I’ve always wanted to go to Web Summit.
It was 2015, and the company I worked with back in Manila, who made it seem like traveling to Europe was just like going to the supermarket on a Saturday, was closing. I was devastated! I didn’t want to give up my European jet-setting life just yet. So I started entertaining the idea of just moving halfway across the world. And for that, I needed a tech company who will hire me and who can sponsor my visa.
Enter, my stumbling upon Web Summit and finding out that it was the biggest tech conference in Europe. For somebody who was on a hunt for an opportunity overseas, a 3-day event where the biggest tech companies alongside the shiniest new startups was like going to Disneyland!
The magic is here! 🎉
And by magic, I mean – My future employer is here!
Then I saw the ticket prices and well long story short – I didn’t go to Web Summit 2015. And I found an employer somewhere else.
Fast forward to 2018 and I got a 45€ ticket to Web Summit c/o the Women In Tech Discount. I was the take 1 (hence the 45€ price tag). Bonus part was that it was in Lisbon, my favorite city – so I was really raring to go.
So now it’s been 3 weeks since Web Summit, and I’ve been asked so many times already how it went.
Short answer: I have so many thoughts and feelings around it. Good and Bad. Inspiring and Jading (I googled, it is a word)!
Long answer: Well read on.
And while it’s not technically about Product Management – it is about the Tech industry so still relevant to write about. 🙂
If you came here for PM-related topics and don’t want to read about Web Summit, you can check out my other posts instead like How to Prioritize, or How to Discover User Problems.
So here are my major takeaways from Web Summit 2018.
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1. There was a lot of talk about taking responsibility.
Responsibility towards each other. Sir Tim Berners Lee was a keynote speaker during opening day. And I got goosebumps! Because he’s the guy who invented the World Wide Web (www)! He talked about how the internet lately has been so toxic. And while access for more people is important, making sure the internet is a trustworthy place is also just as crucial. And oh my heart! After everything that has been happening lately: how people have been using the internet as a platform to push forward their hate-filled agenda is only one of them. Rebuilding trust in the platform is not only necessary but also critical if we’re all to come out of this decade in one piece.
Responsibility towards the environment.
There is no conflict between a healthy planet and a healthy bottom line… It’s a false choice,”
Lisa Jackson, Senior VP for the Environment, Policy, and Social initiatives, talked about how tech companies should be able to not compromise the environment in their quest to become rich. To think about sustainable resources, producing less waste, and to strongly support efforts being done to save the world – whether financially or through other means.
While I agree with what Lisa Jackson was saying, I just found this really ironic. Apple is such a conduit of reckless consuming that I find it very hard to take them seriously when they talk about sustainability.
2. But there was a lot less walking to match the talking
Hundreds of startups were in attendance during Web Summit in all sorts of phases. And I admire all those people who are following up on their ideas, who are putting themselves out there to get help to make their ideas become reality. I walked around bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to check out the startup exhibitors, reading the description cards on top of their booths to see what they were all about.
I couldn’t help thinking “When I grow up, I just want to be like you… and you… and you… oh. ok. You too!”
But I was also a little disappointed. There were a lot of startups improving the way we shop. Improving the way we travel. Also a lot of crypto things. And those things are cool. Because I love shopping and I love traveling too! And I know so little about crypto (for now) to love it or not.
But there were not as many startups talking about:
- Addressing climate change or any environmental related issues
- Helping refugees find their footing and making sure they also thrive
- Making education accessible to everybody
- Anything health related
- Or just things in general that address immediate problems that make it difficult for people to have a good life.
There were far too few startups looking at solving these issues. On the other hand, there were far too many startups trying to help businesses find the right influencer to grow their sales. 🤷🏻
3. The program was hit or miss.
There were probably 500 talks going on all at the same time during the summit. I had a very hard time picking out which one I should go to. Not because they were all excellent. But because the descriptions in the Web Summit app was pretty vague. 😅 So I chose based on the titles (and the speaker) and just assumed what it was going to be all about.
Some talks were amazing!
I fangirled over Serena William’s husband, Alexis Ohanian. He talked about lessons he learned from when he was building Reddit. And I came out there wanting to kick off my own venture! Stephanie McMahon was such an Amazonian warrior talking about how giving the WWE Divas more airtime actually boosted up ratings. Diversity is good for business! And David Nihill’s tips on how to hack Public Speaking made me more confident about wanting my own time on stage.
I also found myself watching a lot of pitches from startups. And I learned so much. From a technological standpoint. But most importantly, the power of storytelling. It’s amazing how being clear about your intention, your ambition, can pull in supporters. I found myself so emotionally invested in some startups just because I could somehow relate to the problem they were talking about even if I didn’t have that problem myself. Some startups who jumped immediately to what cool solution they were making didn’t do anything for me. I am a Product Manager, through and through. 💪
There were so many incredible talks I can write an entire post about them!
But there were so many misses too.
And the immediate one that comes to mind is the talk about Tools for finding Product-Market fit. The short description they provided about the hour-long talk was:
A great insight into customer discovery and rapid prototyping.
I expected to be shown frameworks for how to do problem validation, testing solutions, etc. And because it was an hour-long talk, I expected to be shown many different frameworks. As well as real-world examples. I was after all in an area called “Start-Up Workshops”.
What I did not expect was that I would instead get a 15m introduction of the accelerator group that the speaker was part of. That I would spend the next 10m after that being retold the Nokia story.
When he pulled up a slide showing the Business Model Canvas, there was only 30m left and I knew I wasn’t going to get anything valuable for me. I lamented over the first 25m that could have been used more wisely. So I bolted and went to the PITCH finals instead.
And this wasn’t the only case of a talk being used to sell the company they were representing. Nor of a talk completely different from how it was described in the program. Like Alexander Wang’s for example.
Maybe next time Web Summit can invest in copywriting. 🙂 The attendees only have so little time and there are so many talks to choose from – we need better data points to help us decide better!
4. So. Many. Women. 👏
We were told that Web Summit 2018 had the highest ratio of women in attendance out of all the Web Summits ever done! They put in so much effort to make sure that they diversify the attendee population and it paid off! The 2-for-1 tickets for Women in Tech. The mentoring programs. Representation in the speaker line up. I felt so seen. In a good way. 👸🏻
It was also really refreshing to see some companies providing dedicated spaces for women. To encourage women to find each other, start a conversation, and maybe inspire a friendship, partnership, mentorship or anything that can result in women supporting other women. I ended up joining some groups after that. Including one that encourages to have more women speakers in tech events. Because goals!
But because it’s 2018 and women being part of things is still not so usual for some men – there were still so many incidences of sexism during the event.
Our lady Beyonce, pray for us.
5. Averaged 20k steps per day without even trying
I clocked in so much cardio.
There were 5 main areas – 4 pavilions for the exhibits and mini-stages, and the center stage where the big-name speakers and the pitch competition were all at.
And since I didn’t really plan out my schedule well, I ended up having back to back talks that were in the opposite ends of the venue. I had to run (well really just walk super fast) to make sure I made it to the talks on time!
And there was also a lot of just roaming around. Checking out different booths. Because the startup booths changed from day to day (I didn’t realize that until the 2nd to the last day lol). Going from one pavilion to another to find the food truck that didn’t have any lines. And aimless walking because there weren’t a lot of places to just sit down and rest my ass.
I really didn’t mind, in the end. After all the pasteis de nata I consumed, I needed all those steps. 🤤
In Conclusion.
Web Summit was quite an experience. It still felt like Disneyland for adults who work in tech.
All the talk about how technology should be, is being, it will be, used for good. Like:
- Promoting inclusion, accessibility, trust
- Uplifting people’s lives, especially the ones who need it the most
- And making sure there’s still a time and space for next-generation scientists
They made me so much more hopeful for the future.
Even though there are still so many problems out there that are waiting for solutions, while most technologists are too busy building solutions for the same problems over and over again. Even though diversity is still a novelty. And even though there are so many even thoughs…
It just means humanity is still a work in progress – and that’s alright. Iteration is a good thing. It just only means we’re learning. Says the product manager.
Another thing was that it was such good exposure. I walked out there with a shit ton of notes about what are the biggest trends in both the problem space and in the solution space. Which, in a way, was a good validation for myself – work-wise, career-wise, and things I like to talk about wise. 🤓
But I don’t think I’ll come back again for next year.
It was just too overwhelming with everything that was going on. By the end of the summit, I was exhausted. And the introvert in me was dying for complete seclusion.
True story: By the time our plane landed in Barcelona, I spent a lot of time hiding from people I know in the airport just so I don’t have to say hi.
I also found it a little bit agenda-ish. There were so many startup booths that I wanted to stop at but I was given the feeling that I was a waste of 5 minutes because I wasn’t a potential investor. Maybe I was being paranoid. But hey, feelings are feelings. 😅
And very selling oriented. Companies selling their products, subscriptions, etc. Which is ok. It is a “networking event” after all. Even the talks were trying to sell something. And I just didn’t want to buy.
But I would DEFINITELY recommend it.
Go. At least once, you should go. Especially if you’re looking for inspiration or validation. And even relevant conversation. So go:
- if you’re looking for work
- or if you’re thinking about starting your own project.
- if you’re new to the tech scene.
- or even if you’ve been working in tech for all of your life.
Just go. It’s definitely a good experience to have. Besides, Lisbon is always a good idea. 🇵🇹
TL;DR
- I finally got to go to Web Summit after years of wanting.
- And there were so many cool speakers lined up like Sir Tim Berners Lee, Stephanie McMahon, Alexis Ohanian, Debbie Millman.
- And they talked about a lot of things that I really cared about. Diversity. Tech Responsibility. Action.
- But I found that there was still a long way to go before all these topics become relevant to the rest of the world. There were more startups about increasing conversion for your shopping site vs making education accessible for everybody, for example.
- Maybe the industry just hasn’t fully caught up yet with the real problems that need solving.
- There was also way too much selling for my taste. Talks that were disguised to teach ended up being a sales pitch instead.
- But for all my complaints – I loved that Web Summit this year walked the talk about diversity. They really made a whole lot of effort to make sure that the attendance of women this year would increase!
- And there were so many women speakers. Exhibitors. And a lot of programs geared toward women in general that made me feel so seen. In a good way. 👏
- I had a love/dislike relationship with Web Summit in general. But even though I don’t think I’ll come back next year, I’d still fully recommend it to people who haven’t gone yet to give it a try.
- Because it’s an amazing experience. And really good cardio. 💪
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