On May 2-4, the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists held its Emerging Leaders Conference in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia. The purpose of the Conference is to support future leaders in our disciplines to learn and share ideas on what contributions they might make and leadership in general. The programme was intended to challenge those in attendance and the discussions were open, wide ranging and sometimes inspiring. The CAI delegates (selected through a competitive process) were Dr Noelle Healy and Cillian Suiter, with National Lead Tutor Dr Kay O’Brien and Prof George Shorten also in attendance.