The World Engineering Congress (WEC2002) was a multidisciplinary engineering congress organized jointly by Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Federation of Engineering Institutions of Islamic Countries and Institution of Engineers. Malaysia from 22(nd) to 25(th) July 2002, in the city of Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. It was the first major multidisciplinary engineering event ever held in the country. Under a theme of 'Engineering innovation and sustainability', the congress attracted over 800 technical papers, and was attended by over 1,200 delegates, representing 40 countries worldwide. The congress was run in 8 parallel technical sessions in the field of Biological and Food Engineering, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Civil and Structural Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Engineering Education, Training and Policy, Information & Communication Technology, Manufacturing Engineering, Automation and Robotics, and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, with a common first day of keynote papers presentations. This paper presents an overview of the management and organizational structure of the WEC2002, discusses on the advantages and disadvantages of a multidisciplinary engineering congress, and appraises the effectiveness of such event as a means of communicating and sharing of knowledge.