That said, Web Summit was a fantastic experience. I agree some of the speakers were somewhat lacklustre or at least not as spectacular as I expected them to be. Others were great though (Ed Catmull for instance or the one about what Facebook is going to do the next ten years) Most of the talks on the smaller stages generally were more intriguing anyway.
As for the Night Summit: Yes, it was crowded but it was far from being just at one place. You could meet all sorts of interesting Web Summit visitors at pretty much all of the places.
This certainly requires some effort. In order to get anything out of an event like this you have to actively make it happen. Plan who you'd like to meet, walk around, look around, talk with people. It can be overwhelming and 3 days (and nights) of this indeed can be a bit exhausting but also very rewarding.
Besides, there's worse ways to work than over a pint of Guinness or Smithwick's in the evening.