 It was organised as an initiative of the International Mediation Institute (IMI).The series was inspired by Harvard law professor Roscoe Pound and a 1976 conference named for him, which was an impetus for the growth in the popularity of mediation in the USA.The GPC series brought Global Pound Conferences to multiple locations around the world in 2016 and 2017, with the aim of raising awareness about the various dispute resolution methods available.