How a 17 year old met some of the biggest names in the Valley
The Dublin Web Summit 2013 & my monumental week
This is the first blog post I’ve ever written, so be nice!
It all started about 2 weeks before. Having seen the speakers list for the Dublin Web Summit 2013, now the largest of its kind in Europe, I was energised at the thought that such influential people would be a bus journey away. As a 17 year old college student and freelance designer with a love for technology & startups, I couldn’t let the opportunity go to waste.The close to €1000 price tag for a ticket didn’t deter me as much as it should have either.
I had a blank email on one side of my computer screen & the speakers list on the other. I knew from that list whom I wanted to meet, and as I guessed the email addresses, asking for 5 minutes of their time, I was excited by the prospect of being apart of the culture I saw from behind my screen. The next day, a short response from Gary Vaynerchuk brought a smile to my face, he’d give me 5 mins of his time. A day later, a similar response from Phil Libin was just as pleasing.
The Big Day
11am: I arrived at the RDS, the location for the summit, much earlier than my scheduled 5 minutes with Gary at the adjacent Four Seasons hotel. It was disheartening to say the least when I was informed without a ticket, there was no chance of entering, with €10,000 offers for a ticket to the sold out event being refused minutes before my arrival. It wasn’t looking promising.
12pm:I decided to make my way over to the hotel. I sat in the lounge, excited that I was so out of my depth, founders & irish sports people walked by in front of me. I watched Gary’s energetic talk through the Web Summit live stream, knowing that I’d come face to face with him soon afterward.
1pm: Having since walked out to the lobby, I looked up from my phone to see Mr. Vaynerchuk himself, and after a few short distractions we made our way into the lounge once more. I tried to be short & sweet, and the end result was music to my ears. Long story short,if all goes to plan, Gary will be the driving force behind an internship in the US next summer. As we were about to stand up, I asked about getting in to the summit, and Gary takes off his wristband and passes it over. I was a lucky guy.
2pm:I spent the rest of Day 1 listening to speakers, talking to startups, and absorbing the industry I’d always wanted to experience. Unbeknownst to me, It would get even better.
Day 2
10am: I arrived at the RDS once more, happy in the knowledge I could show my newly gained wristband to the door attendant. I again walked through “Alpha Village” and seeing those starting out, in many ways not so different from myself, finding time to grab a free coffee and Squarespace t-shirt on the way.
11am: After a panel discussion, I worked up enough courage to introduce myself to Matt Galligan, CEO of Circa. After a brief discussion of who I was, he gave me some excellent advice, a book recommendation and some words of wisdom, another realisation of how things were changing.
12pm: After a change of plans and a thoughtful assistant, I was whisked up to the speakers area, after a successful attempt at convincing the security guard on the stairs. It was there that I sat down with Phil Libin, Founder & CEO of Evernote. He gave me invaluable advice, keep learning & become worth knowing.
2pm: After lunch and a few more great speakers, I sat in on the Digital Marketing stage, for a panel including Tony Conrad and Kevin Rose, a person very influential to me from an early age, was taking place. Although I raced over to the side of the stage, the crowd behind me seemed to have a similar idea. When it seemed he would walk through the speakers door without interacting, a point of the finger and a few words indicated to us that he would be around the other side of the room. The crowd pushed behind me, yet as we tried to convene with Kevin, the vast amount of doors upon doors left Kevin nowhere to be seen, as well as the group disheartened,turning around and walking back toward the main hall. I had a similar idea, but I decided to try a different route, to prevent being stuck behind the others. Room led to room led to room, no longer resembling a web summit, but an empty office.
I finally saw someone through one of these doors, and after courteously holding it open, I realised it was Kevin. He was clearly rushing, but to his credit, he amicably chatted as we walked, trying to find our way back out to the main floor. We seemed to take a wrong turn, and I tried to politely disregard the staff member who complained we shouldn’t be back here, valuing the few moments i had to talk. I thanked him and we went separate directions, leaving me excited once more.
3pm: I spent the remainder of the day listening to the final speakers of the conference, Scott Harrison from charity:water who had personally donated to my 16th birthday campaign, Phil Libin, Elon Musk & Taoiseach(Prime Minister) Enda Kenny.
After narrowly catching the bus home, I smiled knowing that I’d come a little further to impacting the industry. At the Dublin Web Summit 2014 though, i’ll make sure to have my wristband in advance.
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