The word ‘conference’ is derived from the Latin “conferre”, meaning ‘to gather together, to compare’. Synonyms include meeting, gathering or association. At a conference, participants usually gather around a blackboard to exchange ideas.
What is a conference?
A conference brings together members of organisations that are often scattered over a wide area or within a professional group or industry to discuss specific topics of mutual interest.
Well-known examples include scientific conferences, press conferences, web, video or telephone conferences, and, in politics, the Conference of Ministers of Education. A meeting is a special form of conference.
Long tables at which people sit opposite each other to exchange ideas are therefore called conference tables, also known as block tables. The optimal seating arrangement is usually banquet seating (see also Seating).
