The Gordon conferences—R.I.P.?

Until the late'80s, the Gordon Research Conferences were regarded as the premier research meetings in biology, but their prestige has declined rapidly in recent years. The unique position occupied by the Gordon Conferences in American (and indeed international) science makes this decline a matter of concern to the entire community. What is the cause of the problem, and what can be done about it? The difficulties began with the enforcement of a policy to restrict the number of speakers. A Gordon Conference used to consist of-120 participants of whom close to half might be speakers. This format had several beneficial consequences. Most obviously it meant that a great amount of new data was reported. It also brought together a critical mass of people with experience, in fact, a sufficient mass that other researchers of equivalent seniority would attend even though they had not been invited to speak. One of the most attractive features of Gordon Conferences was the near equivalence of speakers and other participants, in contrast with the majority of other meetings , where a small number of speakers in effect address a much larger audience of less eminent researchers. With the number of speakers now reduced to about half of the former level, there are too few to generate a critical mass of scientists as such or to attract others of equivalent seniority to attend. One consequence is a change in the attitude of the invited speakers, who now treat Gordon Conferences like other meetings, arriving for their talk and departing shortly afterward, instead of staying for much or all of the meeting as used to be the case. Speakers at the beginning and end of the meeting may not even meet. Participants have clearly judged that the relatively low content of information does not justify a one week meeting-a reasonable conclusion when meetings elsewhere present a higher content of data in three days or less. Another. consequence is that invitations to more junior researchers to speak have been squeezed out. Also there now seem to be fewer participants from Europe. Another sign of the times is that it used to be difficult for younger scientists to gain admission as participants because of competition from more senior colleagues, but last year the chairman of one meeting that used to be heavily oversubscribed was calling laboratories in the field a week or so before the meeting to beg for …