Introduction
Only two weeks to go to Conference 2003! (with all those end of semester tasks to complete!) The conference organising committee met recently in Palmerston North to review progress and I am pleased to report that all arrangements are in hand, thanks to the hard work of members of the organising committee.

Programme

Alison Young has faced some daunting challenges in drawing together the programme, with the inevitable last minute changes. As you attend the various papers, please spare a thought for the literally hours of work that Alison as spent to optimise the programme to ensure that presentations were placed in appropriate time slots to minimise the likelihood of presentations you wish to attend being on at the same time, and maximise the probability that you can attend presentations from colleagues at your institution.

Tony Clear has been organising the Chairs of all Sessions, and liaising with visiting keynote speakers

Each day will start at 8.45am, not 9.00am as in previous conferences.

Papers
Sam Mann has tackled the mammoth job of receiving the nearly 500 pages of individual presentations and then converting them into the high quality Conference Publication we are all used to. As busy lecturers, some of us have a tendency to leave the production of our papers to the last minute and this just adds to Sam’s pressures to have a publication ready for conference. However, Sam and his team are rising to the challenge magnificently.

Posters
Nicky Gardner of UCOL is waiting for your posters. The space in the conference centre requires hanging posters. Posters are to be strictly 90cm * 60cm on solid board with an eyelet in all four corners (we'll deal with actual hanging). We suggest the boards used by real estate agents ("corflute"). We can supply boards for a small cost ($10). (Please ask smann@tekotago.ac.nz) If you have any technical queries about your posters, please contact Nicky (n.gardner@ucol.ac.nz)

Venue & Accommodation

The UCOL Conference team provided much needed local effort to ensure all is ready at the venue.

Vivienne Wetere and Alison Young have done a sterling job in arranging the accommodation. You should all have received a copy of the spreadsheet sent out recently which lists who is staying where. If you haven’t, please ask your Programme Manager, or send an e-mail to Viv. (viviennew@naccq.co.nz) Some last minute changes were made necessary when it was announced that one of the chosen venues may not be in business by conference time, which meant that Alison and Viv have had to do some rapid rearrangements. However, this has now been solved. Make sure you have checked the latest accommodation list – available from your Program Manager or Viv Wetere (viviennew@naccq.co.nz)

Registration
Late Registrations are still being accepted

Please note any changes to air bookings that have been made on your behalf will be at your own expense. Also, NACCQ has booked shuttles from the airport to your accommodation, but its at your expense (you pay).

Social activities
The conference dinner this year is on Tuesday 8th July and the theme for the dinner is "Vikings". We hope you will all dress up in the theme and join in the fun.

Workshops
Workshops (an extra cost) will be held on Sunday 6th July at the host institution, UCOL. Some places are still available. Contact Viv Wetere (viviennew@naccq.co.nz) for more information. Please see the registration form for the list and description of the workshops.

Agenda
The agenda is on the website.

We look forward to seeing you at our 2003 NACCQ Conference.

Dr Noel Bridgeman
Conference Chair 2003
On behalf of the conference organising committee