The purpose of this article is to briefly illustrate the development of a course of specialized conference interpreting at the University of Vigo (Spain) such as it was delivered during the second term of 2004 in the language pair English-Spanish. The description of materials does not intend to be exhaustive, since these are just a sample of the many that might have been used. It is, however, the author's intention, to show the profusion of variables to which our students are subject to, in an attempt to mirror the changing conditions of the labour market. Nonetheless, the central component of this article will be the results of a survey on students´ perceptions of the course. This will help to determine if we are truly meeting our teaching objectives in an attempt to develop the skills of prospective interpreters. One of these is to make students aware of the complexity of professional interpreting and the many variables relevant for a high-quality performance.