The European Association of Echocardiography - and the future of European echocardiography.

The decision to establish a major annual conference was the crucial step in our development from the Working Group on Echocardiography of the ESC, ultimately into the EAE, and the Euroecho meeting remains the jewel in our crown. In Florence last December we had a record attendance of almost 2900 participants from 82 countries, including a record number from industry. More abstracts than ever before were submitted (about 1100) and so the standard for acceptance was raised while the absolute number of presentations also increased. All these figures are gratifying since they explain the increasingly strong financial position of the EAE, which allows us to support new initiatives. A more interesting