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If you weren’t one of the 13k attendees at Slush last week — or one of 71k at Web Summit the week before that — chances are you’ve come down with a bit of conference fatigue.
Judging by conversations I’ve been having, some founders and investors — who might usually be hyped to attend the hot events of the season — were dreading showing up to the major conferences this year. Some that went returned home feeling frazzled and over-stimulated, vowing to not go to another event until at least after the New Year. Others decided to skip the big ones altogether; it’s too far to travel, they said, and they don’t have the time, energy or will to spend three full days schmoozing.
Is it a sign that European tech is tiring of conferences?
“Big events are phenomenal — but only if you’re meticulously prepared and bring the required energy. I didn’t have the time to do it, and as an introvert, massive crowds aren’t where I shine,” wrote Agnieszka Walorksa, founder and CEO of fintech Mika, in a LinkedIn post explaining why she chose not to attend Slush and Web Summit this year.
Other founders say the sheer number of conferences and events in Europe makes it hard to decipher which ones will be most useful and worth the time and money spent (especially since some charge startups over €500 for a ticket). Founders and VCs told me that many conferences have gotten so big it can be hard to meet new and interesting contacts amid a sea of tens of thousands of people — which, in the end, is why most attend conferences in the first place.
Stefano Bernardi, general partner at Unruly Capital, decided to skip Slush this year too: he’s travelled a lot already in 2024, he told me over the phone, and felt that going to yet another conference wouldn’t be the most productive use of his time. “This year, it felt unlikely that we’d find great new deals and unlikely that we’d have decent conversations with LPs because they’re all bombarded… and the best outcome is they say ‘Oh yeah let’s catch up once we’re back from Slush’. Given we’re not fundraising this year, it felt skippable,” he said.
“I think when conferences become a bit too big, they lose their value,” he added. “Smaller, curated settings work better for conferences.” And new events are popping up to scratch that itch; take the newly-launched defence-themed Resilience Conference in London last month, and the ongoing appeal of the invite-only Founders Forum as well as its various spinoffs.
Another issue many flagged is the content. I regularly hear there are just too many panels (and manels…) at conferences — and honestly, a lot of attendees aren’t bothered about them (though Slush-goers tell me the startup pitch sessions this year were completely packed out).
“These conferences are useless apart from the networking element,” a founder told our Europe editor Mimi Billing at Slush. “It would be enough if they just got beer and coffee and a large hall and skipped all the panels and talks. I have lots of friends that only come to Helsinki to meet up with people but don’t even get a ticket to the conference itself.”
So, if a lot of people in European tech aren’t the biggest conference fans, why do we do it to ourselves? And might there be a better way of bringing everyone together?
Some event creators are trying different formats to help people connect — without the noise and overwhelm of big stages and loud networking halls. David Rowan, founder of climate tech and healthtech community Voyagers, organised a climate tech ‘festival’ called ‘The Heat’ for the first time this year — which he is quick to remind me is not a conference. The idea was to depart from the usual conference setup where everything is centred around panels — instead creating spaces for serendipitous communication and “joy”.
In a field at the Harwell science campus in Oxfordshire, the 600 attendees of The Heat encountered typical festival paraphernalia such as big white tents and milk churns that had been repurposed as urinals. Two poets wrote a poem throughout the day, which they performed at the end, alternative meat and non-dairy cheese brands showcased their products and a band called ‘The Net Zeros’, which was put together by festival attendees, performed to the crowd. (Pale Blue Dot GP Heidi Lindvall is, apparently, “phenomenal” on vocals.)
“The bottom line is the world isn’t clamouring for more conferences,” says Rowan. “What people want is the opportunity to connect in an authentic way and learn from other people.”
So, for those struggling with conference fatigue, the answer might lie in sticking to the side events or choosing smaller, more intimate gatherings next year. And for conference creators and attendees, now might be an opportunity to reflect: do big conferences still offer the value they once did? How else could they be organised? And how might we create this ‘genuine connection’ that we all crave? Let me know your thoughts.
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