Web Summit quits Dublin

Gareth Keenan · 05-11-2015 09:20PM

just back in from my first time at WS. Overall I enjoyed it, a couple of observations

- I like the 20 minute slots, most speakers really don't have that much to say that can't be covered in 20 minutes, ideal attention span for the techie audience as well, most of whom had screens on during the talks.
- Some great content, some so-so, mix of genuine enthusiasts for their field, and poorly disguised product shills.
- i did 18000 steps on the first day (8.8 miles), got blisters and wore trainers for the next 2 days, similar distances covered between Simmonscourt, the main hall, and Herbert Park.
- you are all millenials
- food - bought the €50 tickets for myself and a colleague on Monday. Was told at the time it was for a meal. Had in my my mind that it would be a sit down/buffet yoke as per every other tech conference I've been as. Completely underwhelmed on Tuesday. Weds things picked up a bit as some vendors were doling out double portions for a ticket, and taking cash (against the regulations). Today I got talking to one vendor who told me that they were getting 7 euro a meal (not 8), and were charged €2,000 for the pitch as well. From a customer POV the €20 (or €16.67 really) was good value today, main portion, side, water, crisps and dessert with a coffee and muffin (the muffin was refused, all this walking won't shift that).
- wifi was largely OK. Lost signal a couple of times but it came back when I tried again. LTE was available everywhere. WS were tweeting people asking to turn of their hotspots as this may have been causing connectivity problems.
- what was with all the Norn iron bouncers?
- hotels - my colleague booked a hotel through the WS site a few months ago - £99 per night for the Royal Marine in Dun Laoghaire, which to my mind is an excellent deal. Not sure why all the moaning about hotel prices (from WS initially, and also following the emergence of today's from the IHF).
- free buses - got one from the WS into town on Tuesday, thanks for that
- traffic mgt - Merrion Road was awful most afternoons, particularly today. But during the days the traffic seemed to move easily enough around the RDS including Simmonscourt and Anglesea Roads.
- Night summit - went through Fade St on Monday, was rammed, but nothing worse than a summer's night. Declined Coppers on Tuesday, had a prior yesterday and feet up tonight
- Surf - nope
- VIP escorts - nice German reg Audis with WS logos abounded, much better than sitting on the back of a Garda bike

I'd go to it again if it was in Dublin but won't travel to Lisbon - I don't think the content is special enough to warrant the trip, especially if the content appears on youtube (2015's is supposed to).

Anyway, as you were.

For Forks Sake · 05-11-2015 09:20PM

kidneyfan wrote: »

It isn't an employment based model. It is called volentrepreneurship. Unfortunately the begrudgers resent Paddy keeping all the money for himself and not paying staff.

This country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38HKZLpifhU

seamus · 05-11-2015 09:23PM

Well he's made at least one good PR move by turning down the invitation to appear on the LLS. Clearly somebody isn't afraid to give Paddy some home truths and advised him that an appearance on the LLS would be a disaster for him.

Seth Brundle · 05-11-2015 09:26PM

Well, Irish begrudgery wins again.
We had someone who was doing something that would benefit the people of Ireland and we do our best to ridicule him to the point that he declines the opportunity to have it discussed and fleshed out on national TV as if he had some ulterior motive.

Paddy is a hero for highlighting the issue of Catholic schools!

oppenheimer1 · 05-11-2015 09:27PM

seamus wrote: »

Well he's made at least one good PR move by turning down the invitation to appear on the LLS. Clearly somebody isn't afraid to give Paddy some home truths and advised him that an appearance on the LLS would be a disaster for him.

Which is a shame

Ush1 · 05-11-2015 09:30PM

kbannon wrote: »

Well, Irish begrudgery wins again.
We had someone who was doing something that would benefit the people of Ireland and we do our best to ridicule him to the point that he declines the opportunity to have it discussed and fleshed out on national TV as if he had some ulterior motive.

Paddy is a hero for highlighting the issue of Catholic schools!

Whut?

gandalf · 05-11-2015 09:32PM

seamus wrote: »

Well he's made at least one good PR move by turning down the invitation to appear on the LLS. Clearly somebody isn't afraid to give Paddy some home truths and advised him that an appearance on the LLS would be a disaster for him.

I'd say it was more likely that the LLS refused to allow scripted questions.

Seth Brundle · 05-11-2015 09:32PM

Ush1 wrote: »

Whut?

Forgot my sarcasm smiley

gandalf · 05-11-2015 09:32PM

Ush1 wrote: »

Whut?

I detect sarcasm from his post

redman85 · 05-11-2015 09:33PM

Gareth Keenan wrote: »

just back in from my first time at WS. Overall I enjoyed it, a couple of observations

- I like the 20 minute slots, most speakers really don't have that much to say that can't be covered in 20 minutes, ideal attention span for the techie audience as well, most of whom had screens on during the talks.

One thing that annoyed me was the lack of a break between talks, the speakers were literally passing the mic to the next speaker. Meanwhile, half the room is on the move to the next talk or the toilet, must be very distracting for the speakers.

gandalf · 05-11-2015 09:37PM

Heres the picture of the result of Paddy Cosgraves PR blitz this week!

http://benza.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Burning-Bridge.jpg

PARlance · 05-11-2015 09:38PM

humberklog wrote: »

I'm not in the tech sector at all but I've a shop in the south city and get to meet a lot of the attendees either in my shop or in the pubs in the evening.
I've never heard anything more than a lukewarm review of the WS by paid up international visitors.
But all have really loved the social and fun aspect that they get at night in the city. That's a unique environment that these people wouldn't often find themselves in.
From my experience over the last few years my straw poll of about 50 people a year would say that the WS is hit and miss but being in a pub in Dublin in November with like minded people from all over the world was priceless.

Paddy's kinda like Professor Moriarty with a twist of Steve Jobs.

Most of the "success" of the Summit was due to the piss ups. Getting hammered can help you forget that you (your boss) paid a grand to see a desperate housewife speak at a tech conference.

They don't have the same drinking culture in Lisbon, it'll be harder to avoid remembering the event.

delahuntv · 05-11-2015 09:41PM

kbannon wrote: »

Well, Irish begrudgery wins again.
We had someone who was doing something that would benefit the people of Ireland and we do our best to ridicule him to the point that he declines the opportunity to have it discussed and fleshed out on national TV as if he had some ulterior motive.

Paddy is a hero for highlighting the issue of Catholic schools!

I'd be a champion of calling out begrudery but not om this one.

For once its nothing to do with begrudery but someone with an utterly massive ego who got lucky with an event but then thinks he's god.

No, this is one hell of an ego trip and in the fashion of Sinn Fein he simply targets different issues to deflect from massive shortcomings of the event management.

Remember tickets cost €1245, a basic lunch in a wrapping cost €20 and his whining on hotels don't add up as just last week you could get Jury's inn for €159 for last night.

gandalf · 05-11-2015 09:46PM

PARlance wrote: »

Most of the "success" of the Summit was due to the piss ups. Getting hammered can help you forget that you (your boss) paid a grand to see a desperate housewife speak at a tech conference.

LOL my boss dragged us to that last year as well. It's crazy watching a 40 something year old behaving like a drooling teenager :P

(BTW he is younger than me)

mzungu · 05-11-2015 09:50PM

PolaroidPizza wrote: »

disgusting attack my Ms Ni Bheolain of RTE on the summit organiser. Obviously told by the powers to be to make him sound like a baby throwing his toys out of the cot.
No attempt to let him tell his story at all.

Good luck in Lisbon, there's no fear of the national media attacking you there for wanting to get the best deal for your customers.

Ah now, he did that all by himself.

Rabo Karabekian · 05-11-2015 09:54PM

delahuntv wrote: »

I'd be a champion of calling out begrudery but not om this one.

Agree, 100%. A lot of people throw around the word 'begrudgery' whenever there's any criticism of anybody successful. It's just a different way at shutting down debate without getting into any of all that difficult discussion process. The other argument (if you're getting sucked into the comments section on the journal) is that if you're not 100% behind Cosgrave, you are clearly a shill for the government.

The guy is clearly not used to dealing with this level of public scrutiny, his arguments about hotel prices show a worrying lack of knowledge about capitalism 101 (worrying because he's an apparently successful businessman) and issues about transport are not going to get solved before his next summit (unless he was to, oh, I don't know, hire some private buses to get people there and back). If the opening night was anything to go by, you're going to get a whole lot of muddled presentations by speakers who don't know how to speak in public, very little about the tech aspect of things, and when they do talk about tech, it's overladen with buzz words (if I never hear the phrase 'angel investor' again, it won't come soon enough).

mzungu · 05-11-2015 09:58PM

gandalf wrote: »

Heres the picture of the result of Paddy Cosgraves PR blitz this week!

http://benza.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Burning-Bridge.jpg

For a week that should have been....

ends up being like this.....

delahuntv · 05-11-2015 09:59PM

PolaroidPizza wrote: »

disgusting attack my Ms Ni Bheolain of RTE on the summit organiser. Obviously told by the powers to be to make him sound like a baby throwing his toys out of the cot.
No attempt to let him tell his story at all.

Good luck in Lisbon, there's no fear of the national media attacking you there for wanting to get the best deal for your customers.

Maybe check how many people / companies worked with WS in 2013 and not 2014 and then how many of those worked with WS this year.

His dissed the hotels, he dissed taxi's, he dissed restaurants (that's laughable with his €20 burger) he dissed the media, he dissed gov agencies, and now has decided not to do lls.

Btw - check hotel prices in lisbon for 9th nov 2016!!!!! Ouch!!!

Oh, yeah. Forgot, if you left booking WS tickets to the last month, he charged €1245!!!!!!

Not THAT'S price gouging.

VinLieger · 05-11-2015 10:15PM

PARlance wrote: »

Most of the "success" of the Summit was due to the piss ups. Getting hammered can help you forget that you (your boss) paid a grand to see a desperate housewife speak at a tech conference.

They don't have the same drinking culture in Lisbon, it'll be harder to avoid remembering the event.

By all accounts the real business is done over a couple of pints well away from the night summits, lisbon is gonna have a very different culture that will find it hard to replicate that

Crimsonforce · 05-11-2015 10:23PM

This cosgrove guy got too big for his boots.

He didn't invent facebook or something like Dropbox, he did an exhibition, an EXHIBITION.

Larbre34 · 05-11-2015 10:29PM

kbannon wrote: »

Well, Irish begrudgery wins again.

Thats absolutely not what happened.

Irish people support endeavour and the fruits of hard work, if we didn't, we wouldnt have a country positioned where it is in the world market.

Unlike other races, we just dont tolerate d1ckheads. Ever.

Foxtrol · 05-11-2015 10:32PM

Crimsonforce wrote: »

This cosgrove guy got too big for his boots.

He didn't invent facebook or something like Dropbox, he did an exhibition, an EXHIBITION.

Ah but it’s the exhibition that made Ireland a tech hub :pac:

murpho999 · 05-11-2015 10:33PM

VinLieger wrote: »

By all accounts the real business is done over a couple of pints well away from the night summits, lisbon is gonna have a very different culture that will find it hard to replicate that

Don't get this. Lisbon is not a dry city and those who want to drink will go out and drink.

What real business gets done anyway?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 05-11-2015 10:40PM

murpho999 wrote: »

Don't get this. Lisbon is not a dry city and those who want to drink will go out and drink.

What real business gets done anyway?

By many accounts, very little business is done. All hype and no substance.

ThisRegard · 05-11-2015 10:42PM

kbannon wrote: »

Well, Irish begrudgery wins again.
We had someone who was doing something that would benefit the people of Ireland and we do our best to ridicule him to the point that he declines the opportunity to have it discussed and fleshed out on national TV as if he had some ulterior motive.

Paddy is a hero for highlighting the issue of Catholic schools!

You obviously don't know what begrudgery is.

kidneyfan · 05-11-2015 10:47PM

ThisRegard wrote: »

You obviously don't know what begrudgery is.

Well poor Paddy Cosgrave learned this week!
Ireland the old sow that eats her own farrow.

VinLieger · 05-11-2015 10:48PM

kidneyfan wrote: »

Well poor Paddy Cosgrave learned this week!
Ireland the old sow that eats her own farrow.

He brought everything on himself with the web of lies he spun and then collapsed around him, if he had stayed quiet and done nothing with the emails none of this would have happened, but he couldnt keep his ego in check

Larbre34 · 05-11-2015 10:49PM

kidneyfan wrote: »

Well poor Paddy Cosgrave learned this week!
Ireland the old sow that eats her own farrow.

You dont understand whats gone on this week, do you?

ThisRegard · 05-11-2015 10:50PM

kidneyfan wrote: »

Well poor Paddy Cosgrave learned this week!
Ireland the old sow that eats her own farrow.

After all this time you still actually believe poor Paddy has been wronged? He's the clown who brought this upon himself remember. And when it's backfired, the once media whore is pulling out of appearances and interviews left, right and centre.

efb · 05-11-2015 10:51PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umag84Fqk4I

I think the Saturdays say it best

Web Summit quits Dublin

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