Web Summit quits Dublin

Kermit.de.frog

wow, major blow to Dublin as a "tech capital".


no doubt this is mostly due to the embarrassing broad band wifi service provided last year by the RDS which really riled the organisers.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0923/729704-web-summit/

Buona Fortuna

They may have just seen this thread

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057497217

newacc2015

It's nothing to do with the WiFi. They wanted a country that would throw money at the event. They were expecting authorities here to write them a cheque for hosting the summit in Dublin. It mentions in the article about financial incentives.

Personally I like to see that the government didn't contribute to it. Its extremely rare that contributions to these events bring any return

sabat

This is perfect timing imo; by the time the event moves to Portugal the current tech/app/hot money bubble will have burst spectacularly and a convention centre full of venal nerds who think they're cool talking about disrupting old industries and making the world a better place will be about as popular as a NAMBLA conference.

steddyeddy

It's a load of **** TBH. Not worth the investment.

MonkeyTennis

We should have another St Patricks day instead.

JohnFalstaff

steddyeddy wrote: »

It's a load of **** TBH. Not worth the investment.

Article linked mentions that the event brings in €100 million to the country? Probably through tourism and hotel bookings etc but that has to count for something.

gandalf

The company paid for tickets to it last year. Tbh for real business's it is a monumental waste of time.

The vast majority of start ups were hoaching apps that were poor imitations of ones that already existed.

For Forks Sake

gandalf wrote: »

The company paid for tickets to it last year. Tbh for real business's it is a monumental waste of time.

The vast majority of start ups were hoaching apps that were poor imitations of ones that already existed.

If you look at some of the garbage being shown at TechCrunch Disrupt this week, a lot oof them seem to be creating first world problems to justify their business model.

stunmer

Menas wrote: »

That 100 million figure is what the organisers claim. I would love to see a breakdown of it.

Actually what Failte Ireland claim according to the article

osarusan

Menas wrote: »

That 100 million figure is what the organisers claim. I would love to see a breakdown of it.

It was reported as a Failte Ireland estimate.

gandalf

For Forks Sake wrote: »

If you look at some of the garbage being shown at TechCrunch Disrupt this week, a lot oof them seem to be creating first world problems to justify their business model.

Absolutely I actually felt that some of them were set up just to get a jolly at the event.

Lisbon is welcome to Cosgrove and his minion's.

whiskeyman

hookers and coke dealers will be hit hard...

Firefox11

There talking about it on the radio now. But what about going on pub crawls with Bono will be no more!

Dyr

Delighted they're gone. It was a social media bull**t fest.

They might finally realize in portugal that their problem was'nt dublin venues or companies but the fact that their CEO blames everyone else for his own f**k ups

ricardo1

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

wow, major blow to Dublin as a "tech capital".


no doubt this is mostly due to the embarrassing broad band wifi service provided last year by the RDS which really riled the organisers.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0923/729704-web-summit/

I would say that's one of the reasons but the real reason is Dublin's poor public transport infrastructure.

The RDS doesn't have the infrastructure for the attendance they're looking for and a nearby luas/metro DART station to get people back to their hotels.
People last year were complaining about having to wait in the rain to get a taxi or having to get on a bus to get into town in rush hour.

Pat on the back DCC current and previous governments for a capital city of buses and taxis as its main form of public transport.

sabat

sabat wrote: »

This is perfect timing imo; by the time the event moves to Portugal the current tech/app/hot money bubble will have burst spectacularly and a convention centre full of venal nerds who think they're cool talking about disrupting old industries and making the world a better place will be about as popular as a NAMBLA conference.

I can see the jealousy seething from here.

Fr_Dougal

newacc2015 wrote: »

It's nothing to do with the WiFi. They wanted a country that would throw money at the event. They were expecting authorities here to write them a cheque for hosting the summit in Dublin. It mentions in the article about financial incentives.

Personally I like to see that the government didn't contribute to it. Its extremely rare that contributions to these events bring any return

The wifi debacle from last year was certainly a consideration, as too was the level of price-gouging by hoteliers.

€100m is what the Summit brought to Ireland. On top of that you had a lot of top execs from some of the top companies visiting, these execs are have the authority to green light the opening of offices in Ireland; something we need.

It's a huge loss to the country.

Menas

stunmer wrote: »

Actually what Failte Ireland claim according to the article

osarusan wrote: »

It was reported as a Failte Ireland estimate.

Oops! Post deleted.

Mr E

I was at the first one and the one last year. I enjoyed the first one much more.
The event as it is now has grown far too big to be enjoyable, and it was too spread out in the RDS.

viztopia

maybe there is an opening for some one else to do something similar now once they will be leaving?

kneemos

viztopia wrote: »

maybe there is an opening for some one else to do something similar now once they will be leaving?

No.No more of that now.

Ignatius in bloom

Anything that takes a 100 million out of the economy is bad, the government should give incentives to any organisation willing to bring that amount of money into the country its simple economics. As for waiting in the rain for taxis? surely it wouldn't take that much trouble to set up private buses that have routes to all major hotels in Dublin that accommodate these people? Works fine for Spanish resorts!

Dyr

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

The wifi debacle from last year was certainly a consideration, as too was the level of price-gouging by hoteliers.

€100m is what the Summit brought to Ireland. On top of that you had a lot of top execs from some of the top companies visiting, these execs are have the authority to green light the opening of offices in Ireland; something we need.

It's a huge loss to the country.

Do you actually know what the reasons were for the wi fi debacle? I do and it was mostly their own fault

But just out of interest how many international companies have opened offices here off the back of this schmoozefest?

techdiver

Ignatius in bloom wrote: »

Anything that takes a 100 million out of the economy is bad, the government should give incentives to any organisation willing to bring that amount of money into the country its simple economics. As for waiting in the rain for taxis? surely it wouldn't take that much trouble to set up private buses that have routes to all major hotels in Dublin that accommodate these people? Works fine for Spanish resorts!

It is a consequence of crap infrastructure though. When people arrive in a capital city they tend to assume that public transport is up to scratch.

For too long the under investment in public transport has continued in Ireland and only yesterday a major piece of needed infrastructure for Dublin (Dart Underground) was scrapped and is being replaced with something that will not solve the problem in the long run.

Ignatius in bloom

techdiver wrote: »

It is a consequence of crap infrastructure though. When people arrive in a capital city they tend to assume that public transport is up to scratch.

For too long the under investment in public transport has continued in Ireland and only yesterday a major piece of needed infrastructure for Dublin (Dart Underground) was scrapped and is being replaced with something that will not solve the problem in the long run.

Yes, i agree the infrastructure in Dublin is very poor.

But there is a temporary way around this in the form of Web buses as in if you have a pass for web summit then you get to use these busses for free and they go to destinations that these people would be going to and staying in. They should have fought harder to retain this web summit, Portugal did and now they will prosper from it and our International reputation for hosting large scale international events is damaged.

lawred2

money pure and simple

seamus

The web summit's all a bit of a racket anyway designed to extract cash from wealthy companies. €600 per person to listen to a few CEOs talking for 3 days. Or €4,000 if you want to hobnob with those speakers.

It's an elaborate networking event and little more. A bit like the Galway Races, most people only go there to be seen to be flashing the cash around, not because they're doing anything of worth. The organisers of the summit are pulling in serious cash.

Complaining that the Government wasn't giving them any money when the organisers are already generating more than €20m on ticket sales alone is joke.

Dyr

Ignatius in bloom wrote: »

Yes, i agree the infrastructure in Dublin is very poor.

But there is a temporary way around this in the form of Web buses as in if you have a pass for web summit then you get to use these busses for free and they go to destinations that these people would be going to and staying in.

That would have cost money though and the web summit dont like spending money

You've brutal transport infrastructure in dublin becuase projects take more than a governments term to complete and no TeeDee is going to spend money that won't get them re-elected. Plus the culchie ministers know they'll be slated for spending money on dublin


No coincidence that the LUAS was built while one party was in power for successive terms and a lot of ministers were from dublin constituencies

Ignatius in bloom

seamus wrote: »

The web summit's all a bit of a racket anyway designed to extract cash from wealthy companies. €600 per person to listen to a few CEOs talking for 3 days. Or €4,000 if you want to hobnob with those speakers.

It's an elaborate networking event and little more. A bit like the Galway Races, most people only go there to be seen to be flashing the cash around, not because they're doing anything of worth. The organisers of the summit are pulling in serious cash.

Complaining that the Government wasn't giving them any money when the organisers are already generating more than €20m on ticket sales alone is joke.

It's a loss of 100 million or more considering it's getting bigger by the year so by leaving Ireland the joke is on us. If you had a restaurant and someone said they will guarantee you a full seating of twenty five tables and you give them 2 euro per table wouldn't you do it?

Ignatius in bloom

Bambi wrote: »

That would have cost money though and the web summit dont like spending money

You've brutal transport infrastructure in dublin becuase projects take more than a governments term to complete and no TeeDee is going to spend money that won't get them re-elected. Plus the culchie ministers know they'll be slated for spending money on dublin


No coincidence that the LUAS was built while one party was in power for successive terms and a lot of ministers were from dublin constituencies

Small money compared to the return.

asherbassad

Portugal's tax system is being restructured as well. Corporation tax will be dropping so it would appear that they are probably trying to attract scumbags like Google and Apple by playing fast and loose with the rules just like Ireland does.

nxbyveromdwjpg

Just get Garth Brooks back to fill the gap sure

Ben D Bus

Bambi wrote: »

Delighted they're gone. It was a social media bull**t fest.

They might finally realize in portugal that their problem was'nt dublin venues or companies but the fact that their CEO blames everyone else for his own f**k ups

On second thoughts, maybe it's not poor infrastructure that's the problem.

Maybe it's our traditional attitude to success. Someone creates an event that within a few years brings 10's of thousand of people to Ireland, earns €100 million for the economy and so people want have a go at them

buck65

Surely this moving on to another country is logical and expected? 3 years in Dublin was a good stint, lets move on - €100m into a city over a few days is small enough - Dublin has plenty of events it's up to the city to attract more if they want them but they won't stay forever.

gramar

Why do they need to gather for a web summit? It's funny that people who peddle a web based product have to get together to chat about it. I imagine everyone just walking around zombie like with their heads buried in cinema sized mobile phone screen.

wicklowwonder

There is a massive media love in with this event. Only 22,000 people attended. Bloom attracted 100,000+. 250,000 go to the ploughing. Croker has over 60k+ regularly in the summer and the Aviva brings in 30K+ regularly. There are a lot more events bringing in more people to the country/city. Let him go to Lisbon. I went to this one year, wasn't great. I know he advertised 90% of attendees are from overseas but there seemed to be an awful lot of Irish there when I went last year or the year before, Be interesting see how his attendances compare in Portugal and how his ticket prices compare also.

arayess

traitors, they are.

nonetheless like other posters I was sick of the social media wankfest .
Most of it was ****e when I went , basically a shake down and paying for the privilege of non resident rich people telling us how we can be like them.


The 100million it brought is definitely over blown.

I'm glad we aren't throwing money at these lads

Turtyturd

Hard luck OP, maybe your next anti-Dublin thread will work out better.

Tiddlypeeps

seamus wrote: »

The web summit's all a bit of a racket anyway designed to extract cash from wealthy companies. €600 per person to listen to a few CEOs talking for 3 days. Or €4,000 if you want to hobnob with those speakers.

It's an elaborate networking event and little more. A bit like the Galway Races, most people only go there to be seen to be flashing the cash around, not because they're doing anything of worth. The organisers of the summit are pulling in serious cash.

Complaining that the Government wasn't giving them any money when the organisers are already generating more than €20m on ticket sales alone is joke.

I'd say that 20m in ticket sales pales in comparison to the company buying up exhibition space.

I went a few years ago, it was a bit sad. A bunch of desperate start ups chasing around a bunch of indifferent VC's. The VC's are only there so they can fight each other over the 1 or 2 start ups that actually look like they are going somewhere. The rest is just advertising from the already successful companies trying to sell their wares to the desperate start ups with the promise it will help them become successful. Unfortunately tho if you are in that space you have to be seen to be taking part in that type of thing.

HBO's Sillicon Valley does a great job of parodying the type of knob ends that surround this type of thing.

Sad to lose it all the same, it was a decent money spinner for the economy. I worry this a sign of early cracks forming in the tech sector here. It's becoming very expensive to operate here and for most companies it's only really worth it because they can make it up in the savings from the corporation tax.

Streetwalker

Big blow for Dublin and another indication of the weakness of the "recovery".

callaway92

wicklowwonder wrote: »

There is a massive media love in with this event. Only 22,000 people attended. Bloom attracted 100,000+. 250,000 go to the ploughing. Croker has over 60k+ regularly in the summer and the Aviva brings in 30K+ regularly. There are a lot more events bringing in more people to the country/city. Let him go to Lisbon. I went to this one year, wasn't great. I know he advertised 90% of attendees are from overseas but there seemed to be an awful lot of Irish there when I went last year or the year before, Be interesting see how his attendances compare in Portugal and how his ticket prices compare also.

It's not really the fact that it was only 22,000 people that attended. It's more down to how powerful the people in attendance at it were.

stmol32

Bambi wrote: »

Do you actually know what the reasons were for the wi fi debacle? I do and it was mostly their own fault

Can you enlighten us please?

Dyr

Ben D Bus wrote: »

On second thoughts, maybe it's not poor infrastructure that's the problem.

Maybe it's our traditional attitude to success. Someone creates an event that within a few years brings 10's of thousand of people to Ireland, earns €100 million for the economy and so people want have a go at them

Spoken like a someone who never dealt with the guy

Ben D Bus

OK, I throw in the towel.

This is all great news. The organisers are all pricks and the attendees are all ****. It didn't actually earn any money or kudos for Dublin. It's great that it's leaving and it's all the organisers fault because Dublin provided everything a visiting tech exec could possibly want.

Jeez, if I was a potential investor in Ireland and I read this thread, I'd go elsewhere based purely on the sneering at success that's going on here

Ben D Bus

Bambi wrote: »

Spoken like a someone who never dealt with the guy

tbh, who cares if he's a **** or not. So was Steve Jobs and so are countless other CEOs

wicklowwonder

callaway92 wrote: »

It's not really the fact that it was only 22,000 people that attended. It's more down to how powerful the people in attendance at it were.

Is there any evidence that a company choose to come to Ireland because of the Web Summit or vice versa, decided not to set up in Ireland because of the Web Summit?

You can be sure the real decision makers, likes of the speakers, got rushed in and out for a few hours via the Port Tunnel and the toll bridge and didn't even see the city.

Dyr

Ben D Bus wrote: »

tbh, who cares if he's a **** or not. So was Steve Jobs and so are countless other CEOs

Hows that list of companies who've set up in dublin coming along there chief?

murpho999

Streetwalker wrote: »

Big blow for Dublin and another indication of the weakness of the "recovery".

How do you work that out?

grundie

I was made to go to it last year and I didn't enjoy it. It was just hard sell the whole time, and people trying to thrust their business cards on me. The keynote speeches contained nothing new or amazing.

They'll be back in Dublin soon enough. A few of the foreign attendees told me that they wouldn't have come just for the summit, but that having a chance to visit Dublin swayed them. Nice as Lisbon is, I don't think it has the same draw as Dublin.

road_high

Woeful infrastructure (No underground) likely compounded by eye watering hotel prices. Not one bit surprised.