Key Takeaways from Web Summit 2023

My Experience at Europe’s Largest Tech Conference: Web Summit 2023 in Lisbon

Lisbon was the perfect setting for connecting with the global tech community at Web Summit 2023, Europe’s largest tech conference with over 71,000 attendees from 160+ countries this November. Temperatures reached a pleasant 22°C under sunny skies—quite a contrast from the 0-5°C climate back home in Riga, Latvia this time of year!

While I expected an event on a large scale, Web Summit exceeded even my highest expectations. It was like attending 10 RIGA COMM events combined! The scale was immense, spread across 15 stages and a huge Startup Showcase area with several thousand startups exhibiting this year. The focus spanned diverse tech fields from advertising to transportation to medicine, though a very strong emphasis on AI which did almost become overwhelming at points.

Navigating this tech playground was made smoother by the event app which helped schedule talks and manage the overflowing agendas. My original strategy was to switch between the packed parallel stages to catch various speakers. However, with nearly all seats filled and standing room only even far back from some stages, I pivoted to staying put in one stage for longer stints. Since all talks were recorded and published online during the summit, I knew I could catch up on videos back home as needed.

Making Connections with Startups Beyond the talks, a prime benefit of Web Summit was the access it provided for connecting directly with companies and startups from across the tech landscape. The startups onsite seemed very open to discussing potential partnerships or collaborations. For any companies or entrepreneurs with promising ideas looking to cultivate partnerships and scale up, Web Summit presents valuable exposure and networking fertile ground.

Here are some interesting highlights from the companies showcasing each day:

Day 1 Highlights

Getting underway 90 minutes behind schedule due to overwhelming crowds, the flagship Center Stage was packed as Web Summit’s new CEO Paddy Cosgrave emphasized the event’s mission of enabling ideas to connect with people who can transform them into reality. That goal was vividly on display across four bustling days of the summit.

Among the early pitching startups making a splash were:

Solvimon – subscription management platform with usage-based pricing and inhouse billing capabilities
Nipplar – innovation for breastfeeding through nipple shields with pouches to hold breast milk
Tranch – payment solution allowing customers the options of pay now, pay later, pay by card for invoices
Fizz – new social network for students focused on anonymity and safety

Some interesting concepts emerging on the AI front included:

Bubble – AI mindreading to translate thoughts into text, with big implications for assisting disabled users
Notion that AI hype will recede over the next decade as the technology becomes embedded across products and platforms, much like search and streaming media have become integral across the web

Day 2 Highlights

Several startups demoed compelling offerings from the Center Stage on Day 2, including:

Ivy – Fintech providing instant payment APIs
Beams – Unified workspace consolidating the array of cloud-based tools employees utilize

Among the thought leaders on emerging issues related to AI governance and impacts was Andrew McAfee. His key points included:

AI job displacement fears may be overblown when economic expansions enabled by the technology are factored alongside contractions
Regulations need not constrain innovation itself but rather its potentially harmful applications

Additional interesting AI perspectives:

Potential for generative AI like ChatGPT to significantly transform marketing and advertising remains more speculative versus evidenced in robust case studies
Rather than AI stealing jobs, its augmentation can provide humans more free time for creative pursuits and reduced anxiety about work’s role in life
Prominent need for prompt engineering talent to develop tailored AI platforms

On the media measurement front, James Slezak of Swayable advocated that directly surveying audiences on favorability and intent provides superior predictive power compared to indirect attention metrics via biometrics and sensors.

Day 3 Highlights

While I expected substantial interest for the Out-of-Home (OOH) Advertising Masterclass session, over half the initial attendees exited within 30 minutes as the reality failed to match the hype promised. Key points did underline the expanded capabilities OOH enables in synergizing with mobile and digital in a data-driven, programmatic manner:

Programmatic OOH deployment allows better audience targeting and key campaign analytics like reach
OOH screens placed at relevant geographic locations can help amplify and retarget coordinated digital initiatives

A fascinating generational perspective came from Jay Richards of Imagine Insights regarding Gen Z attitudes and behaviors that Gen Alpha youth will emulate in contrast to Millennials:

Gen Z displays much greater spending power and willingness to spend on interests such as brands reflecting their identity
Gen Z values authentic self-expression and relationships with those sharing similar mindsets
Gen Alpha will observe Gen Z’s challenges from oversharing on social media and moderate their own participation accordingly, while therapy and mental health support will be normalized

With TV’s diminished role given the proliferation of digital video and streaming entertainment, B2B environments still show promising opportunity for brands. Blake Sabetieneili of Atmosphere described their platform creating customized and measurable video content for public venues, analyzing audience patterns to optimize scheduling.

Day 4 Highlights

Closing out Web Summit 2023, my key lessons taken reflect just how data-driven, tailored and measurable marketing across all media formats has become in our digital age. Understanding your audience deeply and crafting communications resonating with their priorities and preferences provide the greatest chance to capture consumer mindshare and wallet share. Still, crafting compelling stories humanizing your brand remains vital in standing out from the algorithms.

Key Takeaways

Attending Europe’s premier technology event in Lisbon provided eye-opening insight into our rapidly evolving digital landscape. From AI’s embedding across products and platforms to generational shifts in consumer attitudes to programmatic transformation of advertising channels, data-driven personalization is imperative for brands to breakthrough overloaded attention economy pipelines. Still the need for compelling stories conveying authentic identity indicates while machines can rapidly match messages to millions based on preferences, forging genuine human connections remains vital. The ideas and innovators encountered across the overflowing halls of Web Summit reinforced both the boundless opportunities and threats technology’s accelerating pace presents. By contemplating challenges early movers face along with lessons from their missteps, laggards can chart strategic courses toward more ethical digital futures focused on elevating consumers and societies. After immerging from this braintrust baptism, I look forward to distilling deeper guidance on navigating what promises to be an even more transformative 2024.