Sesame Summit 2026 – application open

HOSTING THE GREENTECH FESTIVAL | By Kayvan Nikjou

At the GreenTech Festival the atmosphere was grateful, people were very happy to be there. It felt that this event came at the right time.

I noticed that:

1) Attending corporates have implemented strong & trackable environmental strategies that are starting to be effective. So the talk is becoming the walk. Finally!

2) Ocean Cleanup crew have started cleaning the oceans and rivers, they don’t need financing, but they need governments to give them access to their territories and people to join their ranks. This is very important because it means we can actually clean the vast oceans and seas with technology if we work hard on the solutions.

3) People paid more attention during the conference, listening in carefully and filling all the seats. There were the occasional people who were glued to their phones, but it was by far less common than before. There was so much desire to connect with fellow humans and it seemed to me that more time was spent with each person rather than the pre-COVID rapid exchange of cards and forget later.

4) Covid has not stopped the most dynamic and future oriented corporates/companies to support these events. They brought their executives, listened in to the attendees and to the speakers, with more interest than before. Sponsorship money was available as companies seek for more niche events that can galvanize media, impact and innovation into one location.

Conversations with speakers onstage were very thoughtful and genuinely interesting to watch. As a host and moderator, I rarely have the time or interest to watch other onstage conversations, but this time I paid attention and it was rewarding.

Most interesting aspect of this entire conference was how people were happy to listen to online/video panels or interviews, this was mostly due to the fact that some speakers could not make it to the event, but also it was due to our mindset change. We understand that this is the new normal and we digest it in a different way than in PC (pre-Covid) era.

However, networking hasn’t changed. People were over the moon to have the opportunity to meet new people, converse and exchange contact details. I’ve rarely had so many people coming thanking me wholeheartedly for my onstage performance and moderation, taking their time to learn about me and inviting me to visit their offices.

It was a glorious feeling! Things have changed folks, and I’d say to the better. We might not see it now but in couple years time we will.

We will rise from the pandemic stronger!

Full conference video:

Three upcoming events that are of particular interest:

Digital|K – 15+16 October – A hybrid event taking place in Sofia as well as online. With a particular focus on the CEE region, Digital|K will be tackling issues including defining the NEW future of work, from Adversity to Innovation, and Predictability in the New Normality: Online Shopping Implications.

ML Conference – 16 – 18 November – As you might have guessed from the title, a Machine Learning focused event (hybrid) that will be addressing real world implications and strategies for devs and entrepreneurs.

Stack 2020 – 1-3 December – The government-led developers event in Singapore that connects government, industry and the tech community.

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Events 2 days ago

Last week, I spent three days at Bits and Pretzels in Munich — a startup-focused event with a distinctly Bavarian flavor. Think Oktoberfest meets startup conference, complete with dirndls, lederhosen, and more beer than you might expect. As someone building an AI-powered event platform, I went in with a specific mission: Observe how startups actually market themselves at events. Here’s what I discovered: GoodBytz: The power of good demos What they did: Robotics startup GoodBytz set up a booth where its robots prepared kaiserschmarrn (a traditional German dessert) all day long. Why it worked: Nothing beats seeing a product in action. While other booths had brochures and demos, GoodBytz’s robots were actually cooking. The smell, the movement and the end result stirred together an experience that people will remember and talk about. The lesson: If you have a physical product, show it in action. The old writing adage generalizes well: Show, don’t tell.  Let people see, hear and touch the product. WeRoad: The bathroom hack What they did: Posted “Missing Investor” flyers in bathroom stalls with QR codes pointing to their website. Why it worked: Pure genius. Every startup at the event was looking for investors, but the “Missing Investor” headline, while a bit on the nose, proved irresistible. Plus, bathroom stalls are one of the few places where people have 30 seconds to actually read something. The lesson: Think about where your target audience’s attention will remain undivided. Sometimes, the most effective marketing leverages the most unexpected places. Emqopter: Visual impact matters What they did: Designed a bright orange booth that displayed their drone prominently. Why it worked: In a sea of grey, white, beige and brown, Emqopter’s bright orange booth was impossible to overlook. The drone was real, too, and proved a real conversation starter. The lesson: Your booth is competing with hundreds of others. Make it visually distinctive and ensure your product is the hero. Quests: Community building using the product What they did: Created a busy, branded booth with accessories (toy car, traffic cones, a bulletin board) and used their anti-loneliness app to build communities among founders at the event. Why it worked: Quests used their product to solve a real problem right at the event, and the busy booth design generated energy and curiosity. The lesson: Use your product to solve a problem at the event — if it’s possible, of course. Demonstrate your value in real time. Dyno: Event-themed marketing What they did: Distributed branded electrolyte packs with the tagline “Your hangover ends. Your pension lasts – with Dyno.” Why it worked: Dyno aligned its messaging perfectly with the Oktoberfest theme. Every attendee was thinking about beer and hangovers, so Dyno’s goodies were quite relevant. The tagline was clever, memorable, and directly addressed a pain point most people at the event might have to deal with later. The lesson: Tailor your marketing to the event’s theme and culture. The more you tie your messaging and product to the context, the more memorable you become. So, what did I learn? Event marketing is about more than just showing up and setting up a booth; you have to understand your audience and create experiences that people will remember. Here’s what really struck me: most startups and even big companies don’t know how to leverage events properly. They book the booth, show up and hope for the best; maybe they bring some branded pens and a pop-up banner. Then they’ll go back home and wonder why they spent €5,000 in exchange for 50 business cards that never convert. The startups that stood out at Bits and Pretzels understand something fundamental: event ROI isn’t about booth size or location; it’s about strategy, creativity and planning. None of the startups above improvised on-site, or planned something the night before the event in their hotel rooms. They laid everything out 4-6 weeks before the event. A solid pre-event strategy is what separates successful event marketing from expensive booth rental.  But what matters most for early-stage startups is that you don’t need a massive budget to stand out. WeRoad’s bathroom stall hack probably cost €50 to print the flyers. A standard booth package at Bits and Pretzels would go for €3,000 to €5,500. The ROI difference is staggering when you compare the cost per meaningful conversation. That’s the difference between simply spending money and investing smartly. Building Sesamers has taught me that helping startups find the right events is only half the equation. The other half is helping them understand how to maximize ROI once they’re there. Good props aren’t a marketing expense; they’re opportunities to meet customers, investors and partners, and strike up engaging conversations.

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