Ok, Spill the beans.

[trish armstrong]

Be nice, do tell.
What were the highlights at St Marys this year, for the poor labbys that missed out.
What was Thursday night like, classes. Etc.
Very excited to hear all the stories.
Trish

[The Search Engine]

Just Back Report

Hello Trish,
I had a fantastic time at the 10th Anniversary conference. It was my first one and I am a relatively new science geek so it was overwhelming. Thank you Lizzie B for encouraging me to go and for being my den mother. LOL Liz organised a bunch of us from our region to stay together at the Parkview Motel and this was a great success.

Left home before 8am and arrived at about 2pm on Wed after travelling by car, plane, train and on foot. Had a quiet swim and a class of bubbly before the other troops arrived. Met my room buddy and we all headed off to Hog’s Breath for dinner. Liz managed to pick up some more ‘chickens’ and before long her brood numbered nearly a dozen!

Thursday morning registration session was amazing for a first timer. We were handed personalised display folders with our workshops etc, goodies and for the punters - the coffee mug is navy blue. There were stands around the edges of the hall with representatives from science suppliers, PSA, Teachers Credit Union etc and some just for fun - jewellery and teddy bears.

Inspirational speaker Matt McFadyen was fantastic. I think he brought out the adventurer in all of us (or the concerned mother!)

Then off to workshops with meals interspersed.
I did all the basic ones as I have no science background or training and found these all really useful. Could have listened all day to Steve Nugent in Basic Chemistry and would like to kidnap him for our area. Took loads of notes.

Food was great. Networking with the labbies was greater. Wonderful to meet so many chemtalkers! Hello to you all from The Search Engine!
Dinner on Thursday night at the Band Club was lovely with the North West contingent putting in the best showing of numbers.

Normally all I talk about is food but this time I should really concentrate on the learning. It was brilliant. There were times before the conference when I wondered whether it was worth all the hassle and organising to get there, both at school and home.

DEFINITELY WORTH IT!
Particularly enjoyed the pre dinner drinks by the pool on Thursday night. It was lovely to meet so many lovely people. Thank you for making me feel welcome.

Cheers,
Patti

[noona]

Hi Patti
I am so glad you had a great time and that you got something out of the long trip.
We try to please.
If there is something you would like to do next year please let me know as Planing starts Feb 2010.
That goes for all Labbies out there we aim to do workshops that you will enjoy and learn something as well.
Don't be shy tell us and we will try to please.

[Labbie]

It was so lovely to meet and greet so many chemtalks, and invit new people to join. The Tamworth table was delightful to meet. With the lovely lady from NT, the two friends from Katoomba. One would think one hour for lunch, would be plenty of time to sit and chat. Never got to see half the people. But for those that I did meet, it was lovely. Check those photos lizB, only good ones go to NT.

[Sharon Ford]

Hi Trish
You missed a fabulous St Mary's 10 year conference. It was really well organised, as usual. The guest speaker, Matt was amazing - what an adventurer he is. I was amazed by his story and he related it so well.
Food was great and even the sessions were great! Really enjoyed the CSIRO Weird Science. All the presenters were really positive and encouraging - I did physics, DNA, Geology and CSIRO.
Best part was relaxing in and by the pool and meeting everyone - oh yes - the drinks were just what was needed.
We all missed you and wished you were there.
Thank God the labbies organise this conference and we don't leave it to the Dept.
Well done to all the organisers - a mammoth effort and much appreciated.
Take care
Shaz

[lizzieb]

In case there’s any chemtalkers who haven’t already guessed – this conference is the highlight of my year! The combined opportunity to learn, network, have fun and feel spoilt is heady stuff to a lowly ‘untrained’ labbie like me – the more I learn, the more I realise how much there is yet to learn, and I’m in my element at St Marys

I enjoyed every one of my sessions this year – embedded specimens, enzymes and DNA all provided easy and fun new hands-on methods to take home.
DET Services and Chemwatch were both very interesting and informative, and would be really worthwhile every year, as there’s never enough time for all the questions people want to ask! Perhaps also a session along the lines of the Induction Courses the DET/RSRG ran this year. Many of us in government schools are unaware of our rights and conditions, especially the casuals.

Rosalie from Alice Springs – it was an honour to have you join our NW group, and great to get to know you (I’ll try and get those photos to you asap).
Same to all the Canberra girls, especially Robyn and Michelle, Patti from Inverell, Julie from Dorrigo, Maryanne from Gunnedah (welcome to our local group), and all the others who were brave enough to sit at the Tamworth network table

Thank you again, Noona


Trish – can we have some feedback about Ric Morante’s course, please? What did you pick up from that, and was it valuable?

[ewilson]

I also thought it was great. I don't know about anyone else but I have only been a lab assistant for nearly 2 years and what really still scares me is mixing the chemicals. Maybe next year we can have some hands on experience in mixing the chemicals and shown some formulars on how to mix them. I know we have a recipy book to go by but it is still scary when you are not science trained What does anyone else thingk?????????????

[noona]

Hi All
Like I said all you have to do is let me know if there is anything you would like as a workshop and we will try to do it for you.
We start Feb next year to get ready for November so get those requests in to me
We will try our best to do as many as we can.
Remember this conference is for you out there so give us some clues to work with

[rosiegbh]

I agree with you Pattie and LizzieB great conference. I didn't get to try embedded specimens but heard how great it was and am inspired to have a go myself. I have a lovely diamond python that would make a terrific specimen but I think I will try something small first.
My congrats to the committee What a wonderful job they did! This is my third conference and I have learnt so much at each one. Plus I won a book prize and bought a Wollemi pine. All in all a great two days