5 reasons not to visit Web Summit
Just returned from my trips today and have a chance to write a few stories about my adventures at Web Summit 2017 in Lisbon.
However, when I opened the Facebook newsfeed and media, it appeared that everyone had already written how great Web Summit 2017 was — Alexandra Govorukha, Maria Fronaschuk and Oleksiy Pedosenko, Valeriya Borodina, Bogdan Ianatiev and many others!
Ok, no big deal, then I’ll share my thoughts how bad it was and why you should avoid going to the Web Summit!
Let’s begin.
1) It’s a ton of work
After buying a ticket, you’ll receive hundreds of emails from Web Summit about different events, speakers, competitions, parties, and so on. Moreover, you’ll most likely communicate with lots of people before the Web Summit. Surviving Web Summit is so hard that people even wrote whole guides how to do it: Ultimate Survival Guide for Conferences | Web Summit 2017 — Lisbon, Portugal.
Think twice before committing to this adventure!
2) You’ll be forced to meet lots of new people
Yeah, it’s literally impossible to be alone when 60k+ people moving around you. Some of them for sure will start talking to you to become friends/partners/clients or just to have fun together! And it’s especially hard for us — introverts. Moreover, adding to the first point, with each new meeting and new business card received, you’ll have even more work to follow up with that people after Web Summit. And with some of them, you’ll have common interests or business, which will result in even more work for you!
Think twice if you’re ready to meet them!
3) You’ll lose all energy
The schedule during the Web Summit is crazy. 4–5 days in a row, hundreds of events taking place and you’d like to visit at least 10 of them at each point in time. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to do it. You’ll have to choose only the best ones. And in all this schedule madness you’ll regularly forget to eat and get proper sleep. You’ll need a good recovery vacation after Web Summit!
Think twice before paying this price for just an event.
4) You’ll get frightened!
Smart people from all over the world will come to Web Summit and challenge you with their crazy ideas! You’ll learn the latest trends. Robots will speak from the main stage. Uber will promise flying taxi. Steven Hawkins will warn you that AI might help the humanity as well as will destroy it. Everyone hates Trump (jokes about him in every second speech). Margrethe Vestager will boast how she fined Google for $2.5 billion (joking, it was a nice deal for EU).
And you’ll face all these great people and their bold ideas! You’ll feel how fast the tech world is growing, how small your problems are and how much more you need to learn and grow!
That’s frightening.
Think twice if you’re ready for it!
5) You’ll build your team!
If you’re going to Web Summit with a team, be aware that after the event you’ll become even closer friends. Constant challenges and demanding schedule will force you to cooperate, exchange ideas, help during the meetings, think creatively, support each other. After Web Summit, you won’t be just friends, you’ll be very close friends who “Survived the Web Summit”.
If you prefer the cold unfriendly atmosphere in your team — this event is not for you for sure!
Think twice if you’re ready to build the warm relationships in your team!
Thanks to our great team, I was prepared for these disadvantages of the Web Summit.
Yes, I lost all energy and slept most of the next few days (being detained in London). And took a short vacation to recover after the Web Summit. Met lots of new people and now I’m ready to follow up and build connections with. A little bit frightened about the AI force that is coming, but I’m a desperate optimist and believe that AI will help us build a better society eventually.
Btw, the only speech I’ve visited during the Web Summit was the opening night. And spent all the time with great people around me. Now all videos are available here (and you can watch any of them).
Many thanks to my great UPTech team for enjoying this adventure together — Dima, Tung, Anastasia M., Halyna, Oleh, and Sasha. And Anastasia S. and Kien who supported us from Ukraine. Without you guys I’d probably not survive…
Many thanks to the Ukrainian community for great help during the event!
See you at the Web Summit 2018.
