Having attended two Web Summit conventions in Dublin, Ireland (their hometown) – the opportunity to travel to the 2016 event at its new home in Lisbon, Portugal had to be taken.
Women In Tech Tickets
Ten thousand free tickets were assigned to female founders with their own businesses in the organisers’ attempt to boost the women in technology ratio and encourage more women to consider information technology as a career option.
Talking with the female entrepreneurs, software and web developers at Lisbon’s MEO arena, confirmed their depth of expertise and active balance of work, travel and family commitments.
The best chat was with a Portuguese female entrepreneur, who said local social change is limited by everyone knowing each other. We both agreed that diversifying the workforce with start-ups is essential for open thinkers and networkers to be proactive change agents.
New at #websummit half of the Hall 3 welcomes the talented #WomenInTech from all over the world #STEM #sciences #Tech #Engineering #IntFem pic.twitter.com/HdQuDaW2we
— Cécile DELETTRE (@CecileDELETTRE) November 8, 2016
What’s Really Happening In Tech?
Tech unleashes rolling waves of disruption into our daily lives, from the web browsers (early 1990s), the iPhone launch (2007), and mobile computing, to wearable technologies – and now the Internet of Things (IoT), will shortly impact our homes and healthcare.
Noting trends, honing skillsets and proactive networking is crucial as a female solopreneur, and the Web Summit in Lisbon offered all this, in a very visitor-friendly city. Similarly, the conference opens the possibility of finding yourself chatting with a celeb or high-profile founder in a queue, on the metro, in the street or browsing the technology exhibitions.
Day 1 Transportation Issues. 😕 #Lisbon #Metro #WebSummit pic.twitter.com/astfvSFg9z
— Ben Okonji (@BenOkonji) November 8, 2016
Most attendees will also remember where they were on 11/09/16 (US date format) and the post-election discussions (formal/informal) at the summit, as panelists, speakers and attendees analysed the potential impact of the presidential election result on their tech activities.
What About The Smallest Room?
#Dublin's #WebSummit NEVER had any queues in the ladies' restrooms. This year in #Lisbon, will #WebSummit2016 differ? #ChangeTheRatio
— Caroline Carswell (@soundadvice_pro) November 3, 2016
Short answer: the queues for the mens’ and ladies’ restrooms were merged into one line …
