History

In 1984,company founder Mitchell Beer created InfoLink Consultants Inc., the one-person business venture that would grow into The Conference Publishers. Armed only with his trusty “portable” Kaypro 4 computer and a commitment to accurate, timely writing and editing, Mitchell quickly established a reputation for innovation and reliability.

When an early client mentioned that her fledgling organization was about to hold an important national conference, but had no idea how they’d document the event, Mitchell offered an unusual—and daring—solution. Why not send a team of writers onsite to produce, edit, assemble, and print a final summary report by the time participants left the closing session?

By the time Mitchell left the client’s office that day, The Conference Publishers’ signature product had been born. The new approach required not only excellent notetaking, writing, and editing skills, but seamless logistics. With each new project, the firm refined the production process, adapting its report formats and logistics to match clients’ needs as perfectly as possible.

Clients knew they could count on concise, timely, accurate summaries of presentations and discussions. And they learned that InfoLink’s reports could help maintain a conference’s momentum, spurring further discussion among participants and spreading the meeting’s message to the larger audience.

In the late 1990s the company began affiliating with organized meetings industry associations. Staff have since contributed thousands of volunteer hours to the Green Meeting Industry Council, the Accepted Practices Exchange of the Convention Industry Council, the Ottawa Chapter of Meeting Professionals International (MPI), and the Ottawa-Gatineau Chapter of the Canadian Society of Association Executives. Mitchell Beer was also a founding trustee of MPI’s Canadian foundation and served as project manager for MPI Canada’s 2008 study of the economic impact of meetings and events.

The company continued to grow and evolve, and in 2006 we became The Conference Publishers. We’ve produced conference reports, newsletters, thematic summaries, white papers, and decision notes, online and in print, for more than 3,000 conferences—from the smallest administrative meetings, to global congresses with up to 33,000 attendees.