Hello Comrades!
Web Summit is one of the largest conferences for the IT community in Lisbon. I took part in it in 2022. From year to year, thousands of specialists of different levels traditionally gather together there. I advise you to prepare for the event in advance in order to take advantage of every opportunity to pump your own business. In addition, this is a great chance for startups to power up and get to know investors. Is it worth going there just for that?
No! Participate in round tables, try to be mentioned in the media, look for suitable employees for your company. Web Summit provides thousands of opportunities that you shouldn’t miss and use them to the maximum.
Why is it important to prepare for the conference in advance?
If you are going to the Web Summit for the first time, you risk getting lost among thousands of people and announcements. In addition, if you represent a startup and take the APLHA program, many people won’t take you seriously. This program is suitable for those who don’t earn anything on their project yet.
This is a good chance to make yourself known, but other participants will understand that you still don’t have enough experience to discuss serious issues. I don’t recommend applying to ALPHA if you have at least minimal sales. This is the only way you can claim more and not limit yourself in new opportunities.
Eco-friendly: how to develop a business with care for nature
The event organizers follow an eco-friendly approach and seriously punish violators. Forget about standard business cards, booklets and flyers. What about pens? You can only use those ones that are made of recycled plastic. But if there is at least one "evidence" left at the place of your stand, get ready to pay at least €2000.
Instead of spending time designing and printing brochures, take a few extra hours to create a cool speech for acquaintance or pitching. Thousands of people come to the conference looking for ideas and projects not on paper, but in real life.
The key to success at the Web Summit is point contact. The other person makes a decision in a matter of seconds, and you should take the chance to be remembered.
What are side events and why do they bring the most benefits?
Do you think that the main goal of startups is an official conference? That’s not the case! The main mission of startups is to get to side events. Only there you can easily come to the founder, get in touch with him and speak on important issues.
You can find out about side events through the platform, and ID and special tickets will become a pass inside. Even the ALPHA segment has the opportunity to pre-register and get a "ticket" to additional events.
How not to fail with tickets?
When you have received an ID, don’t register in the official app at the same time! I recommend using the web version. And here's why.
Perhaps you don't know yet which teammates will go to the Web Summit. If you register on the site, you can later change the data of any person. Accordingly, you have a number of tickets that don’t belong to specific people. But if you have already logged in to the app, you can’t change the ticket holder.
Why are side events more useful than the main part?
Announcements about side events begin to appear in the summer, and the last one may come out a couple of days before the start of the conference. At the same time, their locations are scattered throughout the city, and the "road map" should be drawn up in advance.
At side events, it’s much easier to approach the right specialist and arrange a meeting with him. Before that, he may be seriously stressed or focused on another issue. However, the side event will allow both of you to relax and let your hair down. I also recommend distributing your team members among several locations to improve coverage and increase the chances of success.
How to get acquainted at the Web Summit and other conferences?
I’m sure that you have read dozens of articles on what to say at conferences. I’ll share with you three tips from personal experience that will help you to establish contact with the right people and be remembered for a long time.
- Don't say “I'm from company X / I am a representative of company X"
How should you introduce yourself? Write down the template: “I help to do X for Y" + your advantage.
Here's how it might look in real life: “I help startups (to whom?) explore new markets (what to do?) online and using LinkedIn” (advantage).
“I am the founder of a company that will help you to organize corporate team building (what kind of help?), even if you have a very small team (to whom?) or are planning to do it in another country (advantage)”.
- Don't take notes on the contacts
Just imagine that you’ll meet hundreds of people with whom you need to communicate and look for common ground. Why are you doing this? It’s unlikely that your task is to replenish the cardholder with 30 business cards or add 30 new contacts to LinkedIn. You should be clearly aware of your goal: to find a partner, an investor, to get into the best project.
That's how you should act. To get started, talk for a couple of minutes. After that, you’ll understand whether this contact is beneficial for you. No? Forget about him and keep looking. Yes? Then the next move is yours. Do a follow-up. Write to remind him of yourself and offer to meet.
By the way, do you know how to stand out and be remembered among 20-30 participants at one event? Here are my life hacks. During the conversation, offer to take a selfie and exchange accounts on social networks. Send a photo with a message who you are and a reminder of the arrangements. After the conference, you’ll easily remember all new acquaintances from photos and will be able to communicate further.
- Share an interesting fact about yourself
Just imagine that the investor of your dream will see 50-100 people in front of him. How does he recognize you specifically? Here’s an answer: you should have a bright fact in stock that will be remembered for a long time.
What could it be? For example, you’re a fan of a particular musical group, a parent with many children or an eco-activist. This is a small detail, but it’ll be the mark by which the other person will restore you to memory.
I shared my experience of what benefits the Web Summit brings to business and why you should not skip side events. I hope that you saved life hacks on acquaintance at conferences. You can use these tips in any industry and share your success with us.
Stay tuned!