ROI Summit: Day 1

It’s been a year since I first heard about the ROI Summit (formerly known as ROI 120). At the time I was a 2008 fellow at the PresenTense Institute, and had yet to be exposed to the Jewish social network of social networking conferences. I’ve since attended the 2008 KolDor Conference in Ein Gedi, but had my heart set on attending the mother of all conferences: the ROI Summit.

As luck would have it – and a decent application – I was accepted into the 2009 ROI Summit, held in the luxurious, beautiful, phenomenal, breathtaking (need I go on?) Kfar Maccabiah, a totally gorgeous hotel & country club in Ramat Gan that is home to the Israeli Maccabiah Games (aka the Israeli Olympics, held every four years, including this summer). Ironically, my sister had applied and been recently accepted to participate in this year’s Maccabiah Games for track, only an injury and lack of extended notice to gain the appropriate funds (she’d been waitlisted) prevented her from attending. Nevertheless, there is at least one Pere gal here to totally represent!

The hotel is paradise. Palm trees and various forms of incredibly pretty vegetation overflow every walking path. The food is never-ending and looks like it should be framed rather than eaten. After registering, settling into our (MAGNIFICENT) rooms (each containing two big screen TV's, two bathrooms per one bedroom room, AND complimentary gourment Max Brenner chocolates??), eating, and doing some initial schmoozing, we were all invited into the Opening Program: “Getting to Know You; Getting to Know Us”.

Thanks to my frequent traveling lately to Israel (this is my fourth time in the span of a year an a half), I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know the first three opening speakers: the Center for Leadership Initiatives (CLI) Israel Director Justin Korda, ROI Program Director Beto “Sweetest Guy in the World” Maya, and ROI Online Media Director/Blogger & Tweeter Extraordinaire Esther Kustanowitz.

After the opening remarks, Beto and Esther debuted what seemed to have been the new Maya-Kustanowitz Comedy Hour meets the "Poll the Audience" option of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. All 120 participants were asked to answer questions that appeared on two large screens that flanked the stage in front. Answers were submitted through electronic devices that looked like they were the spawn of giant calculators and the old Yahtzee hand held game my sister and I used to own. Questions ranged from the very general (polls showed that 55.7% of ROI 2009 participants were female and 44.3% male), to very personal (74.2% of participants had fasted on Yom Kippur), to very controversial (40% of participants felt comfortable being married by a female rabbi, while 40% did not, with 20% undecided). Other questions could have easily been found on the Israeli version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, such as what is Tel Aviv also known as? (Answer: The White City).

After the polling stations had closed, it was onto the traditional conference opening night icebreakers! (I must admit, these are my favorite parts of conferences! Yes, I am in fact a dork). Icebreakers on the night’s menu featured finding others with the same birthplace as our maternal grandmothers (yay Poland!), and playing the most energetic, intense, and largest game of Rock Paper Scissors I’d ever seen in my life. I’m not the first to say that a RPS tournament will TOTALLY be on my next party agenda – it was wildly fun!

After the icebreakers ended, a lavish display of dessert was offered with one of the most enticing array of sorbets I’ve seen. I’m quite proud to say that I managed to stick to my no-junk-food-except-for-ice cream-or-sorbet diet (one I’ve successfully imposed on myself since I pigged out over Passover), and avoided any chocolaty looking temptations. But the strawberry, lemon, and mango sorbets were totally worth it! =0)

I was happy to see some old friends (including PresenTense fellows Shai Davis and Erin Kopelow, The Jewish Week’s “36 Under 36” editor Tamar Snyder, and PresenTense Magazine editor-in-chief Deborah Fishman), along with friends I hadn’t quite seen in person yet (including Twitter buddy Susanne Goldstone). I retired somewhat early for the night not to sleep (Sleep?! Me?!) but to color this week’s Of Biblical Proportions strip (will be live within the next day).

Once my dropped jaw returns to my face, I’ll be able to formulate more articulate reactions to my first day at ROI other than muttering the phrase “Hoooly cow – this is amazing!” over and over again. But one thing’s for sure: it’s guaranteed to be a GREAT week ahead – one that I’ll never, ever want to forget.

P.S. I'll be sketching my way through the whole conference, so as soon as I have a scanner I will upload all of them!