The LEAP24 app is a helpful tool. https://apps.apple.com/kz/app/leap-2024/id1599149271
It's a digital badge for access to any hall of the exhibition center, the conference, and open events.
The app has a convenient floorplan that is always at your fingertips. It can draw a path from your current location to your destination.
The app has a QR code scanner. Instead of exchanging business cards, you can scan a badge and have all the data in your personal account.
You can schedule meetings with exhibition participants, speakers, startups, and others in the app.
The app includes all conferences, with convenient notifications and your personalized schedule. It includes all scheduled meetings and conferences you have chosen.

The exhibition has 8 halls, 13 conference rooms, and a huge food court.
It takes 10 to 20 minutes to move between conferences in one direction. This problem cannot be solved. If you are in the Smart City conference room in Hall 2a, and the next conference is in the Creative Economy in Hall 1, you will need to allow time for movement.
Walk only through the central food court, taking the shortest route. Don't go through the exhibition - due to the huge number of people, you will spend twice as much time.
Be prepared to walk 10-15 kilometers around the exhibition grounds per day. I attended 5-7 conferences, the matchmaking zone, our own stand, and the food court. It's a good workout, but unprepared people will find it difficult.
Restroom lines are about 20 minutes long. Food court lines are about 15 minutes long.

Review the schedule of all conferences in list mode beforehand. They are shown by time, without breaking them down by rooms.
Select the ones you find interesting and mark those you want to attend.
In case of a time conflict (overlapping meeting times, other conferences), agree. When the reminder comes, simply choose where you want to go, or go to the one that is closer.
By the second day, you will already know your way around the various conference venues, understanding where you will have time to reach and where it is not worth trying - you will arrive at the end of the presentation.
The list of events you want to attend can be exported to your calendar. There is generally no need for this, as the app reminds you of the events in advance and at the beginning.

The food court is huge, occupying the entire central area of the Exhibition center between pavilions. It mainly offers fast food, but salads are also available.
Most conference rooms have food for speakers. If you ask, they will kindly feed you and pour coffee.
About a third of the stands offer snacks, dates, and Arabian coffee. You know what to do)

Transportation is a headache. Many people took over 3 hours to get to the exhibition. Back, about 3-4 hours. The exhibition center is 70 kilometers from Riyadh.
The preferred mode of transportation is renting a car. You will only depend on traffic jams.
Stay on the outskirts of the city, closer to the road to the exhibition center. This saves about an hour of travel time in one direction.
Taxis - Careem and Uber. During the exhibition, all taxis double their fares.
You can't call an Uber from the exhibition back to the city, you'll get an error. Life hack: set the pick-up point about a kilometer from the exhibition, then everything works. Walk there or arrange with the driver to come to the exhibition parking lot.
It's better to arrive at the exhibition expecting to show up an hour before opening. In this way, you can reach the venue by car in one hour. Later on, there are traffic jams both in the city and on the way to the exhibition center.
There's no difference going back, traffic jams from 5 pm to 10 pm.
The exhibition organizes free shuttles. On the first day, we stood in line for 2.5 hours, then the buses ran out. On the next day, we took a bus, which took 2 hours and 20 minutes to get to the city. Then we had to take a taxi home. In our opinion, using the bus is not cost-effective - it takes up a lot of time.

Our stand was in the startup area "Smart City." We showed our inMotion Cognitive city project https://billboardvideo.com/inmotion
The Smart City startup zone is a space with a huge number of startups, all with identical standard design stands. Everything blends into one continuous picture, making it difficult for visitors to navigate.
Most of the visitors to the stand were those who had scheduled a meeting in advance through the app, filtered by startup characteristics.
Simply passersby who walked by - no more than ten.
The rented displays with videos won't make you stand out, many others have them.
Roll-up banners stand out a bit, but there are also many of them.
The only truly effective way is to approach people passing by and offer to tell them about yourself.
It's best to get a normal stand, I do not recommend the startup POD.

Approximately 90% of the scheduled meetings at the stand took place. People take scheduled meetings seriously.
About 50% of the meetings scheduled with investors in the matchmaking zone didn't took place. People left a notification at the reception that they couldn't attend the scheduled meetings. It's strange that it wasn't integrated with the investor app, as we had to reorganize and leave.
By the end of the exhibition, we found a life hack. In the matchmaking zone, there are always investors waiting for someone. 100% of them are happy to listen to your elevator pitch and delve into the details if they like it. Don't give up and try all options!)

Teams and individual developers can participate in hackathons through many government programs. Inside the exhibition, there are numerous accelerators and programs for boosting both skills and businesses.
For example, the hackathon from NTDP had the task of developing a product within 72 hours and presenting it to an investor. Cash prize, participation in an incubator, daily iPad giveaways, and more.

Don't be afraid to show MVPs and prototypes. Even in serious stands with expensive setups, there were:
- A robot being supported by an employee at the elbow.
- A robotic coffee maker that poured on the third attempt after the operator's nudges.
- A self-driving car with an employee sitting inside connected to a computer, just in case.
It's not scary; everyone understands what an MVP is. Yes, it's not completely developed now, but it will be soon.