Here, he writes about his pride in being a Liberal Democrat and the privilege of helping to make party policy.

After all, I had been told a fair number of conference stories and even received the odd warning from some seasoned conference veterans.

Kevin Lang shakes the hand of Nicol Stephen

However, when I turned up at the venue on a particularly cold October morning in 1997, I was met by a conference with few beards and precious little in the way of sandals.

Instead, I found a forum where genuine and open debate was encouraged, where differences of opinion were tolerated and where, despite any disagreements, people finished the day as friendly as they started.

Allowing party members to discuss and ultimately decide party policy, even if it sometimes causes the party leadership the odd headache, remains the centrepiece of our conference ten years on.

It is also one of the reasons I take pride in being a Liberal Democrat.

Few of the other party conferences offer their members that kind of opportunity to shape party policy.

'Extended-family'

However, conference is more than sitting in the hall, listening and contributing to debates.

Attendees can be assured of meeting representatives from the widest possible range of groups, companies and organisations, only too keen to talk to you about their latest campaign or the issues they believe need addressed.

For me though, the most enjoyable part of conference is catching up with old friends and making new ones, reciting stories of elections won and looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead.