At the beginning of November, we went to Lisbon to visit Europe`s greatest tech conference, 10th Web Summit. This event gathered more than 70.000 people from 170 different countries, 1.800 startups and 1.200 speakers on 24 stages, which are really impressive numbers, and the experience itself is impressive too. Due to the size and diversity of event, it seems impossible to confer all the impressions from the conference. Nonetheless, let’s try!
Lisbon agreed to host Web Summit in that city for the next 10 years, for a symbolic price of 11 million euros per year, which is a really smart move since that event attracts a large number of tourists and turns the city into one of the most popular technology and startup hubs of Europe. For that reason, while the event lasts, everything is subordinated to Web Summit and all is more than well organized.
At the arrivals gate on the airport, we were welcomed by a large number of volunteers who helped us register. Metro stations were clearly marked, and we could find all the important info whenever we needed it, thus it was easy to plan our visit. People are very friendly and presented themselves as excellent hosts. The Web Summit app, which contained info about the Summit’s events was of a huge help. It enabled us to connect and send messages to anyone who attended the conference. Having WiFi available anywhere made us rather happy, since this is, more often than not, a big problem even at much smaller conferences.
The opening of the event is something you wouldn`t want to miss if you ever decide to visit Web Summit. When you see all those huge lines of people, full arena, glittering stage and hear introductions and speeches, you realize how really big the event actually is and what can be expected over the next 3 days. And the following 3 days have to be more than well planned, should you wish to see everything that interests you.
The Web Summit was set in 4 large pavilions, where every day different startups had their presentations. Having the same divided by themes was a small relief, as we could choose to listen to the presentations we had interest in and later visit the startups’ stands.
On average we walked 20 km a day, talked with people from different spheres of technology from all over the world, listened to presentations of interesting ideas and made acquaintances. The Web Summit is an ideal place to make acquaintances with people who have similar interests since everyone is open to talk and share and present their ideas.
We noticed that the trends in the world of tech this year are Artificial Intelligence, IoT, solving global problems with help of technology and the increasing number of women in IT. If you managed to save some strength after daily presentations and activities, then you should definitely visit the Night Summit because that`s also where you can meet a lot of interesting people and have a good fun, in a more relaxed atmosphere.
Web Summit truly does the amazing thing – it connects people from all parts of the world and opens a variety of possibilities to grab all the advantages that are in present offered by innovative technologies. It is a unique experience for anyone who is involved in the tech business and who wants to be a part of technological changes and improvements of humanity. It is also an ideal place to hear the most innovative ideas from a big number of first-class experts, discover a big number of startups which are about to shine, meet a lot of potential clients and partners. It is simply a place that opens new possibilities.
Lisbon itself is made for having fun. Historical heritage, interesting architecture and a variety of interesting locations to see and visit, are at every corner of the city. It exudes with cultural diversity and people who are warm-hearted and outgiving, always ready to host you and help you out in any way. So it`s our warm recommendation to visit no matter whether you are going to Web Summit or not, and as far as we are concerned, we will definitely be there next year.
