Conference

Conference, a meeting of the representatives of a number of states for political or diplomatic purposes. It is usually distinguished from a Congress (q.v.) as having only the power to discuss and prepare arrangements; while a congress has the power of deciding and concluding. But it is difficult to draw a precise line between the two; thus the Congo Conference at Berlin in 1884 was practically a congress.—Conference is also the name of the supreme synod of the Methodists (q.v.).