Last September, our Director-Sponsor Vici Koster-Lenhardt casually asked the STC UK board how we'd feel about helping to organise an international conference in London. We are delighted to report that this idea has now come to fruition, and STC UK will be the host chapter for a two-day Region 2 conference in London in October. We hope to make this a truly international, high-calibre conference with top speakers.

At the time of writing, the organising team is being assembled and we are discussing themes, topics, speakers and venues. Alice-Jane Emanuel has set up a Yahoo discussion group to help the organising team.

And it is a real case of "not only, but also". We will also be the host chapter for a two-day board meeting for STC's main board, which is a very exciting development since it means everybody on STC's main board will be present. This is a very valuable opportunity for us to all meet the key decision makers in STC, and to show them our country and our chapter. The fact that an STC board meeting is being organised outside of America is a reflection of the very positive reputation that our chapter enjoys internationally in STC circles.

Diary dates: The STC Board meeting will be held on Thursday 12th October and Friday 13th October. All STC members are welcome to attend the Board meeting and to see what goes on there. The two-day Region 2 conference is likely to be held on Friday 13th October and Saturday 14th October, possibly with a separate morning activity on Sunday 15th October 2006.

We hope that a large number of STC UK members will be able to attend this exciting international conference, especially since it is right here on our doorstep. It will be a unique opportunity to meet other STC members from across Europe and the USA. We will be letting you know more about venues and topics as our plans develop, but in the meantime our STC UK link person on the organising team is Nick Rosenthal (vp2@stcuk.org). If you'd like more information, or if you wish to become involved in organising this event, please contact Nick.