Web Summit quits Dublin

vintagecosmos · 05-11-2015 04:52PM

smash wrote: »

It doesn't. That's a lie.

Found an article on it here

http://www.irishmirror.ie/lifestyle/technology/web-summit-punters-paid-20-6762206

“To add insult to injury the organisers are charging them €20 for a meal that really costs €8. It’s disgraceful.”

The event is using a system of tokens that can be handed in for food at various stalls. Called Food Summit, it offers everything from steak
sandwiches to Indian meals.

When contacted by the Irish Mirror, founder Paddy Cosgrave insisted it was not making any profit on the vouchers.

He explained the price difference only covers the cost of staging the Food Summit stalls. In a statement, he added: “Web Summit pays vendors €8 per meal but Web Summit makes no profit from the food sold.

“In fact, when costs of the Food Summit is taken into consideration, including venue rental, insurance, marquee build, electrics, staffing, security and site services, Web Summit makes a loss of approximately €10 per meal sold.”

smash · 05-11-2015 04:55PM

kbannon wrote: »

It's simple maths!

Cost €8 + Expected Profit €22 = €30
Sale Price = €20
Difference = €-10

I bought a euromillions ticket today
Cost €4 + expected profit €100,000,000 = €100,000,004

If I don't win I'm so screwed. I'll be over €100m in the red!!!!

Red_Wake · 05-11-2015 04:55PM

vintagecosmos wrote: »

Found an article on it here

http://www.irishmirror.ie/lifestyle/technology/web-summit-punters-paid-20-6762206

“To add insult to injury the organisers are charging them €20 for a meal that really costs €8. It’s disgraceful.”

The event is using a system of tokens that can be handed in for food at various stalls. Called Food Summit, it offers everything from steak
sandwiches to Indian meals.

When contacted by the Irish Mirror, founder Paddy Cosgrave insisted it was not making any profit on the vouchers.

He explained the price difference only covers the cost of staging the Food Summit stalls. In a statement, he added: “Web Summit pays vendors €8 per meal but Web Summit makes no profit from the food sold.

“In fact, when costs of the Food Summit is taken into consideration, including venue rental, insurance, marquee build, electrics, staffing, security and site services, Web Summit makes a loss of approximately €10 per meal sold.”

Do they build all the costs of staging the Web Summit into the meals?:pac:

kidneyfan · 05-11-2015 04:56PM

Red_Wake wrote: »

Do they build all the costs of staging the Web Summit into the meals?:pac:

I suppose the attendees should eat for free! I know what response I'd get from you if I broke into your kitchen and sat down to dinner!

VinLieger · 05-11-2015 05:00PM

kidneyfan wrote: »

I suppose the attendees should eat for free! I know what response I'd get from you if I broke into your kitchen and sat down to dinner!

Who said that? They should be paying the same price for the food as they would if similar stalls were at food markets. Your actually justifying €20 for food that would normally cost €8?

dloob · 05-11-2015 05:01PM

kidneyfan wrote: »

I suppose the attendees should eat for free! I know what response I'd get from you if I broke into your kitchen and sat down to dinner!

They did last year.
Or to be more accurate they weren't expect to pay more on top of the few grand they had already given Paddy to attend.

Fleawuss · 05-11-2015 05:02PM

mzungu wrote: »

Their business model was to move to Portugal so they could make more money there, so as a business decision it made sense for them. I have no issue with them moving there to maximise their profits, thats the nature of the game after all. I don't think anybody was blaming them for moving IIRC.

It was everything that came after that that people had the problem with. The diva tantrums, blaming the government for problems that he could fix himself etc. Basically he tried to control the narrative to make sure his brand still looked good in Ireland, and it backfired. It wasn't so much PR as it was kamikaze mission on his own brands reputation.

Their business model is very clear at this stage from startups, hoteliers, food providers: naked aggressive capitalism and monetizing anything and everything. The PR fiasco lies in not being upfront about that. I wonder though about all the outrage: WS are no different in many respects from VW or all the other hyped up blow hard rip off companies we meet everyday. If this sorry episode opens eyes to the bs that company after company spouts, great. I just don't see a whole lot of difference between the antics of WS and the rest of them. Except maybe that they haven't been caught out, yet.

seamus · 05-11-2015 05:04PM

vintagecosmos wrote: »

“In fact, when costs of the Food Summit is taken into consideration, including venue rental, insurance, marquee build, electrics, staffing, security and site services, Web Summit makes a loss of approximately €10 per meal sold.”

So Web Summit are paying €30 per head to supply a burger and a bottle of water?

They are in their ringpiece. Other conferences could supply a 3-course meal for that.

jam_mac_jam · 05-11-2015 05:09PM

kidneyfan wrote: »

I suppose the attendees should eat for free! I know what response I'd get from you if I broke into your kitchen and sat down to dinner!

They had already paid a grand to attend. So not really free. If you gave him a grand to sit in his kitchen then he might not mind giving you dinner.

Ctrl Alt Delete · 05-11-2015 05:12PM

kidneyfan wrote: »

I suppose the attendees should eat for free! I know what response I'd get from you if I broke into your kitchen and sat down to dinner!

They have been eating for free. This is the first year they have been charging for meals

mzungu · 05-11-2015 05:13PM

vintagecosmos wrote: »

I heard on the Radio yesterday someone from the web summit staff saying that selling food at 20 euro they were making a loss of 10 euro. How does that work?

The people with food tokens sure made a loss!

Colonialboy · 05-11-2015 05:16PM

this is a classic thread , some great astute posts and the comebacks from the websummit organisers are hilarious... beep beep beep just keep digging

Colonialboy · 05-11-2015 05:18PM

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

They had already paid a grand to attend. So not really free. If you gave him a grand to sit in his kitchen then he might not mind giving you dinner.

and dont forget you got another grand off him to kip in your box room.

slangamerican · 05-11-2015 05:21PM

Kind of hoping Tubs is playing mind games with him. Lull him in to a false sense of security and then attack tomorrow. It won't happen though, will it?

zoobizoo · 05-11-2015 05:22PM

A friend of mine was approached the other week about the Surf Summit. https://websummit.net/surf-summit

She was at a beach having come out of the water after a surf and was approached by someone who was organising the Surf Summit.

He wanted her to lend her boards / wetsuits (value €400 / €500) and to ask her friends also to lend their equipment to attendees of the Surf Summit.

"What's in it for me?" she asked

"you get to meet people" came the reply. ....... some business model.

Not only would surfers not be willing to lend out expensive equipment to people they do not know, it would also take business away from local surf schools and surf shops. If someone can afford to pay for a Web Summit ticket, they can afford to pay €30 for a board and suit hire.

mzungu · 05-11-2015 05:29PM

slangamerican wrote: »

Kind of hoping Tubs is playing mind games with him. Lull him in to a false sense of security and then attack tomorrow. It won't happen though, will it?

All I want is a fair and balanced interview in which Paddy tells his side of the story and Tubbs in return asks him the hard questions and makes sure he gets proper answers . I don't see it happening though.

VinLieger · 05-11-2015 05:32PM

mzungu wrote: »

All I want is a fair and balanced interview in which Paddy tells his side of the story and Tubbs in return asks him the hard questions and makes sure he gets proper answers . I don't see it happening though.

Exactly, pretty sure tubs is gonna ignore everything that has come out about the hotel prices in lisbon and the deals that web summit were refusing here

bucketybuck · 05-11-2015 05:33PM

“In fact, when costs of the Food Summit is taken into consideration, including venue rental, insurance, marquee build, electrics, staffing, security and site services, Web Summit makes a loss of approximately €10 per meal sold.”

Hang on, aren't ticket prices for this thing running into the thousands? So what indirect costs are the tickets covering?

Does this guy really know nothing about accounting, or is he just an arrogant twat who thinks the rest of us are stupid and can't see how ridiculous the quote above really is?

smash · 05-11-2015 05:35PM

VinLieger wrote: »

Exactly, pretty sure tubs is gonna ignore everything that has come out about the hotel prices in lisbon and the deals that web summit were refusing here

And the fact that wifi was still crap this year despite it being in Paddy's control. And the lack of traffic issues, but the extreme confusion with the Web Summit organised coaches.

smash · 05-11-2015 05:37PM

bucketybuck wrote: »

Hang on, aren't ticket prices for this thing running into the thousands? So what indirect costs are the tickets covering?

Shhhh.... it's the governments fault, remember!

Phoebas · 05-11-2015 05:38PM

Paddy now changing flank - announced on stage that he will be marching on the Taoiseach's office this evening to protest school's catholic admissions policies.

I'm not seeing the tech angle.

smash · 05-11-2015 05:39PM

Phoebas wrote: »

Paddy now changing flank - announced on stage that he will be marching on the Taoiseach's office this evening to protest school's catholic admissions policies.

I'm not seeing the tech angle.

Hope he gets arrested for trespassing.

seamus · 05-11-2015 05:47PM

Phoebas wrote: »

Paddy now changing flank - announced on stage that he will be marching on the Taoiseach's office this evening to protest school's catholic admissions policies.

You're taking the piss, right?

PhoenixParker · 05-11-2015 05:48PM

seamus wrote: »

You're taking the piss, right?

I thought so, but then I found this
https://twitter.com/walk4eva/status/662173186797281280

retweeted by Paddy this morning.

Busi_Girl08 · 05-11-2015 05:51PM

seamus wrote: »

You're taking the piss, right?

Nope. He's telling the truth. He went off on a tangent about how Ireland is such a multicultural place now, using Web Summit as an example to demonstrate how many different countries and cultures are drawn to Ireland. In the same breath he blasted the government for its Catholic favouritism laws for school admissions.

smash · 05-11-2015 05:52PM

seamus wrote: »

You're taking the piss, right?

Just remember, this is the guy who said on record that all the government funding that he's received to date was just a cover up for the homeless problem in Ireland...

Before he weekend is over he'll probably be out in Carrickmines to blame local residents on wifi issues because they wouldn't let travelers move in beside them.

Tarzana2 · 05-11-2015 05:52PM

smash wrote: »

I don't like the spin he's putting on it that people who have objections are just begrudgers. It's not the case.

It's a typical lazy argument. You see it all the time on AH: "OMG, your jus jellus begrudgers".

Tubs isn't the sharp, analytical guy he'd like to think he is.

seamus · 05-11-2015 05:53PM

Right so, I duly expect Jim Corr to take the stage at some point too. Seems like he'd fit right in.

VinLieger · 05-11-2015 05:55PM

Tarzana2 wrote: »

It's a typical lazy argument. You see it all the time on AH: "OMG, your jus jellus begrudgers".

Tubs isn't the sharp, analytical guy he'd like to think he is.

He probably thinks hes being edgy by supporting paddy

zoobizoo · 05-11-2015 05:55PM

Tarzana2 wrote: »

Tubs isn't the sharp, analytical guy he'd like to think he is.

He;ll put on his serious face (scrunched up forehead) and ask the questions in a serious way.

Then Paddy will give his answer.

The Ryan will ask another question... but won't drill down to details.

In the end, he'll turn it light hearted...

Web Summit quits Dublin

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