Source: cloud.google.com. Original announcement published May 2020.
Overview: Google Cloud Next ’20 Goes Fully Digital
Google Cloud announced the transformation of its flagship annual conference into Google Cloud Next ’20: OnAir — a free, nine-week, fully digital event series. The event runs from July 14 through September 8, 2020, delivering new content each week rather than compressing everything into a single multi-day conference.
The shift to an on-demand, weekly format is a direct response to the constraints of 2020, but it also presents a practical advantage for DevOps and platform engineering teams: sessions can be consumed at your own pace, on your own schedule, without the need to block out an entire week or budget for travel.
What the Event Includes
Google Cloud Next ’20: OnAir is organized around a nine-week editorial calendar, with each week focusing on a distinct topic area relevant to cloud and DevOps practitioners. Across the full series, attendees have access to:
- 200+ sessions spanning keynotes, breakout sessions, and expert deep-dives
- Weekly keynotes from Google Cloud leadership and industry figures
- Advanced technical sessions covering infrastructure, security, data analytics, application modernization, AI/ML, collaboration, and productivity
- Live Q&A sessions and the ability to book one-on-one time with Google engineers and developer advocates
- A Digital Showcase featuring live product demos and interactive technology experiences
Hands-On Learning and Certification Preparation
For DevOps engineers looking to level up their Google Cloud skills or pursue certification, the event includes several structured learning programs:
- Study Jams — guided group learning sessions to help you prepare for Google Cloud certifications
- Cloud Hero — a gamified, competitive hands-on labs experience
- Free one-month access to Qwiklabs and Pluralsight — curated learning paths aligned to certification tracks, available to all registered attendees
- Live technical sessions with the Google Cloud Developer Relations team
The combination of self-paced labs, live expert access, and free platform access makes this a practical opportunity to build verifiable skills alongside the conference content.
Registration and Access
The event is free to attend. Engineers who were already registered for the in-person Next ’20 were automatically enrolled in OnAir and did not need to re-register. New attendees could register directly on the Next OnAir website.
Registering provides access to:
- A customizable personal schedule builder to plan your nine-week viewing agenda
- Networking and engagement features to connect with Googlers, Google Cloud partners, and peers in the broader cloud community
- Session recommendations based on your role and interests
Weekly Topic Format
Rather than a single broad agenda, OnAir structures content into weekly themes. According to the original announcement, the nine-week schedule covers distinct topic areas relevant to cloud adoption and engineering — including infrastructure, security, data, and application modernization — though the full published schedule was provided via a separate linked asset not reproduced here.
This format allows teams to coordinate viewing around the weeks most relevant to their current projects, making it easier to extract actionable takeaways without consuming the entire catalog.
Why This Matters for DevOps Teams
The OnAir format reflects a broader industry trend toward asynchronous, modular technical education. For DevOps engineers specifically, the relevant sessions on infrastructure modernization, CI/CD, security posture, and platform engineering are typically buried inside large conference schedules. The weekly topic structure makes it easier to identify and prioritize the content that maps to active engineering work.
The free access to Qwiklabs and Pluralsight is a concrete, time-limited benefit worth taking seriously if your team has certification goals for Google Cloud Associate, Professional, or specialty tracks in 2020.
Note: This article is based on the original Google Cloud announcement from May 2020. Event dates, registration links, and session availability were specific to that event cycle and are no longer active.