Abstract: A method and apparatus to conduct automatically, and moderate absolutely, a networked electronic conference to provide order, maintain constant control, and ensure the best dissemination of information possible. A defined but flexible rule base governs the conference, as executed and interpreted by a conference controller. The rule base comprises a multitude of conference management options and techniques. A main feature of the preferred embodiment is the ability to govern a conference according to a sequence-ordering scheme as defined in the rule base. This conference administration system is independent of the physical implementation of the media or network interconnecting the participants to a conference. Further, it is not limited to the use of any particular means of communication (i.e., voice, textual data, graphical data, etc.).