Next week I will report from Web Summit for 老九品茶Cloud eight years after co-founder Paddy Cosgrave moved the mammoth tech conference to Portugal.
When we spoke to Paddy for our magazine in 2016, Web Summit had evolved from a 400-strong meetup and pub crawl around Dublin to tens of thousands of attendees in just five years.
鈥淢y co-founders and I wanted to create something that was different to other conferences that we had attended,鈥� he told us at the time.
鈥淲e had no idea we would have had 42,000 attendees come to Dublin in 2015.鈥�
Despite retaining the company鈥檚 headquarters in Ireland, the founders decided the event had outgrown its home city and took it to Lisbon, a hotbed for startups and technology.
Web Summit now attracts an estimated 70,000 people – from policymakers and heads of state to key figures at tech giants and the founders of around 3,000 startups – to ask a simple question: 鈥榃here to next?鈥�
The scale of the event means its use of technology to help attendees plan their time effectively has become more important still. There are more than 30 venues at the main event – from the main stage to intimate masterclass rooms – but adding sessions to your calendar couldn鈥檛 be easier. The app also suggests people you may be interested to connect with.
However what this mammoth 鈥楪lastonbury for geeks鈥� – as The Guardian termed it – really strives for is intimacy.
When Cosgrave returned as CEO earlier this year – having previously resigned over comments he made regarding the Israel-Hamas war – he said his time away 鈥済ave me time to think about its history, why I started it on my own from my bedroom and what I wanted it to be鈥� as Web Summit becomes bigger, our aim should be to make it smaller for our attendees. More intimate. More convivial. More community focused鈥�.
This is most evident in the Night Summit, a series of evening meetups held around Lisbon neighbourhoods. Web Summit even plans your free time!
For my part, as well as speaking with some of the many founders attending the conference and taking in discussions around artificial intelligence, investment, growth and 鈥榯he six capital sins of startups鈥�, I鈥檒l be checking in with companies on GM 老九品茶 Growth Hub鈥檚 ASCEND programme and also covering KPMG鈥檚 global tech innovator pitching final on Wednesday night.
If you鈥檙e attending Web Summit, find me on the app and come and say hello!
And do subscribe to our 老九品茶Cloud newsletter to receive our daily 鈥楩rom the Summit鈥� email around 5pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.