More speakers to be announced for Web Summit

With a host of big-name speakers already announced, organisers of the Web Summit hinted a few last minute surprises are on the cards.

The annual technology conference will be held at the start of November and has already generated substantial hype online.

More than 1,600 people have applied to volunteer at the event, with thousands more expected to attend.

So far, speakers include former Apple CEO John Sculley, model Lily Cole, David Carr of the New York Times, actress Eva Longoria, actor Adrian Grenier, and Irish rugby player Jamie Heaslip.

The founders of Hailo and Dropbox will also give talks, as will the vice-president of engineering at Google and the MD of Silicon Valley Robotics.

Co-founder of the event Daire Hickey hinted that more big names were to come. “We’ve a few gems yet to be announced. I think people will be very pleased,” he said.

Last year, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors Elon Musk was announced at the last minute, much to the delight of ticket holders.

Mr Musk, who is also the co-founder of PayPal, took part in a discussion with Enda Kenny moderated by Storyful’s Mark Little.

There will be around 600 speakers overall — only a third of which are currently listed on the website. More are being added daily.

Mr Hickey said he was delighted with how the summit had grown in recent years, saying it’s “bigger and better than ever” and “reaching a wider audience”.

He said that, with 80% of the attendees coming from overseas, the Web Summit is probably the biggest international event Ireland will have this year. To show off everything Ireland has to offer, the event has partnered with Fáilte Ireland.

Overseas visitors will be taken on free tours of Dublin and can avail of one of the many additional events being organised, such as wakeboarding, a visit to the Guinness Storehouse, or kayaking up the Liffey.

Mr Hickey said: “Fáilte Ireland has been a partner of ours since 2010, almost from the beginning. They want to show the best of Ireland and so do we. It’s a testament to the amount of people we’re bringing into the country.”

- The Web Summit will take place in Dublin from November 4 to 6.