I had a great time at IISAC2010.
After a very wobbly last 3-4 months in my personal life, my motivation for astronomy and organising IISAC has been very low - but now I'm glad I persisted. It was a lot of fun.
It's a shame Thursday and Friday were clouded out, but after the high expectations that Saturday would also be clouded out, it was a very very pleasant surprise when it cleared around 8:30/9pm and we got 6 hours of clear skies. A great way to end the star party.
The views through Rod's 20" SDM were fantastic.
I guess the one benefit of cloudy skies is that there was much more socialising and chatting, and it was great to catch up with so many old and new friends.
A few thanks:
- Thanks to our Guest Speakers - Phil Hart, Al Sheehan, Chris Lidman and Prof Fred Watson. All were entertaining and educational. It was fantastic to see Fred get the guitar out later and serenade us during dinner
- Thanks to the sponsors - Andrews Communications, Wildcard Innovations and Australian Sky&Telescope. I appreciate your support.
- Thanks to the fantastic people who helped out during setup and cleanup, especially Al Sheehan, David and Kerry, Ric, Logan, Monte and anyone else I've forgotten (sorry!). It was really appreciated and made my job a lot easier.
- Thanks to Fred V (bassnut) for generously bringing along and setting up his PA system. It makes a real difference to be able to communicate to those on the bottom field as well as around and bottom house. You're a legend!
- Thanks to RB for doing the photography on Saturday!
- Thanks to Al Meehan for the screen printing.
- Thanks to the Gresford RFB for their excellent catering as usual. 3 course meals for $15! What great value, and great tasting too!
I hope I haven't forgotten anyone!
I'll be posting a link to the feedback form sometime today, so please take the time to provide feedback, as it will help me with the next IISAC event.
I'll post some pics in the next day or two.
Cheers