Most of the 60 or so delegates and observers were in the older age bracket.
They were in a small conference venue and there was still room for more.
Apart from the usual scattering of Young Nationals, much of the audience was made up of grey-haired, long-time attenders.
The new Waitaki electorate, the largest geographically by far, had 14 delegates.
In the past, the former Otago and Waitaki electorates could be relied on to provide up to 40 delegates. This is heartland National Party territory.
The Otago Daily Times has observed some of the same delegates over the past 20 years, as the conferences have shrunk from a Friday night to Sunday afternoon events, to a cocktail function on Friday night and ending late Saturday afternoon.
There were some notable absences of long-time delegates, who have long provided thoughtful contributions to the policy debates that were nowhere to be seen this year.
Delegate participation has become almost non-existent, except for morning and afternoon tea breaks and lunch chats with fellow delegates.
There were closed door sessions for delegates to talk about list ranking, campaigning and other in-house measures. Even the election of regional officers was kept private this year.
At the Friday night function, there were a few younger members and supporters there to meet leader John Key. Very few of them were seen on Saturday. By younger, think people in their 40s.
Rejuvenation is a problem faced not only by political organisations and parties.
Many community groups have a tough time attracting members, particularly ones willing to take on any form of responsibility.
With National well ahead in the polls, tradition suggests that supporters who only want to be seen on a winning side should be flocking to the party.
They are nowhere to be seen.
Now, an electorate like Clutha-Southland, home to the party's deputy leader Bill English, is happy to have 1000 members.
Some larger, individual branches a few years ago could claim 500 members.
Unless the party finds some way of attracting and retaining new members, young or old, the prospect of a South Island division or region looms large.
- Otago Daily Times political editor Dene Mackenzie has attended political party conferences since 1969, when he was still at high school.
