If the goal of the conference is to demonstrate how to close the implementation gap for health promotion, it was accomplished today in the session Mainstreaming Health Promotion in Response to Pandemics, or as Michael Sparks rather have put it Response to Pandemics with Mainstream Health Promotion. Excellent examples were given on inter-sectoral collaboration for pandemic response to influenza and addressing malaria. In order to help settings prepare and respond to pandemic influenza, the Global Influenza Program joined forces with the Health Promotion Unit to generate guides for workplaces, schools and municipalities. One of the key successes of the project in addition to the timely manuals is that health promotion was utilized to frame the documents without ever mentioning the terms health promotion. A key message across the panel presentations was that it requires health promotion practitioners to step outside their box to utilize health promotion principles as the base for interventions while framing the interventions in laymen’s terms. We heard from Singapore’s example of a sophisticated communication campaign as a community mechanism to respond to the pandemic, and from Australia’s example of a pandemic response plan based in health promotion principles. Mainstreaming health promotion for pandemics highlighted the collaboration and coordination necessary with other sectors to successfully respond to a pandemic, as well as utilizing the approach for endemic issues such as malaria. Dynamic presentations with engaging speakers allowed for a true demonstration of closing the implementation gap for health promotion.