The 38 pages of speakers on the Summit website can be overwhelming. If you don’t want to go through the herculean task of having to analyze every name on the list to understand how to create a schedule for the four days of the event, here’s some help.

Among several names repeated in previous editions –Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web is an example–, there are speakers for all tastes, whether in the world of technology, entertainment, business or sports.

Which speakers do we not want to miss at the ninth edition of the Lisbon Web Summit?

Pharrell Williams
The singer and producer who comes to debate “culture versus business”

He is one of the biggest names at this year’s edition of Web Summit. Exactly ten years after canceling a concert at the Meo Arena, which marked his solo debut in Portugal (he was here in 2004 with the group NERD), Pharrell Williams will take to that stage. But, in principle, it will not be for singing.

With 13 Grammy Awards and two Oscar nominations, including “Best Original Song” with the hit Happywhich was part of the film’s soundtrack. Gru – The Badly Disposed 2In his CV, the American singer and producer lands in Lisbon to close the first day of the technology fair on November 11.

Together with Frank Cooper, Visa’s marketing director, and for about thirty minutes, Pharrell Williams will talk about the “intersection between culture and commerce.” It will therefore explore how, in the age of social media, content creators shape culture and the “significant” impact this is having on the commerce sector.

Carmelo Antonio
From NBA history to wine

He announced the end of his career in the NBA, the world’s main basketball league, in May of last year after 19 seasons in which he was never a champion. In the Olympic Games the story is different. Playing for the United States, Carmelo Anthony, one of the ten best scorers of all time, won three gold medals: Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016. At the Web Summit he will be divided between his love for sport and his taste for came.

On November 13, the third of the technology summit, the former North American basketball player takes the main stage for a conference called “Innovating at the intersection between sport, technology and creativity.” In practice, it will be discussed how technology and creativity have an impact and are “transforming” the sport, that is, the experience of the fans and the players themselves.

About two hours later, Carmelo Anthony changes the subject and moves on to wine. Founder of the VII(N) The Seventh Estate brand, the former player will share his journey through the wine sector and give a sample of the product.

Thomas Plantenga
The man behind Vinted

You’ll have to arrive the afternoon of the last day of the Web Summit, November 14, to hear it for the first (and only) time. Thomas Plantenga joined Vinted, a second-hand goods buying and selling platform, in 2016 and became CEO a year later.

With the Lithuanian unicorn consolidated and valued at five billion euros, the businessman arrives in Lisbon to be the main speaker on the panel “Making second-hand the first option.” In other words, it will talk about how a market from Lithuania has become “a profitable European technology leader”, exploring not only Vinted’s mission, but also the main challenges it faces.

“I come, you come, we come.” One year of Vinted, the phenomenon of online purchases and sales

Lydia Jones
Women in power with the new CEO of Bumble

“Are you the new CEO?” This is the question that Lidiane Jones, director of the dating app Bumble, will try to answer on November 13. On the main stage, and for about 20 minutes, the businesswoman born in São Paulo, Brazil, will talk about the challenges of being CEO of a company, reflect on her experience in a leadership role and confess what she would do differently, if she could.

To assume leadership of Bumble, in January of this year, Lidiane Jones left the position of CEO of the company Slack Technologies, which she had held since December 2022. Previously, she worked at Salesforce, Sonos and, for almost 13 years, at Microsoft . During her stay in Lisbon, the businesswoman will also speak about the importance of technology (and online communities) to connect people, at the conference “Connected in a disconnected world: the role of technology in the fight against loneliness” .

Yulia Navalnaya
The widow of Putin’s main opponent who continues the fight against “the autocrats”

Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, who died in February, continues her husband’s fight against Vladimir Putin’s regime. He recently confessed that he wants to run for president of Russia and assured that he will do “everything” so that “the regime falls as soon as possible.” In Lisbon on November 12, he will begin by talking about “dictators and digital dissent”, exploring the way in which certain authoritarian regimes use the Internet to hinder citizens’ freedom of expression, even across borders.

Hours after reflecting on the “lessons learned by the Russian resistance movement,” Yulia Navalnaya takes the main stage of the Web Summit to “stand in front of the autocrats” and share her experiences on the “front line” of the fight against Russians. opposition. As the conference will explore not only Putin’s Russia but also Maduro’s Venezuela, he will have Leopoldo López, one of the main faces of the Venezuelan opposition, at his side.

Navalny’s widow wants to run for the presidency of Russia and Putin detained in the same conditions that her husband suffered

Leopoldo Lopez
One of the main faces of the Venezuelan opposition

Together with Yulia Navalnaya, on November 12, Leopoldo López will share his fight against the Venezuelan regime as one of the main faces of the opposition to Nicolás Maduro. And let’s talk about the activist organization he founded, the World Freedom Congress, whose main goal is to end autocracy by 2030.

Over the years, the politician has been detained in a military prison accused of instigating violence by organizing demonstrations against the Venezuelan regime; He was then under house arrest and, between April 2019 and October 2020, he took refuge in the Spanish Embassy in Caracas after participating in a failed coup attempt against Maduro.

Tim Berners Lee
The inventor of the World Wide Web and the constant search to improve his creation

It is already a more than usual presence in Web Summit editions. British Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (WWW) in 1989, revolutionizing the way we interact with the Internet. However, the scientist and researcher is the first to recognize that there is much room for improvement in the world. online – starting with the way user data is used.

He will return to Lisbon and the Web Summit on November 12 as the creator of the website but also as co-founder and technological director of the startup Inrupt, a company that developed a web protocol that wants to return control of data to users and improve privacy .

Hugo Gloss and Cristina Ferreira
The creator of one of the greatest. websites from Brazil in conversation with Cristina Ferreira

It is not surprising that at the Web Summit there are many sessions linked to the world of creators and social networks. In this year’s edition you can hear the journalist Bruno Rocha, creator of Hugo Gloss, one of the greatest websites of Brazilian celebrities, which receives around a million visits per day and has more than 21 million followers on Instagram.

On September 13, Bruno Rocha arrives at the Web Summit with his “alterego” Hugo Gloss to speak with Portuguese presenter Cristina Ferreira about honesty in creating relationships with the public, even when reaching numbers of many millions of followers.

Omar Berrada
The general director of Manchester United, who ‘stole’ Rúben Amorim from Sporting

Manchester United stole him from rival City earlier this year, where he had been for over a decade. This month, Omar Berrada brought in Rúben Amorim from Sporting. But that is not the business that will take him to Lisbon on November 12. At the Web Summit, the CEO of red devils, with the help of Don McGuire (chief marketing officer at chipmaker Qualcomm), He will explain how brand partnerships “can create commercial value and drive success on and off the field.”

Omar Berrada and Don McGuire will speak from experience, having reached an agreement in September last year for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon brand to appear on the shirts of United players starting this season (2024/2025).

The agreement is valid until 2029 and, according to the The AthleticSnapdragon will invest 375 million dollars (about 343 million euros) in United, to sponsor the men’s and women’s soccer teams, for five years.

Born in Paris, raised in the United States, he spent years at Barcelona: the story of Omar Berrada, the CEO that United stole from City

Steve Caballero
The screenwriter and producer who gave Peaky Blinders to the world

He is a screenwriter, producer and director and has proven himself on both the small and big screen. The British Steven Knight, 65, is the creator of the successful series. Peaky Blindersthat follows a family of gangsters who control Birmingham in the post-World War I. Among Knight’s dozens of credits is also the co-creation of the phenomenon. Who wants to be a millionaire?a television program that has already been adapted in 160 countries.

On November 13, in a session titled The power of the peopleKnight will speak with Marco Bassetti, CEO of Banijay Entertainment & Live, a multinational television content production and distribution company. The theme? The concerns generated by artificial intelligence (AI) in the industry and the need to “preserve authenticity and quality” in series and films.

Brittni Mason
Paralympic athlete with four silver and one gold in her luggage

The 26-year-old American athlete was born with Erb’s palsy, which limits the movement of her left shoulder and arm. At this summer’s Paris Paralympic Games he won two silver medals in the 100 and 200 meters.

At the Web Summit he will share his experiences in two panels, both on November 13. In the first she will be accompanied by the winner of the 2023 Tour de France, Demi Vollering, and the pilot Christine GZ to talk about the development of women’s sport. In the second, the conversation will focus on reducing disparities between men’s and women’s sports, a conversation that will feature Leela Srinivasan, CEO of Parity, and Eric Johnson, CEO of SurveyMonkey.

Patrick Kluivert
The former footballer talks about his performance in the elite

The former footballer, who wore the colors of Ajax and Barcelona, ​​​​and currently a coach, will attend the Web Summit to talk about the characteristics necessary to perform at your best on and off the field.

On November 13, he is scheduled to speak not only about the glory days of football but also about his pursuits and philanthropic efforts after the end of his career.