35December 2013/ January 2014 Communicate

Comms correspondent

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There’s a lot of well deserved attention towards this fourth Dublin Web Summit – record breaking attention. In terms of calibre and content, it was

second to none. At the top end was the legendary Elon Musk and many other technorati all-stars. As one person said from the fair, you know you’re at a geek event when Elon Musk gets more attention than Bono. And yes, Bono was there too. Though as the ultimate tech event coup, Paddy and the lads (Irish Premier included) opened the NASDAQ exchange from the Summit, one of many notable firsts that week.

What’s really interesting is that real news is coming out since too, with investment conversations coming to fruition, such as Spark of Genius Award winner SmartThings winning another $12m in investment, after getting $3m last year too.

Why is the Summit useful, though? As Robert Scobbles aptly said, Paul McDonnell (@Paul_Austin), aka Start-up Guy for the Summit, sifted through 6,500 applications, yet “...everyone’s treated like a rock star.”

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny himself was on hand and not for just the photo shoot. He was around on and off over the two conference day, spotted walking the floors. This was testament to the organizing team and the Irish Government’s inward investment agencies Enterprise Ireland, the Industrial Development Authority. Also in active mode was the novel entity, Connect Ireland, which rewards citizens with cash bonuses for each new job they help create in Ireland.

Add to that a buzzing party schedule. Rob Farhat – the Summit’s first artistic director – put together a brilliant Summit by Night programme aimed unashamedly at topping Austin’s SXSW legendary series of nights, with a distinctly Irish flavour. There was an amazing – included in fee – Food Summit offsite next door, with literally the best chefs in Ireland presenting most likely the best on-site catering at any tech conference, ever. Huge success.

There was even a great and oversubscribed surfing and kite-surfing trip to Achill Island off Mayo.

Execution is more important than ever in

tech. Of all the speakers, the ever popular Gary Veynerchuk (@GaryVee) cut to the chase, saying we’re all marketing “like it’s 2009.” He held no punches when he said we don’t need any more fucking data and in the world, technology execution, work ethic and consistency will be the new differentiators.

In the space of four short years, we’ve seen the Summit burst onto the tech scene as a formidable international tech conference, certainly punching above its weight. And with a rebrand from Web Summit to the Summit, the conference has its sights on a more inclusive, agnostic type of tech summit, transcending sector and uniting a bigger world of ideas and innovations from all around the web.

On a final thought, I wanted to relay McDonnell’s great point about personalities and start-ups to running a business of any size or type: Just about everyone has to learn to overcome their fears or shynesses. The one thing they’ve learned is to overcome their nerves, to learn to sell their business and their product wares.

So that’s the secret of the Summit’s success too. To not be too sure of yourself and to let your personality out to play once in a while as well. For the human game of technology will always rely on it.

Hubert Grealish is strategy & communications partner at MPERA Mobile Media

Hubert Grealish gives the inside track for start-ups from the Dublin Web Summit

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