I write this from a hotel room in Dublin, it's blue skies and sunshine outside and a world of opportunity is waiting to be unleashed. I'm here for the Web Summit - Europe's equivalent of South by Southwest (Tech and web conference held in Austin, Texas)
The Web Summit in Dublin summons a global audience of startups, entrepreneurs, investors, speakers and journalists. Hosting 10,000 of the brightest minds in tech, the summit has been defined as"where the tech world meets". Having more than tripled in size since last year, it promises to be bigger, wilder, more inspiring and badass than ever before. (Yes, I did say 'badass' am feeling slightly more American than usual!)
I'm here as part of the Live Team to blog and tweet about the event as the action unfolds over the next two days, currently feel as though this is the calm before the storm. I just rattled off an email to my Mum explaining what was going on, to which she replied "grab the opportunity with both hands..." Too right Mum :) I'm super excited about being here over the next few days, here's why:
1. Leaders' Lunch
The Leaders' Lunch on Thursday will host 250 international and Irish women from the world of tech, coming together to network and be inspired. Around the table will be some of the world's most inspiring and powerful female entrepreneurs. There will be a few key speakers followed by conversation on challenges to women in tech and how to harness tech and female talent to maximise impact on the business world. I'm beyond excited. I specifically requested to cover this event and can't wait to share it all with you.
2. Night Summit
There's parts of this conference that I feel will blow my mind, the night summit could do just that. As if the line up of events, speakers and opportunities to learn and connect isn't enough to feast our minds with, @paddycosgrave and his team have worked around the clock to arrange two nights of parties to keep us entertained. Kicking off with a pub crawl tonight, we've got live music, secret Speakeasies, Halloween parties, rooftop champagne receptions (oh hello) and Irish Ceilis to look forward to. The best part is this all counts as work, did I mention I love my job?!
3. People
I love meeting people and talking about shared interests, passions, motivations, goals. Being around people who are driven to find out what makes them come alive and how they can use that to add value to the world. When we lift those limiting beliefs from our minds and show the world anything is possible, we come alive. When we are inspired, we inspire others. When we are passionate, energised and focused on our goals, others feed from this and do amazing things themselves.
Web Summit is a showcase of the very best of yourself, your brand, company or vision. It's a chance for people to come together and be proud of who they are, what they've built, designed, created, envisioned. It's a chance for us to share, learn and make connections that hold incredible potential.
Follow my updates on twitter with #websummit
Now, I think I'm supposed to be on a pub crawl somewhere...
