ABSTRACT
In a large, complex, rapidly changing modern society, an institution like a conference or a meeting takes many forms, and each detail of form and phrasing carries a different freight of meaning to the participants. Every innovation, specifically designed to escape from the limitations or implications of some traditional form, either bears initially or rapidly acquires a new set of such meanings. So that even in planning a conference within a single culture, it is important for the planners to recognize explicitly the kinds of choices that they are making when they pick the place of meeting, the time of day, the form of invitation, the methods of choosing the participants, the procedure for the discussion, and the form that the results of the meeting will take. There is great significance in each such detail.
