Israel was pretty rad. Was only there for 6 days, but almost every night in Tel Aviv we stayed out till 6 or 7 in the morning. There's way too much to do at all hours.
Affilicon was a pretty well organized and relaxed event. A lot of the sessions were in Hebrew, so I didn't really get a chance to get much out of that side of things. The English sessions I wanted to attend were missed for reasons above.
As for the "talent", Israel has some of the best. There is such a high concentration of "high tech" jobs there that it's been compared to Silicon Valley.
I'll go again in June.
Israel was a dickroll-free zone. I'm sure a few of you could help the cause though.