Impressions on Web Summit 2024
Impressions on Web Summit 2024 Web Summit↗ 2024 occurred from 11 to 14.11 in Lisbon, Portugal. Despite its name, the summit does not focus on the web. Instead, it is the largest startup fair in the world, boasting 70.000 yearly visitors. I had the chance to visit the event for the first time this year, and I will share my impressions in this post.
TLDR: To get the most out of Web Summit, you must know what you are looking for and prepare accordingly.
Thank you to the Serbian Chamber of Commerce for making the trip possible
#
I would not have made this trip unless the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry had invited me (thank you, Dejan in particular!) as they took care of the arrangements. I brought Janne Kalliola↗ from Finland, and we spoke about sustainability at the Serbian booth and participated in a panel discussion on the topic. Although the countries are far from each other geographically, they share certain similarities, and the trip allowed for cultural exchange on multiple levels.
Web Summit - What was it about?
#
From what I understand, the primary function of Web Summit is to connect startups with investors while catering to an audience interested in technology and current trends. Web Summit started as a web startup-focused event in Ireland, which grew in scope and eventually moved to Lisbon, Portugal. I believe this is one of the ways the local government can highlight the status of Portugal as a startup nation and attract investments. It might be a good tactic, and Finland is doing something similar with its Slush↗ event, which is scoped at 13.000 people while being more focused on connecting startups with investors than Web Summit, which has broader scope.
One way to define Web Summit would be to say that it is an antithesis to a small conference like Future Frontend↗ that I help to organize. While Future Frontend is small (about 200 people) and focused on its single-track program over two days, Web Summit is anything but. One way to describe Web Summit would be to say it is a sea ten centimeters (a couple of inches) deep, while Future Frontend is a small pool that is maybe ten meters deep (about 30 feet). In practice, you must make your program intentionally or get washed up by the waves.
Due to its sheer scope, Web Summit has likely everything for everyone working with technology. Participating in an event like this is a bit like a random walk, and you will never know who you will meet. I made some of my most exciting contacts through sheer luck by being in the right place at the right time. I believe each conference experience is different; to some part, it is about what you make out of it as a participant. The conference offered a mobile application for building your program and connecting with other participants to keep it manageable.
MEO Arena - the massive venue
#
To say that the event had a lot of space would be an understatement. Web Summit was held at MEO Arena↗, one of the largest indoor arenas in Europe apparently, and it also occupied the nearby exhibition halls. While the arena hosted the main track with the biggest names, the rest of the conference was spread along the exhibition space. Multiple tracks focused on specific topics, such as marketing, running parallel. Apart from one track, the rest ran in the same space with booths, meaning there was constant ambient noise even during presentations. Although that was not too distracting, it was perhaps a bit draining.
Startups had smaller stands where a person could showcase what their business was doing. More established companies and some countries even rented bigger booths with ample space for branding and attracting visitors. Some countries and companies invested a lot of money into their booths. However, several ran with lighter setups and were happy to be present and approachable.
Catering from your pocket
#
In addition, the conference ran food and wine expos. Unlike in many other conferences I have visited, in this case, you had to pay for your food; in my experience, the quality tended to vary. The prices were higher than you might pay outside of the venue, and you received less. Usually, it was a good sign if people were queuing at a specific food stand, as that meant you would likely get decent value for your money.
Overall, Portugal is a surprisingly good food country if you know where to look. It is easy to find reasonably priced fish food in a coastal city like Lisbon. I was pleasantly surprised many times by the local restaurants, and I found out that a chain restaurant called Honest Greens had good vegetarian offerings. Honorable mention goes to Timeout Market with its unique concept of buying plates to eat from different vendors. For a particular sweet, I would check out Pasteis de Nata.
A lot of content, meetups, and night summit
#
Web Summit 2024 had stunning ten parallel tracks running in addition to what they call a startup university. On top of this, there were what they called meetups and a night summit at the event. In addition, third parties organized their events on top of the official program. This meant there was enough content, and you had to prioritize what to follow. Given the venue was so big, I learned early on that I should reserve enough time to move from one track to another since that could take a while.
The tracks were filled with short talks and panels with twenty-minute slots. That felt a bit too short for me, given that many topics are enough to get started but not enough to delve deep. The time felt short for panels as well, and occasionally, there was not enough contrast between the people being interviewed for my tastes to spark interesting conversations.
For 2024, the event organized meetups alongside the main program. The idea was to connect people within a specific topic, such as research, and let them meet in a particular context speed-dating style. The meetups were limited to twenty minutes, and I found them quite effective for generating contacts quickly. However, the time went too short for the more interesting ones, and perhaps the speed dating aspect could have been more organized, as now it was up to your social skills to move around and meet people.
In addition, Web Summit organized a night summit after the main content for 12.11 and 13.11. Again, these were themed as meetups but were arranged around Lisbon. I participated in one, and their Web Summit organized one free drink for each participant, which was a nice touch. I did find it interesting, however, that there was no night summit after the last day of the conference. Given the sheer number of people, I understand an afterparty would have been too much to ask, but it would have been nice to have some distributed events even after the event’s last day.
Beyond the official program, there were many unofficial events, and I participated in a couple. For example, Finland organized a “Finland Afterworks” event explicitly aimed at people who considered Finland a work destination. I also noticed that some companies organized events explicitly aimed at startups, and I believe they were marketed expressly at them.
Observed trends
#
A conference as broad as Web Summit gave me an excellent chance to observe several more significant trends. However, I am sure I missed many due to my limited personal bandwidth, which prevented me from consuming them all. Perhaps the thing that stood out the most was the prevalence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across content and booths. Many startups have taken AI to its core and presented it as a part of their pitch in one way or another.
What was perhaps more surprising to me was the limited number of startups oriented around sustainability. However, we are feeling the impact of the climate crisis more concretely year by year, and there is a clear need for more sustainable solutions. In some way, AI and sustainability may be at odds as the former is pushing our energy consumption, and simultaneously, there is a need to use our resources more innovatively to be sustainable in the long term.
Another thing that stood out was the need for hyper-personalization, especially in the web context. The talks I followed confirmed my belief that we are headed towards more personalized experiences, and building them will require new levels of expertise from web developers. By personalizing, we can serve our audiences better while attaining better business results. I can imagine this comes with technical challenges, and new ways of thinking about web experiences are needed to move beyond what we currently have.
Conclusion
#
I can only imagine how difficult it is to organize an event at the scale of Web Summit, and I am happy to run small, focused conferences in Finland. I can see how both models can work in their favor. However, larger conferences, like Web Summit, push a chunk of effort on their attendees as they have to be mindful of how they spend their time. There is less thinking to do in a minor event, and they feel more relaxed for me as an attendee. It would be interesting to visit a smaller conference, such as Slush, similar to Web Summit, to see what difference scale makes for an event aimed specifically at startups.
It is difficult to tell whether I will attend the Web Summit again. The city of Lisbon is quite lovely, although you have to be mindful of your belongings. It should be a safe city if you keep your wits with you. It is worth researching before heading there so you know what to do and what not, where to go and not, and so on. The locals seem friendly, and it helps to know at least a few words of Portuguese to show that you are trying.
