This book outlines the principles of planning, implementing, and evaluating successful professional meetings and conferences in education. The following are among the topics discussed: (1) the knowledge base of effective meetings and conferences (nine principles held by effective meeting designers; characteristics of effective meetings and conferences; principles of effective adult learning); (2) early planning (identification of target audiences, conference budgets, identification of cosponsors or partners; selection of locations and dates; delegation of responsibility for conference design and planning); (3) design issues (selecting activities and approaches; identifying the view of participants assumed in the design; using the authentic task approach; choosing and supporting speakers; communicating with leaders, facilitators, and presenters; marketing conferences; preparing preconference participant mailings; managing conferences); (4) evaluating a conference or meeting (focusing the evaluation; identifying the evaluation's audience; choosing data collection methods; evaluating the meeting design and process; selecting evaluation methods; using evaluation information to make improvements; and conducting regular evaluations of small meetings and working sessions; and (5) producing conference proceedings (purposes of proceedings and ways to capture the meeting and add analysis to reporting). The following items are appended: examples of topics addressed by professional meeting planners; sample agendas; and sample evaluations. The bibliography lists 23 references. (MN)