This year’s Respiratory Medicine Symposium encompassed a variety of clinically relevant topics with particular emphasis on current and future management strategies. Commonly encountered clinical scenarios such as the investigation of solitary pulmonary nodules, advising snorers on surgical options and optimising asthma control in both primary and secondary care as well as rarer conditions such as pulmonary arteriovenous malformations were presented. The Robert W Phillip Memorial Lecture focused on the diagnosis of PE.