Dubai’s promotional tagline, ‘the meeting place of the world’, rang true last December, when more than 15,000 participants gathered there for the World Congress, making it the most successful Congress ever organized by IDF – and not only in terms of the number of people attending: net revenues from Dubai broke all records. But these impressive figures tell only a part of the story of an historic event that capped a stellar year for diabetes. In this report, Sir Michael Hirst offers his unique view, as both IDF President Elect and a person affected by diabetes, of the Dubai Congress.