The 15-year-old EFI Connect users conference turns up trumps this year with the largest attendance ever at the seminal technology conference in the USA. There are many Australian and New Zealand industry professionals logged in to attend the conference, which is expected to be 20% larger than previous years. The word of mouth recommendations for the Connect conference from those who’ve been before ensures that this is one industry conference where users cheerfully fork out to attend.
A sellout crowd of more than 1,500 EFI customers, partners and employees has registered for this week’s event at the Las Vegas Wynn Resort. Patrick Howard, Publishing Editor Print21, will also be making the trip as a guest of EFI. He will be reporting and blogging live from the event throughout the week. Stayed tuned here and also follow him on Twitter.
“This year’s conference sold out nearly a week earlier than last year, even though we secured incremental accommodations to have more customers attend in 2015,” said Frank Mallozzi, (pictured) EFI’s senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing. “We are very excited to welcome our customers and partners to what will be one of the best industry education and networking events of the year.”
EFI users from 25 different countries are attending, making this year’s conference the most international Connect conference to date. Attendees will benefit from a complete slate of expert industry information covering many of the detailed workflow, business management and marketing strategies printing companies can use to fuel their success. The conference’s 200+ educational sessions include technical expert training for MIS/ERP workflow, web-to-print, eCommerce, digital front end print management and inkjet production printing using EFI’s award-winning product portfolio.
Attendees this year will have the opportunity to hear insights from keynote speakers Thomas Quinlan, CEO of RR Donnelley, and Avi Reichental, CEO of 3D Systems, as well as from EFI leadership. The conference also features a business development track developed and led by senior consultants from industry analyst firm InfoTrends. And, for the first time, the conference will be co-located with the US industry Executive Leadership Summit.
In addition to exhibits from EFI’s industry leading portfolio of Fiery digital front end technologies, print MIS/ERP software, web-to-print and eCommerce systems, and UV inkjet printers, EFI Connect will include exhibits from partner companies, including Xerox, which is an exclusive platinum sponsor for the conference; gold sponsors Canon and Kodak; and bronze sponsors 3M Commercial Graphics; AccuZIP; BCC Software; Esko; ESP/SurgeX; Honle UV America; Heytex Corp.; Konica Minolta; MBM Corp.; the Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation; Ricoh Production Print; and Zünd.