Diplomat Rice accompanied Turkish President Abdullah Gül (center) and his wife, Hayrunnisa, after he delivered a speech in May of last year at the Stanford Business School.

absolutely essential. There is no doubt about that. We are social beings, and engagement with others is so critical.

Recent legislative and regulatory initiatives have been aimed at limiting government employee participation in private sector and association conferences. Some propose a radically restricted opportunity. How do you feel about this? You know how conferences work better than I. It is about learning, about the time [spent] over coffee and meals, and the informal chats in the hallway [that] are so valuable. You get an idea and there is someone right there whom you can talk to about it. This creates great excitement, engagement, and energy. We had three departments at Stanford that wanted very much to work together. We put them

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in the same space with no separation, in an open format. The interaction was terrific, and the ideas that resulted were over the top. Face-to-face interaction cannot be replaced with

anything else. Regarding the government, I think they believe they are being financially accountable by cutting back on employees attending meetings. But in reality they are being penny wise and pound foolish. Washington is far too insular. Government employees must get out and explore ideas with oth- ers if they are to be successful.

You have attended hundreds of all kinds of confer- ences and see great learning models at Stanford. What suggestions do you have for professionals who plan meetings about how to design their con- ferences to maximize learning? There are two methods that I want to point out.

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LINDA A. CICERO, STANFORD NEWS SERVICE