Web Summit guide for visitors with different action modes

I decided to jump on the last wagon of the passing year and write a guide on the results of the Web Summit 2023 conference, which took place in mid-November. If you need more time to read the whole manual, here's the key idea - attending the most significant technical event in Europe can be maximally adequate for your project if you set aside emotions and become robots of lead generation and face-to-face meetings with your team. At the end of the guide, I will describe 3 behavior scenarios at events where about 70,000 participants from 153 countries gather. Now in order.

For the last 5 years, I have been creating and developing communities for entrepreneurs and their businesses. Currently, I am helping the ū Hub | Startup Community in Poland , which unites several thousand members, mostly from Belarus, to develop their projects on the Polish market and Europe in general. I went to the Web Summit with a clear goal: to meet my potential clients who would like to strengthen their business with the help of client communities. On the other hand, it was my first time at a conference where so many participants worldwide gathered. Personal curiosity was added to my lead generation goal. The mix of these goals allowed me not only to focus on the numerical indicators of the contacts processed but also to look at all aspects of the conference from the perspective of a business event organizer and a specialist in group mechanics.

Conclusion #1:

If you are going to the Web Summit, remember the primary purpose of your visit. The main goal allows you to eliminate the unnecessary and choose the necessary. And there will be a lot to choose from.

My preparation for the conference was divided into several phases:

• Interviews with acquaintances who have traveled in previous years
• Search for communities that bring together this year's participants
• Finding side events that are themed to fit my goals.

In retrospect, I paid little attention to such an essential element as the application with the participants' contact database. I will tell you about the practice of working with it at the end of this guide. A month before the summit, I was already living in an info-newsletter only about the event, namely:

• I was looking for side events and choosing which ones to go to. It's an interesting fact that among the side events were those organized by restaurant venues to attract customers. And the main thing is to figure out in time this cunning plan when participants are collected only to pay for lunch or dinner at a restaurant).
• I prepared merch that would be noticeable in a crowd of people. In my case, it was a hoodie with brightly colored lettering. Ultimately, I was left with comfortable and eye-catching clothes, but when you are on the event grounds, there are so many people that nobody cares about your cheerful inscription).
• I prepared a pitch to quickly tell what I do and how I can be helpful. It differed from the prepared pitch that worked best for me, but questions for the interviewees to understand them better and thus generate the necessary degree of trust. People like a personalized approach, and a universal pitch has a weakness - trying to reach as many people as possible, we get the effect of "very interesting, but nothing is clear."
• And, of course, the logistics within Lisbon. Settling in a convenient location for the conference and side events is essential. Public transportation works quite decently. I chose an intermediate location midway between the conference site and the old town. If you take the subway, it's 30 minutes one way or the other.

Conclusion #2:

One month before the conference, start preparing your schedule. The intensity of preparation depends on your goals. But, remember one important truth: if you have time to rest, your efficiency will stay high with each new day of the conference.

The conference took place over four days. Monday afternoon opening, Thursday closing. I decided to arrive on Sunday and fly out on Friday, believing it would be easier for me with that much time to spare. Flying in on Sunday and going straight to the welcome party of startups from Brazil was very energy-consuming. However, I got a couple of interesting contacts, stepped out of my comfort zone on the first night, immersed myself in Portuguese, and met a guy who was walking his pet pig) Everything went smoothly from there, and I formed a list of my notes on my behavior in Lisbon during the summit.

• The whole of Lisbon turns into a bustling living organism comprising groups of people with badges and wristbands. On the first day of my arrival, I walked along the waterfront and met some guys from the Netherlands, each developing their startup. Getting to know each other in the city is as easy as at side events.
• The event site is divided into several huge zones. There is an arena where tens of thousands of people sit in rows and listen to the speeches. At the opening ceremony, we waited for over an hour for the start, and I managed to meet a representative of an Austrian investment fund, who invited me to the Austrian Side Event.
• There are so many reports and side events that only a flexible approach helped me. I know what I would like to attend, but I might not get there because I was attending another event/report simultaneously. I realized it is difficult to cover everything alone, but a team could be anywhere and anytime.
• There was no time to go to the ocean, to the remote areas of Lisbon. Otherwise, it would have turned into a format: look for 5 minutes and run on. Although, it's a matter of taste.
• The most precise format for exchanging contacts is adding each other to LinkedIn. I took my NFC business card with me, took it out only once, and continued the old-fashioned way of showing the QR code to the account in the business communication network.
• During the summit, I met a dozen acquaintances who also came or lived here. I realized for myself that this is one of the ways of using the conference effectively. Tens of thousands of people come for the sake of the summit, and among them may be your existing clients, old acquaintances, colleagues from other countries, etc. It is a situation where you cannot visit each other, but you did get to Lisbon.
• And I noticed the following point. The creators of the summit chose the perfect venue for the event. Where else would you want to go in mid-November but Lisbon, with its weather of +20 in the afternoon? I think the creators of Slush, which takes place in early December in Helsinki, would like to argue that only those who go for work will go without this factor. At the same time, walking along the waterfront in a T-shirt rather than a down jacket is better.

Conclusion #3:

If your goal is to gather as many contacts as possible - this can be done anywhere during the summit. Understanding your plan and taking the initiative can yield complex connections with a cold mailing. And on the other hand, remember that quite a few people came to the summit to be in easy-going mode. And 3 models of behavior at the Web Summit, according to my observations.

Easy-going mode

What phrases can be used to recognize a participant:

I came to watch, listen, get enriched with new ideas, develop my startup, and meet interesting people.

What to attend:

• Summit reports and the expo area. You can listen, meet, and have a bite to eat at both venues.
• Night summit. After the theoretical part, you want to move around, and there is a zone of food courts and zones with music and karaoke. In essence, it is a big bar for the conference participants.
• Side events. They occur at the same time as the night summit, but there are fewer people, more opportunities to socialize, and more target audiences that come to the event's topic.
• Well, the beautiful Lisbon, Portugal's ocean coastline, and the many tourists and not-so-tourist attractions that await travelers every day. They are combined with fine cuisine and delicious wine.

What to do:

• Enjoying the moment, the weather, and the people around you
• Being open to those who want to get to know you and are added to the app

Working mode

What phrases can be used to recognize a participant:

I came to find new partners, exhibit with a team, and see investments in our growing startup.

What to attend:

• The main focus here is on the summit itself and side events.
• Industry events on the topic of your business that are taking place during the Lisbon Summit.

What to do:

• Figure out your target audience you want to attract
• Understand where the target audience will be maximized
• Prepare pitch, merch, answers to tricky questions, and next step in case of contact
• Find time for the entertainment part so you don't collapse without energy on the second day.

God mode

What phrases can be used to recognize a participant:

We sparred the participant database from the app, selected thousands of people by keywords, and scheduled hundreds of meetings of 15 minutes each.

What to attend:

• Attend appointments and remember that time constraints are as much a help in getting away from an uninteresting person as they hinder continuing a conversation with an interesting one. These meetings can be either in the city or at the summit site.

What to do:

• A few months before the summit, get your team involved in selecting the right contacts and trying to set up meetings with them.
• Utilize appointment booking systems that allow you at least 10 minutes to get from one point to another.
• Classify each contact after communication and send a different follow-up according to that classification.
• Trying to take another week in Lisbon to take a break from this mode of operation in a relaxed environment.

Conclusion #4:

Warmer contacts are best sought at industry events where there are not as many attendees. I would do a gradation like this: 1%-9%-90%. 1% are those people who are suitable for you and can be your clients, partners, or investors. 9% are people who have something in common with you, but you need to figure out what to do next. If you offer them options, something might work out. And 90% are people who could be a better fit for you. This is likely an expansion of your contact base that might work in months or years, but it's hard to offer them something in the here and now.

This concludes my description. I have figured out how to be more effective at events like this. I would appreciate your comments, your personal experience, and anything else I have not mentioned.