If NORONT’s mascot, the cuddly polar bear (Figure 1), could talk it would certainly have stories to tell about the activities of past conferences:

• Technologist vs. vendor Olympics • Kinnette’s charity casino night • Hospitality suites • Sleigh rides • Wine and cheese mixers • Pizza night In the fun comradeship category, this year was no exception. Co-chair Judy Austin (Kapuskasing) provided the ever-popular JELL-O® shooters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jell-O). Joe Bottos (Beckman Coulter, Mississauga) opened the first ever "Nortini Bar" (Figure 2). The question on everyone’s mind was, "Does he have a standard operating procedure (SOP) for those?" and indeed a contest to guess the ingredients produced one!

This year’s scientific program was a credit to the organizers and presenters alike. During my keynote address we took a look back over the past 30 years of major events occurring in our ever-changing world, and contrasted them against activities and new trends occurring in the medical laboratory as we improved technology and became more safety conscious. Denyse Tremblay (Canadian Blood Services, Ottawa) explained the new Buffy Coat production method introduced at Canadian Blood Services—a different way of making platelets from whole blood, stressing the implications for hospital transfusion services. Sandy Gillespie (LifeLabs, Etobicoke) led us through an interactive workshop titled Workplace Dynamics—Dealing with Difficult People. Following the banquet, speaker Dr. Edward Cormode (Orillia) entertained and amazed us with tales of working in the Baffin Island territory of Nunavut, where he has practiced pediatric medicine. He honoured us all when he said that he wanted to be a lab tech when he grew up, but the passion he demonstrated for respecting not only the inhabitants but their lifestyle was a tribute to those working and living in the far northern reaches of Canada. Dr. Roger Sandre (Regional Infection Control Network, Sudbury) spoke on new antibiotic therapy and treatment in the management of Clostridium difficile associated disease (CDAD), and made us all think carefully about protecting ourselves and others against hospital-acquired infections. Dr. Marciano Reis (Sunnybrook and University Health Network, Toronto) reviewed the newly implemented digital slide service installed for the Timmins cluster hospitals. This telepathology project will facilitate diagnostic consultative services, remote access by physicians, integrated reporting and teaching opportunities. Currently two scanners are installed at Timmins and District Hospital. He showed some blood films, cerebral spinal fluid cytospins, and bone marrow slide images available in a teaching databank, and all attendees were impressed by the quality of the 40x magnification images. Dr. Reis also discussed the use of flow cytometry in the immunophenotypic diagnosis of primary or secondary leukemias, lymphoproliferative disorders, chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) in blast crisis, and leukemia/lymphoma, which was classified, but not previously immunophenotyped, and recommended indications based on Bethesda Consensus (2007). He stressed the importance of clinical history and morphologic assessment in conjunction with flow cytometry as a diagnostic tool.

In addition to this stimulating scientific program, the 50 attendees were treated to a number of lucky draw prizes from the NORONT committee and vendors.

Hat’s off to the NORONT 2008 committee! NORONT has not only come of age, it has become a conference known for excellence in education, supplier information and fun.