We also asked the Web Summit about the WiFi situation.
As Day 2 of the Web Summit drew to a close, JOE caught up with the Head of Strategic Comms, Mike Harvey, to discuss some of the most talked about issues this year at the RDS.
This makes for quite interesting reading.
On the (much debated) state of the WiFi:
“It’s definitely better than last year and has held up this year,” said Harvey.
“It’s an immense technical challenge to have WiFi at this scale across this size of venue, with this number of people bunching.”
Also the Internet at the #websummit again this year is a disgrace. It’s actually embarrassing, both WiFi and 3G on the fritz all day!!
— Patrick Trautt (@paddyt_) November 4, 2015
No wifi at @websummit > no app’> no connexion@> no contact > no business = no interest 🙁 pic.twitter.com/tE9YpFefYr — Arnaud Chaigneau (@achaigneau) November 4, 2015
“There have been very small temporary blips on occasion. People using hotspots, whether it be on their phone or laptop, has got in the way of the WiFi.
“On the first day we counted the number of tweets that complained about the WiFi and over a five hour period it was only 22. In that same period, there were 43,000 (positive) tweets and retweets about the Web Summit.”
First day of #websummit. Overwhelming experience, tons of great talks and loads of inspiration. Looking forward to the rest! Wifi works.
— spotBe! (@spotbe) November 3, 2015
On the €20 lunch controversy: “There was sadly a little miscommunication about what people got for their €20. “What you get for your €20 now is a meal, drink, coffee, snack and a dessert. People focused in on the fact that it was a meal and a drink.”
Stunning #websummit PR misstep. Charging €20 for lunch per day guaranteed to play badly. https://t.co/K5IHqGYLje — Andy McGeady (@andymcgeady) November 2, 2015
20 EUR for this! I’m livid. #websummit #foodgate pic.twitter.com/QGtHaoZBXK
— Caitriona (@CaitrionaDwyer) November 3, 2015
“If it was just a meal and a drink then we could see the problem, but you actually get much more for your money. “The food is of amazing quality and it’s worth pointing out that for every meal sell at the Web Summit, we make a loss – about €10 a meal.”
Lunch was great , no queue and tasty , worth the money to me #websummit — James Murray (@jamesjrmurray) November 4, 2015
“We’re charging this year for lunch because of the scale; last year we spent €1.2 million feeding attendees. Because the number of attendees was going to increase by 50%, it just wasn’t economically viable to continue that way.”
On this RTÉ interview:
“Journalists should always ask tough questions and companies should be prepared to answer them. I think Daire acquited himself very well,” he said.
“As to whether the line of questioning and the aggression of the questioning, that many people commented on, was appropriate, I think you need to ask RTÉ that.”
“The feedback on Twitter was there for all to see.”
Guy from web summit on the Six-One news looks like he’s about throw down over this interrogation of an interview ?
— Sean Cronin (@SeanCronin2) November 3, 2015
#Sharonnibheolain had an absolutely appalling report with Darragh Hickey on RTE news. Clearly against #WebSummit2015! Best of luck in Lisbon — Shane Macca (@Macca88) November 3, 2015
On the most popular, according to their own app stats, speakers so far:
“Mike Krieger of Instagram was one of the big favourites. Bill Ford, founder of Ford, was also very popular.”
Finally, on the main reason why the Web Summit is moving to Lisbon next year (Web Summit HQ will remain in Dublin all year round and continue to be an Irish company):
“The true motivation (for moving) is that Dublin cannot cope with the Web Summit at the scale in which we want to grow. It’s about infrastructure, transport, traffic, venue and, to a certain extent, it’s about the WiFi.”
