Spring conference season is almost wrapped up in Europe for the summer. From early February to late June, tech conferences, startup competitions, and networking festivals have taken place all over Europe. Some were good. Some were bad. Many of us have made notes for next year, or missed out on surprisingly valuable conferences, and are already planning for the next edition, but very soon time will come to start planning out the fall season, which will resume again mid September through December, almost always concluding with LeWeb Paris the first week of December.
For many, Mike Butcher’s List of Top European Conferences will serve as a guide to startups. Some will be looking for funding, some to make new partnerships. Some will be seeking new clients, some just looking to learn. All will be confronted with the inevitable choice of which tech conference to attend:
- GigaOm Structure Europe – London – September 18-19 – £595
- TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin – Berlin – October 26th-29th – €476
- Dublin Web Summit – Dublin – October 30th-31st – €495
- Pioneers Festival – Vienna – October 30th-31st – €300
All ticket prices as of date of publication of article
While price is one factor, and consequently cost of travel and lodging (Berlin is decidedly cheaper than London, in this respect), startups will also need to factor in quality, network, and ‘potential’. DWS is the longest running event in Europe, though TechCrunch Disrupt carries a certain brand. Pioneers Festival and DWS are on the same dates, so you’ll definitely not be attending both, and TechCrunch Disrupt prefers you to not have launched, so you won’t go to Structure Europe and TC Disrupt. It’s all a very complicated process, really.
Ultimately, startups will, at most, attend two of these events, perhaps just one, and deciding which one(s) will be “worth it” depends on what you’re looking for. TC Disrupt promises US Visibility and, of course, attention on TechCrunch. Dublin Web Summit has a record of bringing influential US & European entrepreneurs to Europe, and their speaker list (and attendee list) is already starting to look pretty impressive. Pioneers Festival made a big blast last year, and has a close connection to Eastern Europe. GigaOm Structure Europe fell too close to Dublin Web Summit last year; they’ve changed that, and they had an all-star line-up last year.
The choice is difficult, even for media companies. We’re figuring out flight plans for people as we speak, and I hope you are, too.