Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are envisioned to enable a variety of applications including environmental monitoring, building and plant automation, homeland se- rity and healthcare. It has been argued that one of the key characteristics of sensor networks is that they are tightly coupled with the applications running on top of them. Although WSNs have been an active area of research for over a decade, real world sensor network deployments have not yet found their way to widespread adoption. The experience gained and lessons learned during the initial attempts to deploy WSNs and implement various sensor network applications are very valuable for the - vancement of this technology. Recognizing the need of a conference dedicated to practical aspects of WSN p- taining to their employment in a plethora of applications, ICST launched SENSAPPEAL as a yearly event whose first edition took place in September 2009 at the Athens Information Technology campus in the outskirts of Athens, Greece.