EFI held their annual EFI Connect user’s conference in Las Vegas January 22 – 25. While the show has been around for 20 years, this was a biggie for the hardware and solutions OEM who now has a new CEO, Bill Muir.

Just a few months ago, Bill took over for CEO (and current board member) Guy Gecht, who built EFI from scratch, turning it into a billion dollar company through a strategy of innovation and acquisitions. It must have been hard for Guy to sit back and watch someone else drive his car, but he was all smiles as he walked the floor as a civilian at this year’s Connect.

Andy with EFI Board Member Guy Gecht

Roughly 1,400 exhibitors and attendees were on hand to hear Bill open the event, listening as he discussed EFI’s success over the years. As always, the conference was sponsored by companies like RISO, Konica Minolta and others. Xerox and Ricoh were one again platinum sponsors. You should have seen Ricoh’s booth…it was massive.

During his speech, Bill discussed a variety of topics, including some interesting industry data-points, such as the shrinking number of commercial printers, their average revenue and the opportunities that EFI’s portfolio offers. You can hear most of Bill’s keynote below.

Later, Bill continued a long time Connect tradition with a Fireside Chat. This year’s chat was with Joe Popolo, CEO of The Freeman Company. The Freeman Company is a branding firm that does signage for conventions, conferences, etc. They’re massive and they do big time events, like the Republican National Convention in the previous presidential election. It was fascinating to listen to Joe discuss the kinds of immersive branding initiatives they’ve done and how instrumental EFI has been in their process, particularly in the fabric printing that EFI offers since they acquired Reggiani in 2015.

Joe Popolo of The Freeman Company and EFI CEO Bill Muir During the Fireside Chat

The floor at this year’s show was once again amazing for a print nerd like me, although I was a bit disappointed there was no Tesla being wrapped this year. I guess the lease was up? More likely, they didn’t have room for a car at this show since they brought more gear than ever. And when EFI brings equipment to a show, it’s no small task as much of their portfolio is massive and must take days if not weeks to ship and set up.

Walking around the conference and seeing this big iron in action is awesome. If you haven’t seen the super large format VUTEk printers in action, you can see them a bit in my videos.

This year, EFI took things up a notch, offering visitors VR demonstrations on equipment they didn’t have on hand. There were two VR stations and it was fun watching people checking out the virtual machines.


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The Fireside Chat with The Freeman Company did a great job illustrating how fabric printing isn’t just about the fashion industry. However, It’s also very much about the fashion industry! Not only does EFI offer designers the ability to customize short run clothing in ways and at price points that were unimaginable until recently, they also offer a suite of software that allows these customers to not just print, but also design in ways they never could before.

The guest speaker built on this theme as Ariel Swedroe, a 15-year old designer who has already made a name for herself by converting her grandfather’s art into beautifully colorful clothing (some of which she was wearing during her key note) spoke to the crowd. It was pretty impressive hearing about sophisticated print hardware and software from a kid!

15-year old designer Ariel Swedroe with analyst Cary Sherburne

CFO Marc Olin opened the second day with a briefing on hardware followed by VP/GM Gaby Matsliach, who briefed us on software developments. Video of Marc’s speech can be seen below.

EFI Connect Sponsor Andre D’urbano of RISO

After that, most of the second day of Connect was spent in press briefings where we got more in-depth updates from Nick B., Ken H. and others on new hardware, software, developments in fabric printing and more. These briefings were shorter this year and the day flowed much better than in the past.

The second day ended with a lovely press dinner where we spent the night with Bill, Holly and so many others. It was great to see Chief Revenue Office Frank Mallozzi that evening. In his new role as CRO, Frank spent less time presenting to analysts at this year’s Connect and we missed him!

Overall, it was a great couple of days. Customers at this show LOVE EFI and it’s easy to see why. The educational tracks, the messaging and the portfolio all make this a great show for commercial printers, especially those that want to be around in 10 years. It seemed that everyone I met was there for a different reason. Some were interested in workflow, others in the hardware. Still others in fabric printing. With so many print conferences dying, this one gets bigger every year – not an easy task.

I appreciate the invitation to cover this event. It’s easy to see why EFI is still one of the dominant players in print.

Photos and Videos from EFI Connect 2019