My first Web Summit in 2019

Frank Glanert
Nov 8 · 3 min read

1,206 speakers, 2,150 start-ups, around 70,000 participants — these are the impressive numbers, a growing tech event in Lisbon. The annual Web Summit is providing a personalized experience for each participant. This is my first time here and I have to say: I did not expect it that way. Above all and despite the size, I found exciting topics, incentives and connections.

Around 70,000 participants

”Can we briefly say that almost 70,000 people here just use the wi-fi and it is going really well.” tweets a participant. Right. And so many people do not make it easy to keep track. Or just even move from A to B. Often the big stages are closed crowded. On yesterday’s opening night we found suddenly in front of closed doors. The all but small hall around the Center Stage was full. Too full, the organizers decide. It’s like a big festival: if you want to be on the front stage, you have to be there in time. And since, for a good reason, I avoid such festivals and prefer to celebrate with ten to twenty thousand people, I was skeptical.

Open and divers

But they exist, the small workshops in an almost intimate atmosphere. And there is also openness and diversity. There are topics that at first glance do not seem to fit into a tech event. It’s about equal opportunities, leadership and ethics, women and leadership, climate protection and sustainability. Especially the latter topics seem ubiquitous in the context of current political debates at this conference. Yes, I check for myself whether the statements on “turning away from growth at any price” have the character of Sunday speeches. And no: in the abundance of utterances and the authenticity in which they are presented and carried, the whole seems to me authentic. And above all, one factor contributes greatly to credibility.

Web Summit is female

In the audience and above all on the stages and podiums, you can see and hear many women. This is noticeable and very pleasant. In the run-up to my session planning, I had already caught myself favoring female speakers. And now I often feel confirmed locally. Both in terms of topics and their presentation and the nature of the discussion. For me, that has a lot to do with credibility and authenticity when a tech event allows different perspectives in this way. Instead of mantraartig and homogeneous propagate unilateral and simple solutions.

People and society dressed

In terms of content, I stick to many human-centered and user-oriented topics. In particular, the “PandaConf” and “Future Societies” offer me personal suggestions. The lectures are so good and intense that the abundance of listeners does not bother me here. To stick to the example of the music festival — you can only see some famous “acts” here and in this way. If you do not want to travel for individual performances across the world, that’s very efficient. So I hear and learn about “Protecting the vulnerable — how can tech help refugees” as well as about machine learning in marketing or what comes after Customer Centered: People Centered or even “Society Centered”.

Frank Glanert

Written by

Owner of frankys.blog — Educated Carpenter, Civil Engineer — Curious Practitioner, Blogger, Communicator and addicted to Bicycles

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