Work and play on day one of DIALOG

It was a long first day, but apart from a few lingering travel issues for some, everything seems to have got underway smoothly.

I had the pleasure of meeting with several speakers at this evening’s welcome cocktail and everyone is really excited to be participating in this groundbreaking event and looking forward to the next two days of sessions, panel discussions and networking opportunities.

Today was hard work for the DIALOG conference team, with lots of last minute preparations to complete and a few unexpected issues to deal with. I was very impressed with how everyone came together to resolve those issues and am proud to be part of such a great team of professionals.

There was still time for a bit of relaxation out on the golf course though (for some at least), made all the more pleasureable by the warm sunny Palm Springs weather. Below, in pictures, is a summary of this first day of DIALOG 08…

Arrival in Palm Springs
Arrival in Palm Springs

Green energy
Palm Springs: The Windy City? Turbines as far as they eye can see.

Palm Springs morning sunshine
Sunny Palm Springs morning

A stone’s throw from the golf course
View from my hotel room.

View from the lobby of the Westin Mission Hills
View from the hotel lobby.

9am: A lot still to do…
9am: Still a lot to do.

Sticking the USB sticks
Helping Aimee to add USB keys to the conference packs

Testing, testing
Testing, testing, testing.

Bruno setting up in the board room
Bruno setting up in the board room

Lining up for golf
Ready, steady, golf!

Pierre meets and greets the golfers
Pierre meets and greets the golfers (those that made it).

Teeing off
Playing the first tee.

Nice swing!
Fore!

Getting ready for registration
Meanwhile, back at the registration desk…

Monika gets ready for a busy afternoon of press briefings
Monika gets ready for a busy afternoon of press briefings.

Last minute bag stuffing
Last-minute conference bag stuffing.

DIABLOG blogging station ready to go!
The DIABLOG blogging station ready to go!

Welcome to DIALOG 08!
Welcome to DIALOG 08!

Welcome cocktail
Welcome cocktail.

ILOG’s Chris Berg
ILOG’s Chris Berg.

Martha Mesa explains the benefits of ILOG’s new customer advocacy program, C-LinX
Martha Mesa explains the benefits of ILOG’s new customer advocacy program, C-LinX.

Pierre Haren with Edith and David Simchi-Levi, and Anna Ross
Pierre Haren with Edith and David Simchi-Levi, and Anna Ross.

Bookmark: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Furl
  • Slashdot
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati

Tags: , , , , , , ,

2 Responses to “Work and play on day one of DIALOG”

  1. Jean Pommier Says:

    Thanks for the live report, Stuart!
    I would add that we had three good workshops this afternoon, with both rooms packed (!) and lots of good questions to the presenters.
    BTW, I referenced your blog in my run report.

    See you there,
    Jean.

  2. Stuart Culshaw Says:

    Jean, if you can manage to sit still long enough, I’ll try and catch up with you to get some feedback on the workshop sessions.

    Unfortunately I was tied up at the registration desk yesterday afternoon helping with last-minute preparations and emergency travel coordination for one of our speakers, so I didn’t get chance to attend.

Leave a Reply