What I do with a conference attendee list
How I use the attendee list of Web Summit or Slush: who to pick, how to find emails, what to write before the event and how to follow up within 48 hours.
4 min read
In November I’m at Web Summit in Lisbon and then at Slush in Helsinki. We put both attendee lists into Generect, 5,093 people from 2,709 companies for Web Summit Lisbon 2026 and 10,787 people from 5,298 companies for Slush 2026. Here is how I use a list like this before the event and right after it.
Two weeks before: pick who you want to meet
Most people on the list are not for you. At Web Summit 2,697 people are founders or CEOs and only 316 work in sales, BD or growth. At Slush 2,559 come from investment firms. So I take only the part that fits our ICP, which is sales tools, products that use B2B data and outbound agencies. If you sell to founders of B2B software companies, that’s 392 people at Web Summit and 743 at Slush.
Then I keep one person per company, the one who would take the meeting. For me it’s around 50 people per event.
Find the emails and check them
Event lists have names, titles and companies, and almost never emails. Before looking anything up, we knew a work email for only 1,009 of the 10,787 people at Slush and 207 of the 5,093 at Web Summit. For the rest I look the email up by name and company domain and keep only the valid ones. I also keep bounces under 2%, because above that the next emails are more likely to land in spam.
A week before: one short email
Say why you write to this person and ask for 15 minutes on a specific day. Keep it under 80 words. This is the kind of email I send (the names are made up):
Subject: coffee at Web Summit on Wednesday?
Maria, hi!
Saw Northwind is going to Web Summit. You sell to mid-size carriers in Europe and we build B2B contact and company data that a few sales tools already use inside their product
I’m in Lisbon 9-12 November. Would 15 minutes on Wednesday work for you? Here’s my calendar if that’s easier calendly.com/andrii-kolpakov/lisbon
Andrii
A day later I send the same person a shorter note on LinkedIn or in the event’s messages, and that’s all before the event. For meetings I have a Calendly link for each city with only the event days open.
During the event: check the list every morning
The list keeps growing until the doors open. Since we first put Slush into Generect on 22 October, 734 more people joined it. So every morning I check who is new, and I write notes right after each meeting.
48 hours after: follow up while they remember you
After two days people mix up everyone they met. So within 48 hours I write to everyone I talked to, with one line about our conversation and one next step.
Subject: the carrier list we talked about
Maria, hi!
Great talking on Wednesday at Web Summit. You wanted to see how many of your carriers we have with a buyer’s email, so I ran it on the 200 you mentioned and the file is ready
Should I send it over or do you want to look at it together on a call next week?
Andrii
People I wrote to but didn’t meet get one email saying we missed each other, with the same thing I wanted to show them. After that I leave them alone. And every meeting goes into the CRM the same evening, with notes and the next step. We use Attio, but any CRM works.
See who is going to Web Summit and Slush
We made these lists for our own trips. Who is going to Web Summit Lisbon and Slush, by company, role and industry, is on our conference pages, free and without signing up.
See who is going
Open the page of your event, pick the companies that fit your ICP and find the right people at them in Generect. Searching is free.
Going there yourself? I’m in Lisbon on 9-12 November and in Helsinki on 18-19 November. Book 15 minutes with me in Lisbon or in Helsinki.