The leaders of professional societies are often much less precise about managing the organization than when operating their clinical practice or performing research. Reinventing the wheel each year an annual meeting was planned was not part of the management style of the Founders.
A Meeting Manual was produced before the Memphis meeting in 1951 and it was revised and extended annually during the early years of the CNS. It provided a written meeting memory to guide successive Arrangements and Program Chairmen. This practice contributed to the continuity and precision of CNS operations. This is the principle of the Meeting (or Organization Operations) Manual.