This week we attended the big GoTech World 2023 conference, which took place on 9. November in Bucharest, Romania. It is the largest IT and digital expo-conference in Central and Eastern Europe.
About GoTech World 2023
This prestigious event, which is considered to be the largest IT and digital expo-conference in Central and Eastern Europe, attracts thousands of people every year, who come to listen to more than 100 lectures on 6 stages and see the stands of about a hundred exhibitors. It also includes various accompanying events.
This year saw an increase in lectures and products related to artificial intelligence. However, the conference otherwise included everything from robots, holograms, smart cash registers, clouds, ecommerce solutions to electric cars. We ourselves were surprised by the broad scope of the conference.
The event attracted a lot of media attention. We gave out several interviews, either on camera or to expert bloggers. As the event was broadly focused, only units of companies were involved in cybersecurity. With WEDOS Global we stood out so nicely.
WEDOS at GoTech World 2023
It was a real challenge for us because we decided to take our large expo booth to make the biggest possible impression given the size of the conference. We’ve never traveled this far with him before. Over 1300 Km from Hluboká nad Vltavou to Bucharest was a tough ride. It was 5. our booth (read more about our booth, which the world has never seen before, in the article WEDOS at CloudFest 2023 in Germany).
Again we divided into two groups. The first one set off with a stand on Sunday 5. November and the whole route was completed in about 20 hours with an overnight stay.
The second group left on Monday 6. November and managed to cover the whole route in one go in about 16 hours.
A little before 10 pm we started the construction of the stand. Basically, it was just a matter of taking out the structure and stacking all the stuff. On Monday we were able to go to the hall with the car, which made everything easier. It wouldn’t work the next day.
The next morning after breakfast we started building. Everyone already knew what to do, so it was done in a few hours. In the afternoon we could go for a walk around Bucharest.
First day of the conference
On the first day of the conference, everything went smoothly. We were approached by a few people from larger companies who wanted to learn more about our protections. DDoS attacks are common in Romania, as in the Czech Republic. They are troubled by pro-Russian hacktivist groups, for whom conventional solutions are not enough. I also really liked the WordPress plugin that we are going after smaller sites with it. Many people are still surprised that protection against large DDoS attacks is not just for corporations worth tens or hundreds of thousands of crowns.
In the afternoon we had a lecture, which was technically taken by our boss Josef Grill and commercially by our sales and marketing director Vendula Králová. Their joint lecture “Successful DDoS Attacks by Russian Hactivists on Czech Banks: Why Did They Succeed?” attracted a lot of people to the Cybersecurity Stage. There was no room, so many stood in the aisles.
After the lecture, many people came to talk to us and find out more details.
We ended the day successfully, tired and thrilled with the feedback.
Second day of the conference
On the second day of the conference there were slightly fewer people. However, those who were looking at our product or wanted to come back to our lecture kept coming back. It was no longer about what we actually do, but how we can help them specifically.
November is very busy with important events, including the lucrative HPE Discover 2023 event, where we got the opportunity to present as perhaps the first company from the Czech Republic. So a few people from our team were tweaking the presentation details and graphics to meet the deadline.
As soon as the event was over, we started packing up. We managed to get a car and cart to our booth in a hall full of booths, so we managed to load everything that day and even make it to the celebration dinner.
Departure
Our two groups split into three. Two of us went to the airport because they were flying to WordCamp Valencia in Spain. WordCamps are currently a priority for us because the most frequent attacks are aimed at WordPress users. Not only can we protect WordPress perfectly, but we’ve also optimized the caching of content on our reverse proxies for them. Some attacks we don’t even need to block/test, we just serve the cache, it’s faster than a captcha.
The other two groups headed home for a leisurely breakfast on Friday. We were in Hluboká on Saturday between midnight and one.
Conclusion
GoTech World was a great event. Such events are great because they show that a country does not want to stand at a crossroads but has something to offer the world. It also helps to connect companies, establish business contacts and introduce new technologies. It’s a pity there’s nothing like it here.