Conference Management

Abstract

As we have seen, a multilateral conference is a gathering of many delegates and other participants, each with their own purposes and objectives. At the same time, the conference that they constitute also has a collective purpose: to fulfil its mandate and execute its agenda. The outcome — if there is one — will be agreement (complete or partial) on a number of propositions (procedural and/or substantive), each expressed in a set of words. This outcome will be determined by whatever has been done before the conference assembles with a view to predetermining its outcome, and by how the interaction of the various individual and collective purposes of the conference participants is resolved. This resolution is a complex process which needs to be managed.