Welcome
Dear Delegates
It is a particular pleasure to welcome you to the 18th Annual Meeting of our Society in London, UK.
Our annual congress is characterised by its strong scientific content and its friendliness. Every year we attract new members to our society and new delegates to our conference. This year I anticipate new colleagues from around Europe and the World to attend the ESMAC Gait Course, which is well established and recognised for the high quality of its teaching, and the completeness of its course content. We also have a continuing education programme in which we have advanced lectures and case studies. This tends to attract advanced movement analysts and also those professionals with clinical experience of assessing and treating movement problems who want to know more about what 3D movement analysis can offer them. The quality of the research presented, the openness of the delegates and the quality of the exhibition makes the ESMAC meeting a highlight in the yearly calendar.
London promises to be one of the best meetings yet. We are in a historic venue in the centre of the city. I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to the Local Organising Committee of ESMAC 2009.
I wish you a successful ESMAC 2009 Meeting and an enjoyable stay in London.
Kind regards
Tim Theologis (Chair, ESMAC)
Dear Friends
ESMAC is a very special society to me and our Annual Conference is the highlight of my year. My first ESMAC conference was in Belfast in 1998 and I was a novice to movement analysis. I was so impressed by the scientific content of the meeting and by the warmth of the delegates. The meeting gave me the chance to talk through difficult clinical and technical subject matter with kind and thoughtful experts.
One of the best features of ESMAC is the multidisciplinary nature of the meeting. The complexity of clinical movement analysis means that it does not belong to one professional discipline and we have to work together to do the best for our patients and for our researches. In practice, that means we have more dynamic discussions and debates at ESMAC than any other meeting I know.
This year’s meeting is in London, the home of our gait analysis laboratory, and a city of which I am very proud. We are in a fantastic venue at the heart of the entertainment district. Some of the world’s best clubs, bars, galleries, museums, theatres, shops and restaurants are within 10 minutes walk.
So… welcome. Welcome to my favourite conference in my favourite city.
All the best,
Adam Shortland PhD
Chair of the Local Organising Committee.