The Summit - formerly known as The Web Summit review

by Startacus Admin

So, let’s start with a caveat - this ain't a detailed review of the speakers and the talkers, the financial wins, and the events - you will hear enough about them from all the other press at ‘The Summit’.

This is an alternative look at The Summit (the artist formerly known as Dublin Web Summit), where we’re picking out our fave 4 things at the event -
things that might not otherwise have been noted by those trés important press folk from across the world.

Firstly, The Summit is the new brand name for the Dublin Web Summit / Web Summit and the reasoning? Well it’s not just a Summit about Tech - it’s a summit, one might say an avalanche of everything that’s happening and good in the startup / music / food / and so on world. So here’s the top 4 things that floated our boat (apart of course from the important stuff - the talks, the pitches and all that networking…)

There really were people there!

We’ve been to quite a few events before and have seen many organisers tending to be a little generous with their estimations of how many attendees they expect and how many they have had. Do they just pluck big numbers out of the sky? We reckon most probably! Anyhow, we digress...The Summit organisers were completely justified with their claims of 10000+ attendees. The place was absolutely heaving - the RDS venue filled to the rafters with people - press, startups, speakers and judges. No false claims here!

The sofa, The food, The coffee

So, fair enough that’s 3 points - but it is our article, so move on if this bothers you! First the sofa - a symbolic (or maybe actually genuine) sofa that the founders sat on to come up with and develop the idea of the Web Summit, was plonked right in the the middle of the event floor. The ‘here’s where it all started’ sign emphasising that whole analogy about little acorns and mighty oak trees. In this case, it really brought home the whole notion of how what might start as just an idea can grow and grow and grow…

As for the food and coffee? Well, thanks to Good Food Ireland, we were able to sample food and drink from some of the country’s top food and drink producers - all for free. Great food, great coffee and really appreciated too!.

Those wooden chairs

Sometimes these startups / enterprise events are a little sterile - full of promises beforehand about how ‘cool’ or ‘out there’ they’ll be. In reality however, despite having a musician or a jazz band in the corner or a notice board to add your business cards to, the main event area can often appear as just a showcase of tired looking business services trying to unsurprisingly get your business. Don’t get me wrong, The Summit offers these things too - but not in a dull way. Little touches like the beaten up wooden chairs and pub benches and barrels to rest your bum, show that these folk certainly aren’t about putting on an event thats more style than substance. Here at Startacus, we reckon it’s the small touches like this which can make all the difference.

The startups

Startups, there were thousands of ‘em! Well perhaps slight exaggeration - but the point here is that for all the speakers and talks and debates - the real star of the show was the wealth of startups that are coming to the fore and showcasing their wares - all good ones at that! Really really inspiring and fab to see.

So that’s our alternative review of The Summit / Web Summit / Dublin Web Summit. We hope we get a chance to go back next year -  whatever its name may be, it would be a pleasure to be there.

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Published on: 1st November 2013