Israel Diary Day 6: HP Indigo VIP Event, Tel Aviv (+photos)

This is the sixth day in my Israel diary, where I’m attending the HP Indigo VIP Event in Tel Aviv.  See Day 1 in Tel Aviv here, Day 2 in Jerusalem and Bethlehem here, Day 3 at the HP Indigo offices in Nes-Ziona here, Day 4 at Pageflex and Caesarea here, and Day 5 at the HP Indigo Plant in Kiryat Gat here.

Today, HP has arranged another full day of events.  In the morning, I take part in a session conducted by Vivian Cohen-Leisorek, who is Strategic Marketing Product Manager for HP, where she discusses various creative applications of digital printing powered by the Indigo.  It’s exciting to see how Clients have utilized the technology — and many of them are MindFire Clients.  Love seeing that!

Next, Lior Krasnovsky reviews SmartStream Production Center, which is a product we’ve integrated with, and describes how it helps to improve the processing of a large volume of short-run jobs.

At 10:30, I hold another session with Elly from Pageflex, as we finalize a few parameters for a new integration point we’re working on, as well as discuss a few other open items.

At noon, the Partner Avenue begins, which is an opportunity for all the HP Partners to meet with HP users.  I speak with a number of interested users, and do a few demos articulating how we can help Indigo owners meet the needs of their Clients.

At 1:30, Ariel Rauch from C-Copy stops by, and we have a great conversation about his business, and discuss a variety of features that will help him move forward.  It’s the first time I’ve met Ariel in person, so it’s great to see him and spend some time together.  Ariel was in the first 100 users of our marketing automation platform, so we had a lot to catch up on.

I also spend some time with Julie Watson, VP of Marketing Strategy at Ultimate Technographics, who I met the night before at dinner, and we briefly discuss how we might be able to integrate with her imposition software.   As we’ve become more tightly integrated within print workflow, I’ve spent more time thinking about where we can add-value and aid our Clients, and imposition seems like an area we may need to explore.

In the afternoon, there is a break in the schedule, so I debate taking a quick nap, or getting out for a run.  I decide on running!  Once I’m on the boardwalk, I head south towards Jaffa.  It’s sunny, but a bit cold and crisp.  There are lots of families milling about, and it again strikes me that Tel Aviv is nothing like what I imagined.  Actually, it reminds me a lot of Santa Monica, or Venice Beach.

Later that evening, we are picked up for dinner at 7:45, and make our way to dinner at “Ocean”, which is a modern-looking establishment right on — you guessed it — the Mediterranean ocean.  After the first few courses, the band arrives (which was very good), but conversation becomes difficult due to the volume.  I never got good at yelling during conversation 🙂

All in all, another great day with lots of food for thought.  I’m definitely making plans to come back to Israel and spend more time here.  My mind is made up!

Here are some pictures from the day; click on them to enjoy!

MindFire’s booth, right next to our partner, Pageflex. Also working to find some area to collaborate with enfocus!

Vivian sharing how Clients are utilizing Indigo technology; she’s a lively and engaging speaker

Another shot of our booth; the monitor was loaned to me by Amir from HP — thanks Amir!

Lior talking about HP StartStream Production Center, and how it can help manage the production floor

You can see our friends at XMPIE in the background …

My trusty Mac ready to do demos!

he Partner Avenue, a great opportunity meet people and mingle

This is the direction I headed on my run

It’s a beautiful day, and reminds me of any sunny day back home in So Cal

The beach is beautiful …

This is looking back towards the hotel

I saw this as I was running; not sure what it is!

Another beautiful shot of Tel Aviv and the ocean

Beautiful! Also reminds me of Barcelona.

This is the boardwalk I ran on

This is what you saw in the distance in earlier pictures

Back in my hotel, the sun was setting. It’s going to greet my girls back home!

Since Obama is in town, there are a lot of US and Israeli flags. Here I am!

Dinner was here, at Ocean

Getting ready for dinner

So hungry — and the food did not let me down!

Gershon doing his thing

Funky!