder of TrueLeap Inc.  

Zhang is offering Leapcast.ai, an intelligent meeting and broadcasting platform, to power Voices United. Women in AI USA is organizing this free virtual gathering for October 27–30, the same dates as the canceled conference.

The initiative aims to give Grace Hopper 2026 speakers an opportunity to present abbreviated versions of their sessions. Interested speakers can submit their talks here.

Another grassroots effort, RECLAIM, is being organized for October 28 in the Los Angeles area. The one-day networking event targets women who planned to attend Grace Hopper but still want opportunities to meet peers, employers, and industry leaders. Organizers say they are working to bring together more than 200 women in technology, including students, early-career professionals, and experienced industry participants.

The replacement events show what a community can rebuild on its own, and what it can’t. A free virtual program and a 200-person meetup can give speakers a stage and keep peer networks intact. However, they can’t recreate a gathering that drew 15,000 people last year and brought companies like Amazon, Google, and Nvidia into one hall to recruit. 

That scale was what AnitaB.org actually provided: a marketplace where employers paid for access to talent, and where that money underwrote the experience attendees valued. The connection belonged to the community. The marketplace depended on sponsors. When sponsorship fell short, the part the community could rebuild survived, and the part it couldn’t collapsed.

Past Attendees Reflect on the Role the Conference Played in Their Lives

For Akshaya Pragadeeshram, an enterprise product leader who attended Grace Hopper in Orlando in 2017, the conference’s value extended far beyond its sessions and recruiting opportunities.

She was 22 and a year into her career as a product manager at Microsoft when she arrived in Orlando. Having spent much of her education and early career as one of relatively few women in engineering and technology settings, she was struck by being surrounded by thousands of women with similar ambitions.

“The energy was electrifying,” said Pragadeeshram. “I met incredible women, reconnected with old friends, and built relationships that have stayed with me through nearly a decade in tech.”

The cancellation saddened her, particularly as AI transforms the industry and raises new questions about who will shape its future.

“I hope companies continue investing in spaces that make this possible, and that Grace Hopper finds its way back next year,” she said.

Megan Warwick Weiss, a senior talent acquisition event strategist who attended Grace Hopper in 2019, also emphasized the conference's lasting impact.

“Grace Hopper has always represented so much more than a conference. It’s a space where talent meets opportunity, where meaningful professional relationships begin, and where individuals can see new possibilities for their careers,” Weiss said.

Having spent much of her career connecting people with opportunities through events, Weiss also acknowledged the difficult position facing organizers.

“I know the tremendous amount of work, investment, and collaboration that goes into creating experiences of this magnitude. I can only imagine how difficult this decision was for the team at AnitaB.org,” she said.

Their experiences show what is hard to replace when a major conference disappears: the professional relationships, recruiting opportunities, and sense of community that can endure long after an event ends.

Financial Troubles Have Mounted Before This Year’s Conference

The cancellation follows years of declining attendance.

Last year's audience of 15,000 marked the event's lowest attendance since 2016 and was down from years when participation exceeded 20,000, according to Bloomberg, citing historical data from AnitaB.org.

Skift Meetings asked the organization how many people registered for its 2026 conference and how much sponsorship revenue it expected to receive, but it didn’t respond.

The financial difficulties extend beyond this year’s event. According to its 2024 IRS filing, AnitaB.org recorded a $14.6 million deficit, with expenses of $42.1 million against revenue of $27.5 million. The organization reported a deficit of approximately $1 million in 2023, following a $16 million surplus in 2022.

The cancellation also comes as corporations reassess their investments in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Since early 2025, several major companies have scaled back DEI programs amid changing federal policies and growing political and legal scrutiny.

It remains unclear whether those changes directly contributed to Grace Hopper’s sponsorship shortfall. For conferences that depend heavily on corporate sponsorships, shifting company spending priorities can quickly threaten an event’s financial viability.

Anaheim Moves to Recover Lost Business

With the conference less than two weeks away, attendees had already booked flights and hotel rooms, arranged time away from work, and, in some cases, secured international travel.

AnitaB.org instructed participants to contact airlines, hotels, and other travel providers directly to cancel or modify their reservations.

The organization said it would contact registrants about registration fees by October 26, just one day before the conference had been scheduled to begin.

The cancellation also leaves Anaheim facing the loss of a major convention just days before it’s scheduled to begin.

Visit Anaheim is responding by redirecting marketing efforts toward leisure travelers who may fill some of the hotel rooms the conference left vacant.

“The week leading into Halloween presents an opportunity to capture last-minute leisure travel to Anaheim, particularly from regional drive markets,” said Mike Waterman, president and CEO of Visit Anaheim.

“Following the October 15 launch of our winter marketing campaign, we’ve shifted additional marketing efforts toward these markets to encourage short-term travel and drive incremental hotel bookings.”

The strategy underscores how quickly a destination must pivot when a major convention cancels.

Still, leisure bookings may not fully replace the economic activity generated by thousands of convention attendees, including spending on hotels, restaurants, transportation, and other local businesses.

AnitaB.org faces an uncertain financial future. Anaheim is working to replace lost convention business. But the women who built careers and connections through Grace Hopper aren’t waiting for the conference to return.

“Some events fill convention centers. Others help shape careers. Grace Hopper has always done both,” said Weiss.