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The principal business meeting of ICMCI is the biennial Congress held, as defined, every second year. It is attended by the full Council (trustees and officers) and by invited guests from countries not represented by an ICMCI institute member. In addition, any individual member who is not a member of Council but who is a member of an ICMCI institute may attend as a non-voting delegate.

In between the biennial Congresses ICMCI convenes an Executive Committee and Working Party meeting on the off year to conduct committee business and prepare for the biennial Congress. All members of ICMCI institutes are invited to attend. 

In addition, ICMCI may conduct one or more regional meetings of ICMCI participants and guests during the two years in the European, Asia/Pacific and Americas Hubs. The Hubs are regional clusters of ICMCI member institutes who meet to address regional issues.

All ICMCI meetings are generally self-financing, with the participants (or their sponsoring institutes) paying their fair share of the meeting costs. 

Preparation and Conduct of Council Business Meetings

ICMCI participants, including officers, trustees and other committee or work force members have a joint responsibility to ensure the success of the biennial Council Congress. This requires the commitment and self-discipline to prepare for the business of these meetings over the full span of months between meetings, to keep the Executive Committee informed of work in progress, and to share professional reports and papers well in advance of the next meeting.

Ø       Committee papers highlighting the decisions and inputs that will be required of the Council must be delivered to the Secretariat a minimum of three weeks in advance of the Congress to enable circulation to all member institute representatives and their boards. There is ample advance time to prepare for this deadline. Papers that do not meet this deadline should not be presented at Congress.

Ø       Generally, papers should follow a standard format with the action decision or proposal statement up front as follows

o        committee objective

o        action decision or proposal

o        budget or support required

o        background and progress report

o        plan and time frame

o        committee members

This is the manner in which the paper would be taken up in the business meeting: first the action or proposal to be discussed and then the discussion. If the paper is a report that does not involve an action or proposal decision, this heading should be replaced with a summary statement.

Ø       All papers should use the ICMCI document numbering protocol discussed below.

Ø       All papers should be reviewed by the Executive Committee, or a sub-committee thereof, before the Congress. Where appropriate the position or recommendation of the Executive Committee should be made clear during the discussion at Congress. This review is not intended to censor or inhibit the initiative and freedom of the presenter. However, the Executive Committee may suggest changes in the presentation format to enhance understanding of the issues.

Ø       Member institutes that are unable to be represented at Congress should be invited to send their input to the Executive Committee prior to Congress and these should be shared with the delegates at the appropriate times in the discussion.

Ø       Once a paper has been issued, it must be rigidly adhered to as the basis for discussion and decision. It is not fair to delegates who have prepared to discuss the issues as presented in the pre-conference materials to then discuss a later or different model.

Ø       Every Congress session should have a designated chairman and a presenter. These should be individuals other than the ICMCI chairman whenever appropriate, to encourage the broadest possible involvement of the trustees.

Ø       All presentations must use professional visual aids with reasonably frequent references to the text. This is particularly critical as the official language of the Congress, English, is a second language of many trustees.

Ø       At the end of every session a summary must be prepared by the session chair of what has been learned or agreed.

As a general rule, no ad-lib discussions will be heard except in general business, without notice and a written paper. This has been deemed necessary to ensure smooth timely management of the program.