Organisations, councils and businesses connected with promoting Gaelic were all out in force at the conference, along with independent members of the community and Gaelic enthusiasts to discuss all things Gaelic. Attendees were given the chance to sit in on a number of talks on a variety of subjects, covering topics from Adult Gaelic Learning, Strategy for the Arts, funding information, publishing, and loads more!

The range of speakers was impressive and each one gave a memorable presentation. We heard from renowned singer Julie Fowlis on how Gaelic has and continues to help her, Arthur Cormack, Dr Wilson MacLeod, Margaret Mary Murray, Brian O hEadhra, David Boag, Anne Lorne Gillies and many others, all shared their experience, knowledge and expertise to demonstrate how far Gaelic had come and how far it could go.

Appearing as a guest speaker was Jim Mather, the Chief Executive of Maori TV channel in New Zealand. Maori TV has become a huge success and Mr Mather was there to share his experience of promoting a minority language. Mather’s talk was inspirational and gave real food for Gaelic thought as he told of how the once tiny TV channel had expanded to two channels and had secured the rights to screening a future Rugby World Cup...which would be the equivalent of BBC ALBA being the main channel for Football World Cup coverage in the UK!

The entire conference was held in Gaelic but simultaneous translation was available with the use of headsets. All in all, the conference was a success and if anything, it showed people that the future is bright for Gaelic and well worth fighting for and that our actions do in fact count!