At first glance, Monica Zara seems to thrive on precision. Her colleagues joke about her spotting when an email banner is 0.05 pixels off, but that sharp eye for detail is exactly what it takes to orchestrate one of the most complex business and tech gatherings in Central and Eastern Europe. As Head of Conference for How to Web, Monica has been behind the seamless execution of an event that now brings together thousands of founders, investors, and tech professionals every October in Bucharest.
In this conversation, she opens up about her approach to curation, the surprises she’s encountered, and the details that make How to Web Conference stand out.
How has How to Web Conference evolved since last year & what’s new in how you approach building the event?
We evolve every year, even if the structure stays the same. The real change is in who participates, what topics we bring forward, and which partners join us.
We’ve also become more deliberate about shaping the experience for each audience: startups, investors, corporates, or professionals, through programs like Dealflow, Spotlight, Startup Showcase, or dedicated demo areas. For example, with BRD – Groupe Société Générale we’re running a sustainability program for startups, while for investors we’ve added “Venture in Eastern Europe” and, this year, a new track for LPs exploring tech.
Beyond the big stages, we’re creating spaces for deeper exchanges: roundtables, mastermind sessions, and curated groups around hot topics like how AI impacts sales, marketing, or product. We’ve even integrated some standalone events into the main agenda, so everything connects under one roof and reflects the stakeholders driving these conversations.
How do you design an event like this to serve very different audiences, from startup founders to investors, to tech professionals and business developers, while keeping a cohesive experience?
All our audiences connect around startups, whether it’s investors, corporates looking to collaborate, or professionals inspired by the agile, entrepreneurial mindset. That’s the common thread. On top of this, we layer the big themes shaping the industry right now, especially AI and how it impacts product, sales, marketing, and beyond, even with live demos of new tools.
The agenda is a mix & match of formats so that at every given moment, every participant can join something relevant.
This is the first year you’ve been directly involved in shaping the agenda. What was your approach to curating content?
It was definitely a challenge. I rely on a network of experts on different subject matters to whom I go to validate topics and speakers I find relevant. Part of the process is that I go straight to the audience: that’s hundreds of LinkedIn messages, running surveys, keeping a constant back-and-forth with the community.
A challenge is that our audiences’ focus leans more towards creating business value than growing internal know-how within the team. So we try to strike a balance when inviting speakers: we look for business drivers in their own companies, who can share expertise and also spark meaningful opportunities while at the event.
Is there anything on the agenda that Monica, the person, not the organizer, is interested in?
Lots! Right now I’m actively interested in partnerships and sales strategy, processes and best practices, so anything in sales, marketing, growth is a topic where I want to be in the room or extract value from it.
I’m also passionate about the venture side, because it’s not only startups that are continuously fundraising, but investors too, and the matter of how money circulates dictates the pace of the industry.
Speaking of the back & forth of taking the pulse of the community in building the agenda, was there anything that surprised you?
We know that ROI and business growth matter more today than internal development or learning. It’s been the trend of the last two years, shaped by rumors of austerity and the complexity of doing business.
What surprises me, though, is how far behind we still are in adopting some standard practices, methodologies, and technologies inside tech organizations at the national and regional level, that have become the norm at a global level.
Few professionals are up to date with best practices, agile methods, or internal workflows. Globally, we’re competing with companies that have already mastered these, and we’re not there yet.
Given the gap between where we are technologically and global standards, how much of the agenda reflects local needs versus global trends not yet picked up in the region?
I’d say it’s 60-40. We’re closer to the grassroots than in the past because we’ve spent so much time having these conversations. But novelty is crucial, and friction is a driver of progress.
If it were up to me, the agenda would be full on “sci-fi”, because there are people out there who’ve scaled from a few thousand to a million users in months, and those lessons matter. The challenge is that these professionals aren’t always visible or relatable. Still, it’s a risk worth taking. If we don’t start transitioning toward the industry’s global reality now, we’ll fall behind, and never catch up.
How do you translate abstract goals like “networking” or “knowledge-sharing” into formats that work across different stages and tracks?
Networking requires proper infrastructure. Beyond our app, we set up nearly 100 dedicated tables for 20-minute, high-value meetings. We also encourage participants to share publicly that they’re attending, so others can connect via LinkedIn and make meetings count.
What part of the event is “non-negotiable” for you, no matter how the program expands?
Several things. But I have a special attention to detail and I care deeply that we execute everything professionally. What you see at How to Web Conference is executed at the same quality standard as any other top tech conference you go to, from Lisbon to France and the UK we have the same quality. The scale is smaller because we’re an emerging market, but the execution is top-notch, as a sign of respect for the people who walk through our doors, regardless of the type of client or ticket.
Organizing a conference of this scale can feel like a marathon. How do you balance the creative vision with the operational side of orchestrating such a complex event?
It IS a marathon and there is a lot of context switching. I’ve learned many things, but something that worked for me is to save a time slot in the calendar to work on the same type of tasks, so as to minimize many switches between creative, operational, production, etc.
With over 150 speakers, four stages, and a program that blends startup showcases, investor tracks, workshops, and curated side events, How to Web Conference has grown into a place where every participant can extract concrete value. Under Monica Zara’s guidance, that system keeps evolving: integrating new formats, connecting the right stakeholders, and raising the standard for what a tech conference can deliver in CEE. You can get your conference ticket here.
