This year I was fortunate enough to have been flown to Dublin and attend Web Summit. What’s Web Summit? Well “it’s been called the best technology conference on the planet” (www.websummit.net).
There were well over 1,000 speakers grouped into 21 different topics over 3 days. I tried to attend as many as possible, but sadly I couldn’t see them all (damn you laws of physics!!). But I managed to see some fantastic ones, here are my 3 favourites:
1. Mike Schroepfer (@schrep) – CTO, Facebook
Watch here: 2:47:28 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cn2PE0b38g
Mike’s (pictured above) presence on stage was immense. He opened with, “are you ready to talk about the future!?” and it just went up from there. Mike spoke of Facebook’s 10 year vision and how they want to bring the world together. How? By providing internet to the other 3/4 of the planet and integrating virtual reality into online social i.e. Oculus Rift. Mike truly provided us mere mortals a glimpse of the future.
2. Jeff Lawson (@jeffiel) – CEO, Twilio
Watch here: 6:01:50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INvgyFnKR70
Every business book, blog and magazine in the world talks about learning from mistakes. But it was Jeff’s brief account of his career, and the mistakes that he has made, that had me hooked. Jeff started Twilio, and intends to stay at Twilio, because he believes adamantly in the product. Twilio improves lives, but most importantly it improves Jeff’s life. Jeff speaks of 2 previous companies he helped found, and although they were successful, he grew to hate them as he wasn’t passionate about the product.
3. David Eagleman (@davideagleman) – Neuroscientist
Watch here: 2:36:07 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INvgyFnKR70
2 words. Mind. Blown. When David finished, there was a standing ovation partnered with a thunderous applause. Over the space of 20 minutes, David showed us how him and his team have created the technology to allow the deaf to hear. An awe inspiring performance.
Joe Burridge 