The scores of pink T-shirt-wearing volunteers are as international as the companies that come from all over the world. The deal? Volunteers work a six-hour unpaid shift and get to wander the summit for the rest of the day.
Sunaina Pamudurthy (India)
I’ve come from India to volunteer at the Web Summit. I work at a sports tourism start-up in Bangalore, so I’m intrigued by start-ups.
I have always wanted to come to something like this, and hopefully next time I’ll be in a start-up that pitches, rather than being a volunteer.
I volunteered to get access to the summit. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to afford it. I had to pay for flights and a hostel. It was worth it.
I thought it would be great to look at different companies, get inspired and go back home to start something of my own.
I want to integrate technology with sport, which is my passion. I have a business management and finance degree, but in 2014 you have to be involved in tech.
Alan D’Arcy (Dublin)
I’m a third-year commerce student in UCD. I had a few lectures today but when I was signing up for this I thought, in three years’ time, I’m going to remember the Web Summit. I won’t remember the lectures, even though they’re good and I get a lot from them!
I’m from Ranelagh, so it was a 10-minute cycle to here. Why would I say no to the opportunity? The tickets are not cheap.
So far it's been really worth it. I'm working in the media area, so I've been speaking to Americans, Europeans, start-ups being interviewed, and just generally guiding everyone around. Everyone's been quite friendly.
I’m here because I’m interested in technology. I’ve taken e-business, social media and e-marketing modules in college.
I’m also interested in new ventures. It’s good to see that maybe two years down the line if I want to do that, I’ll remember the start-ups here and what I liked about them. I’m not going around with a pen and paper writing down ideas, but the brain takes it in.
I’m back to lectures tomorrow.
Leeni Harmainen (Finland) I flew here yesterday from Helsinki. I wanted to take part in the summit, and the tickets were quite expensive, so I thought hey, why not kill two birds with one stone. I get to see behind the scenes a bit and also enjoy the summit.
I work at a web design agency, so I guess I’m becoming more techie everyday. I have a business background, but I’m learning how to code and all those interesting things to do with technology.
There's a lot of inspiration, new ideas, start-ups, people, everything here. So far it's been good. It's really busy, and there's this positive buzz. Matej Michlik (Czech Republic) I'm Slovak, but I live in Prague. I came here specifically for the Web Summit with five friends. I volunteer a lot. I do TEDx Prague every year.
It's my first time in Ireland and first time at the summit. What amazed me is that it started four years ago with 500 people, and this year it's 22,000.
I was a tech journalist for six or seven years, but that was a long time ago. I really like technology. I work as the head of social media in a PR agency, and I took a week off to be here.
After the summit, maybe I’ll see the Cliffs of Moher or go to Belfast for a day. I’m not sure yet.
Erin McGuire
