The day continued with 3 minute pitches from vendors informing the audience of their key findings and top equipment, then by specific talks where XRF had been used. Some of the talks that I found particularly useful and interesting included ‘light element mapping by WD-XRF’ by Malcolm Haigh, SciMed, ‘The analysis of suspended particulate matter using ED-XRF’ by Andrew Scothern, Malvern Panalytical and ‘Biasing pitfalls in sample preparation for XRF analysis’ by Martin Lischka, HERZOG Maschinenfabrik GmbH. These talks highlighted to me the scope that XRF can have and the impact of having smarter machines can have for businesses. A few seconds quicker at grinding, pouring, releasing of samples, saves a lot of time on the shop floor and money. Procedures in the lab that I take for granted when preparing my XRF sample powders, such as how I transfer my powder or pack it can affect the results and errors I get.