While the organization of an international congress on in vitro fertilization (IVF) was an entirely new venture for us in 1983, since we had no experience but were full of optimism, we approached the organization of a second Congress in Vien na in 1986 much more calmly. Our experience had increased as had the readiness of many of our friends to help and of people interested in cooperating. However, would our Congress not lose its originality on account of the increased routine? This was certainly a possible danger which we wanted to prevent by means of two counter measures. The first...