The 8th European meeting of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology was held in Kracow, Poland from 6 – 8 June 2002. I attended the meeting together with approximately seventy other delegates from many European countries. The meeting was organised by a team under the leadership of Professor Hanna Markiewicz and was held at the Hotel Cracovia close to the centre of the beautiful city of Kracow.Due to the number of delegates it was possible to hold all the scientific presentations in a single room. Hanna Markiewicz and her colleagues welcomed us to the Conference; following the welcome speeches we were entertained by traditional polish dancers in the hotel courtyard. This gave us the first opportunity to mingle with each other and commence one of the important aspects of all conferences – the socialising. We always remember the social component of a conference for a very long time (perhaps as long as our memory still functions), and this meeting will be no exception. But there were also a number of memorable presentations on the full variety of topics included in dentomaxillofacial radiology.Approximately 50 oral presentations were given over the two days of the conference and 30 posters.At the end of the first day we had a short reception in the hotel, and then delegates wandered off to sample one of the many restaurants in town. Kracow is a very cosmopolitan city, with a centrally sited University, and a large tourist population. As a result it is possible to eat virtually any style of food, including traditional Polish food in a number of beautiful, and often old restaurants. We were entertained on our second night to a delicious banquet in the lovingly restored Niepolomice Castle, which was originally built in the 16th century. On arrival at the Castle we were greeted by staff in traditional clothes from historical times, and served polish vodka – straight up! It was very good, and so smooth it was difficult to appreciate that you were drinking alcohol. A good start to a very enjoyable evening.

The final social event will for many rank as the star attraction of the visit. On the Saturday afternoon, after the close of the conference we were taken by bus to the Wieliczka Salt Mine, about an hour from Kracow, passing through lovely, fertile countryside.

We always end our meetings by looking forward to the next one. On the final morning we had a very good open meeting to discuss the future of our informal European group, and to decide on where to meet in 2004. There are a number of options for our future, and so we appointed a small Working party of Kostas Tsiklakis (Greece), Lennart Flygare (Sweden) and Eric Whaites (England) to consider the options and report to the Group.