THE WEB’S GREATEST?
Why the Web Summit was worth it. And why not.
Vladimir Klitschko was there. Tony Blair as well. And Edward Snowden. Well, almost at least. He joined the kick-off programme via live video. Katherine Maher from Wikipedia, Fernando Machado from Burger King, C-Levels of all top brands, plus two-time FIFA World Player of the year Ronaldinho — they all got together in Lisbon.
The line-up of the Web Summit 2019 was hard to beat. This point — reinforced by the Forbes stamp “The best technology conference on the planet” — was the most striking argument for us to pay a visit.
All about the buzz!
The titles of the presentations in the programme app promised great things.
From “Reinventing your brand in a digital era” to “Creating new worlds: Technology, innovation and storytelling”. We had high expectations. Unfortunately, many of them remained unfulfilled.
Gender. Sustainability. Customer Centricity. Attitude. The first panels merely were stringing together the same buzzwords and left us a bit disappointed. What we (initially) missed were new trends, new approaches and also more verve on stage. Good intentions, little substance. Reinforced opinions instead of real discourse. Uniformity instead of diversity.
Brave new words!
It took quite a while, but it came — the turning point. Really good panels with strong personalities and interesting perspectives ensured that the initial disappointment increasingly faded away. We finally got exactly what we had imagined and wished for:
discussions, new approaches and — above all — verve.
Many thanks at this point to Brian Collins who saved our first day at the Web Summit with a very inspiring presentation. He proved why the future belongs only to the imaginative.
Turn ideas into realities
YouTube, Instagram, TikTok & Co. — the large number of social media channels has led to an overabundance of content that we’re confronted with every day. While the amount of content seems unlimited, our ability to absorb this information is not. In order to be perceived by the masses, it takes not only authentic content but above all imagination and the courage to turn ideas into realities. Everything else is just theory.
“We’re all competing with the future itself.” — Brian Collins
The interplay of future and present should therefore be a central element in daily business. The synergy of idea, story and design plays a decisive role, because for Collins the guiding principle is: Design lets you rehearse the future and can be the bridge that gets us where we want to be.
Whether Brian Collins, Graham McDonnell’s “The New York Times: Storytelling and brands”, Alex Chung’s “The business of GIF$” or the great Rankin: They all ensured that Web Summit 2019 became a fantastic conference, the contents of which will certainly have a lasting impact on our thinking and actions.
And that has less to do with the fact that their opinions were particularly new or innovative. Rather, they reminded us that it’s important to remain focused on the most elementary elements and ensure that they are taken into serious consideration.
For example: content creation should never be self-serving. It should be less about the brand or the product, more about the customer.
“If it looks like an ad, sounds like an ad and smells like an ad, then it probably isn’t a good ad.” — Fernando Machado
How to get the most out of it!
It is anything but easy to find your way around that huge event. To make sure you have a better Web Summit, here are some tips for you:
Less is more: Focus on a few interesting speeches.
Avoid the big stages: The best presentations are on the smaller ones.
Join the After Shows: Great people, good mood, Portuguese beer. Nothing more to say.
Finally a small request: more coffee stands.
Still: We had fun and love to come back.
