The last time Sinn Féin held their ard fheis in Belfast, devolution was suspended and the DUP was still the largest party at Stormont.
Much has changed in the eight years since, with Michelle O’Neill now in the driving seat as first minister.
But some things according to O’Neill don’t change, as she criticised her power-sharing partners in the DUP, accusing them of holding up delivery in the executive.
It is a tried and tested electoral strategy that has paid off for Sinn Féin in the past, and a reminder that the next assembly election campaign is already well under way.
There is plenty of energy at this year’s ard fheis as some 700 people were in the conference hall to hear her speech, but can Sinn Féin show that its promises to deliver for nationalists at Stormont aren’t static?
If relations on the hill appear fractured, the Sinn Féin vice-president was even less complimentary about the government in London.
She also pointed to the prospect of nationalist parties winning elections in Scotland and Wales next month as growing evidence that more people are in favour of independence although the government and Sinn Féin’s political rivals continue to insist that’s far from the case.