But with that small blip behind us, it was full-steam ahead from that point on.<\/p>\n
Web Summit certainly lived up to its reputation as being one of the most packed, vibrant, idea-fueled events in the global tech calendar. Therefore, to try and summarize the whole show in one short blog post would be an insurmountable task.\u00a0Here are two key takeaways I’d like to focus on:<\/p>\n
Selfie-sticks<\/strong> — If 2014 was the year of the selfie, then 2015 has been the year of the selfie-stick.<\/p>\n More than eight-hundred people came to the WP Engine\u00a0stand to participate in a\u00a0selfie-stick competition. This task required the participant to take a selfie and post it to Twitter for their chance to win a BB-8 Star Wars droid<\/a>.<\/p>\n The attendees of the show loved it and the WP Engine branded selfie-sticks quickly became the most coveted ‘swag’ at the show. As many as forty selfies have been posted on social media thus far. It’s been a fun and effective way to raise brand awareness.<\/p>\n Unicorns<\/strong> — At Web Summit, unicorns (a company valued at $1 billion or more, not the mythical creature) are pretty popular. There was a vast array of panel discussion, seminars and presentations across the three-day show, but what people seemed most interested in was the qualities of becoming a billion dollar unicorn.<\/p>\n Our CEO Heather Brunner participated in three panel discussions on a range of different topics<\/a>, including building diversity into your organization<\/em> and smart scaling<\/em>. But it was the third panel debate which caught the strongest attention.<\/p>\n Entitled\u00a0Monopolies and Unicorns: European Tech and Democracy<\/em>,\u00a0the debate was a thorough and intellectual discussion around large tech companies and the impact of globalization vs protectionism in European markets.<\/p>\n![\"Selfie-Sticks](\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/upload-1024x768.png\" "\\"Selfie-Sticks")
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