Tech journalist Simon Cocking has put together a clever little ebook guide to the forthcoming Web Summit.
The move to Lisbon will likely be a disappointment to him, as the book is framed from a Dublin perspective, so unfortunately it won’t be as handy to quickly reissue for next year.
He can’t be blamed for that, however, and if he does his homework early, a Lisbon edition could be a handy follow-up project.
Cocking has covered the event extensively in the past so brings an insider perspective, with lots of practical advice that will be useful to those attending next month’s gathering of 30,000 tech enthusiasts in the capital.
Aside from his own observations, he peppers the narrative with a liberal sprinkling of quotes from former attendees.
Preparation is key, he says. Plan your meetings well in advance by identifying the people that you want to meet from the attendee list, and suggesting via email that as you are both going to be in Dublin, this is a great opportunity to meet up. Most people, even very senior ones, will respond well to this direct approach.
Even if it’s late in the day, get on to Twitter, follow the hashtags to see what’s trending and you will be able to work out which pub people will be going to.
Pub networking
The pub is a key element in the Dublin Summit and many savvy operators have used this opportunity for a sneaky interview with someone who would never have been as easily contactable back in Silicon Valley.
While major names may have interns managing their social media accounts the type of people speaking at the Summit typically self-manage their personal accounts.
The twitter feed for the event is less frantic further out from the event so offers a great opportunity to have your content sit at the top – even for a short while. This is a fantastic way to get free advertising to your exact target market, Cocking observes.
He also suggests being generous to others by proactively answering people’s questions on Twitter. Explaining cultural differences, for example, is a good way of building rapport.
One of the key reasons people attend the event is to attract funding so the author advises budding entrepreneurs looking for investors to respond and deal with emails from potential investors quickly and to prioritise ruthlessly.
Venture capitalists say that they invest in people as much as ideas so you need to sell yourself as well as your proposition by competent and timely follow-up in message exchanges that will convey that you are reliable and a potentially good prospect for investment.
Wifi woes
There’s sound advice too on not making your app/product or demo too reliant on third-party wifi.
“You’ve heard the horror stories,” he notes without need for further elaboration.
Some of the best advice comes from attendees.
This includes keeping requests for meetings to 15-30 minute periods as nobody wants to be tied down for an hour with so much else going on, dividing tasks between teams rather than hunting in packs and to forget about launching a product during the Summit as you’ll get lost in the noise.
Planning is good, but as Ronan Furlong, executive director of DCU Innovation Campus explains here, there’s merit in having a less-scheduled agenda too.
“Last year, I had so many meeting lined up I barely had time to see any of the speakers. This year I’m going to enjoy it more.”
For less than the price of a couple of pints, if you are attending this event, this is a book that is well worth downloading.
“How to Crack the Web Summit 2015” is written by Simon Cocking and published by Nu Books/Oak Tree Press, €9.83 in PDF, ePub and Kindle format
