Several times a year, many of the people that make up the facets of Drum Corps International gather together for an annual meeting. This includes the Board of Directors, meeting amongst themselves to plot the future of the organization, the Division II & III corps directors, discussing the special needs of their organizations, the instructors' summit, featuring educational seminars for instructors, and the tour event partners. Directors will also be spending a few hours at Invesco Field, checking out the facility and making suggestions on how to make the August World Championships a logistical success. In the old days, this weekend of events was commonly referred to as the rules congress, and over the course of Drum Corps International's development, what transpired during this weekend went on to dramatically shape the evolution of the junior drum corps activity. Instructors would discuss rules proposals and then send them on to the board of directors to vote on. This is how we ended up with mallet instruments, the pit, two-valve and eventually three-valve bugles, bugles in any key, an increase in the maximum size of Division I corps from 128 to 135 members, the moving to June 1 (and after) for when a marcher could turn 22 and still march (instead of having to turn 22 after the last day of the DCI season), and now the allowance for amplification. But even when there are few rules changes for the Board of Directors to discuss, there are always hours upon hours of other matters to discuss; such as discussion of which shows to average the results to determine the order of corps at later shows, and when to bring the fans into the process to determine the order at Murfreesboro. The tour event partners will leave knowing more about which corps will be coming to their shows, after a weekend of sharing hints learned from experience about how to attract large audiences to their events. Check on DCI.org throughout the weekend for the latest news coming out of the various meetings being held.