These methodological guidelines suggest recommendations to Chairpersons and Secretaries of PIARC Technical Committees aiming at convincing them of the desirability of organising seminars in conjunction with certain plenary meetings of their Committees or Groups and give them some advice for this purpose.

The seminar format enables a public interested in a well-defined subject to come together for a limited period (generally between one and three days). For the Committee, and further, for PIARC, the main aim of seminars is to improve the dissemination of information to a wider public; and above all, in return, to better stimulate exchanges of experience with countries in the region where the seminar is organized. Incidentally, when the objective is to discuss an interim report, the seminar may increase the number of people consulted and thus eventually form a better basis for the Committee's final report.