A group of 26 Australian HP customers battled “bloody freezing” temperatures and record snowfalls to attend this year's 10th Dscoop conference in Washington DC.
Caught in one of the coldest North American winters on record, the intrepid travellers still found time to visit HP customer sites in Minneapolis and New York as well as catch an ice hockey game.
According to Kelvin Gage, Dominion Print, the weather didn't have that much of an impact as delegates bustled from plane to cab, to hotel and conference.
"It was eight to nine day trip but most people stayed for four or five. The conference was great with over two and a half thousand people in Washington for the tenth anniversary event," he said.
Describing the focus of the conference as more about general business than a printing, he said one of the most difficult challenges was deciding which of the many break out sessions to attend. "There were five strands running side by side with speakers talking about finance management, marketing, how to value a business and new techniques for marketing," he said. "It was impossible to come away without having learned something useful."
The delegates, many of who are Currie Group customers, were able to visit four HP Indigo reference sites; two outside Minneapolis and two near New York. "I suppose it provides validation for what we're doing. The people in the US are not really doing it any differently than we are, they're facing the same challenges but of course the market is bigger," said Gage.
The Washington event was highly successful and featured the largest Dscoop solutions showcase ever, according to Phillip Rennell, marketing director, Currie Group.
“We had a good group of customers and it was valuable for them to see first hand what printers are doing to equip themselves and adapt to the changing marketplace. But it was actually bloody cold and certainly not walking down the street weather,” says Rennell.
“We arrived in Minneapolis to temperatures of minus-22 degrees and then we got caught in a snowstorm but with the help of a careful bus driver we took part in sight tours around the city before heading off to Washington."
The group then got caught in the major snowstorm that dumped on New York, after the conference but still managed to fit in two more site tours.
The turnout is indicative of the revival underway in Dscoop under its new leadership. Next up is a high-level Dscoop event at PrintEx on Thursday, 14 May. Stayed tuned for details of international speakers.