Dublin is global internet HQ today as 50 speakers share insights on all things digital and 600 attendees lap it all up at Dublin Web Summit 4.0.
So what were the top takeaways? With apologies to those speakers we missed (bi and tri-location being beyond the AMAS skillset) they were…
1. The big names: YouTube’s Chad Hurley, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and other headline speakers made it all sound so easy. The mega idea, the brilliant execution and the millions (people, as well as dollars, flowed in).
Chad Hurley and others stressed the importance of community and constantly improving the service to the online communities they have built.
In YouTube’s case, the focus is on continuing to improve the user experience (but obviously attracting the advertising dollars is another priority).
2. Alicia Navarro: Alicia who? She’s a top UK tech entrepreneur behind Skimlinks.com who gave a terrific presentation on social commerce – how to make money out of Twitter, blogs and all things social. Her measured presentation set out the risks as well as the opportunities for making money online.
3. Alan Coleman: the Irish speakers were as good as (and in some case better than) some of the international ones. Alan Coleman of OnlineAdvertising.ie offered valuable nuggets on the mysterious world of SEO and SEM. One tip: a simple call to action, an enquiry on each web page, led to a trebling to enquiries.
4. Soraya Darabi: again a name that might not be known. She led the New York Times’s social media strategy and is now behind Foodspotting, a geo-location guide to help foodies find great food. There is no traditional media, or social media or other types of media, she said. There is just media.
5. Vanessa Fox: Vanessa is a self-confessed datahead – she eats, sleeps, blogs and mines data. Check out her book which says it all - “Marketing in the Age of Google” (subtitle: “Your Online Strategy IS Your Business Strategy”).
6. Dylan Collins: the Jolt founder described himself as the warm-up act for Chad Hurley. Some warm-up. His 10-minute whistlestop tour thorough tech startups was full of humour and practical advice. Like the VCs who said online games are a niche. Some niche.
“I love Enterprise Ireland,” he said to the applause of the audience (RTÉ Frontline, please note).
7. Vinny Coyne: one of the many developers at the Developer, Designer and Mobile summit. Vinny, who developed the Eirtext iPhone app, had App Store Tips as his theme. Among his tips was that multi-platform apps are good but limited – for really great apps a more bespoke approach is needed.
8. The audience: the start-ups, the geeks, the suits, the media, the VCs, Ireland’s internet community and many many more. Shame there weren’t any economists there (or were there?) as they would be confident about the future of the Irish economy.
9. Krishna De: No internet conference or event in Ireland is complete without some valuable social media insights from Krishna De, who always draws out new themes and new examples. At #dws4 she spoke about how Meteor is using Facebook to drive its eCommerce offer.
10. Paddy Cosgrave: Relax, event organisers. Your jobs are safe. The DWS founder seems to thrive on loose organisation. Poor wifi, confusing emails and lots of logistical hitches. But what the heck? This twentysomething brought together the world’s top internet leaders in Dublin. The big question on everyone’s lips is how did he do it?
Simple. He asked. He says the problem is that most people never think of asking, but once you do, the first lot of speakers mention it to the second lot of speakers, and then the networking effect kicks in…
Read about the previous Dublin Web Summit last June
