Thanks in large part to the travel grant generously provided by the SSA NSW branch, I was able to travel to Canberra for this years YSC2019 event. The conference is a biennial event for students and early career statisticians to talk about what they've been working on, as well as meet their peers from around the country. The program featured a wide range of topics from biostatistics all the way to computer science, and this was my first time presenting in such a formal setting. The venue was a function room in Manuka Oval with round tables and seats facing the stage for the speaker. We had sweeping views of the green grass of the cricket ground through the floor to ceiling windows.

I listened to all the talks first day and left impressed by the variety of the research projects on display, and the engaging way in which they were presented by the delegates. I was able to give my talk on likelihood asymptotics for Normal mixtures on the second day. While I was nervous at first, I took this it as a rare opportunity as it's not everyday having a captive audience listening to limit theorems in statistics. I was able to enjoy my short time on the podium and walked off with a big smile.

The event also featured keynote speakers Dr. Calvin Hung from Quantum Black, who spoke about his experience working in consulting and how the advent of big data has changed the scope of data analytics, citing applications from tracking racers in Formula One to improving efficiency of mining operations in central Australia. Dr. Allison Hill from RStudio spoke about her idea of 'literate projecting', advocating researchers to broadcast their own personal projects in an accessible manner via personal websites and social media.

The conference dinner was held at the Kingston Hotel where we all enjoyed delicious pub food and enjoyed each other's company over drinks. Overall, this was a greatly memorable few days and I'd like to congratulate the SSA for organising such a wonderful event. I'm keenly keeping an eye out for the next SSA event that I can attend!