The 1998 conference in Rotorua has come and gone. While the job of tidying up the loose ends of an event like this take rime, the conference will leave us all with fond memories.
The three days of full on activity were the culmination of many months of detailed planning by the organising committee, the Institute Board and our Executive Officer Carole Inglis.

It is significant that for the first time in five years the conference organisation was carried out totally in-house without the employment of a professional conference company, due to the geographic proximity of the venue to the committee and many helpers who made this event the enjoyable activity it was.

WasteMINZ have received very positive feedback from all sectors which has been much appreciated. This is reinforced by the questionnaire responses where 57% rated the overall conference as excellent and 43% as good. No one rated it fair or poor!! The feedback we get is very important in making decisions on future conference, their format and content.

The highlights of the Rotorua conference were many, starting with the Wednesday workshops, followed by the hilarious cafe crawl, the largest trade exhibition yet, the keynote speakers and the high standard of presentation in the technical sessions and the poster papers.

Our dinner guest speaker known to many of us, past board member, Clinton Jones, showed us an insight into a waste hoarders skill at reconstruction using discarded mechanical components as well as the family life of a hoarder. A new session, the ice-cream break, was incredibly popular and attended by all with vengeance.

Site visits were again a popular part of the programme and we were able to show case some of the waste activities happening in the Rotorua district and in nearby Tauranga.

On behalf of the organising committee 1 would like to thank everyone who contributed to the success of the conference whether you were a sponsor, presenter, a session chairperson, a trade show exhibitor or a registrant. We achieved the highest number of registrants to date, bettered only by last year's international conference in Wellington. All of you ensured the success of the conference.

We are also grateful to the Novotel Hotel Rotorua also for their co-operation and commitment to making our event successful.

We can now look ahead to next year, when the conference will be held amongst the stunning scenery of the South Island. Watch this space for details of the dates and the venue.

May we take this opportunity to pass on season's greeting to you all and best wishes for the New Year.

John Palmer
1998 Conference convener