The best ever conference dinner?

We have now organised our travel and accommodation for September’s IMPC in Brisbane. There are no conference dinner details available as yet, but I am sure that the Aussies will have something special planned. Nothing brings people together better than a good conference dinner, and in recent years there have been some fine IMPC events.

In the past, IMPC dinners tended to be dull, formal affairs, with endless speeches from members of the organising committee and local dignitaries. Everything changed in 2003 with the unforgettable evening at Cape Town’s Ratanga Junction, where mineral processors from all around the world danced the night away to South Africa’s hottest singers and musicians.

Cape Town ’03 set the standard that had to be attained or beaten at subsequent IMPCs and Turkey laid on a wonderful event in Istanbul in 2006 with an evening of entertainment which included the country’s number one belly dancer!! A far cry from a dry speech by the mayor in the local town hall!

For sheer spectacle, however, it will be hard to beat the dinner-show, set to the backdrop of the Ancestral Palace, that the XXIVth IMPC provided in 2008 in Beijing. A few photos from this event are shown here, and many more can be viewed on MEI Online.

So, what are your views on the importance of conference dinners, and what were your particular favourites?