This survey was undertaken to ascertain what clinical investigators liked and disliked about the meetings that precede the initiation of clinical trials and to determine if there are any differences in opinion between those investigators engaged in private practice and those affiliated with academic institutions. A 16-item multiple choice survey was mailed to 565 clinical investigators. Sixty-three percent of those polled returned the survey. A majority of respondents (67%) believes that attendance at investigators' meetings is beneficial to themselves and to their coordinators. Seventy percent prefer to attend a multicenter meeting in lieu of having an on-site initiation. Private practitioners prefer weekend meetings (59%) held at resorts (54%) where as academicians favored meetings to be held mid-week (42%) and were less unified as to the type of facility. The last choice for a meeting's location was the Northeast. More investigators prefer to make their own travel arrangement than to use a central travel planner. Both groups of investigators believe that the most beneficial parts of the meeting for themselves and for their coordinators are a formal presentation of the protocol and a discussion/answer session about the study. There was generalized agreement that the study's coordinator is the principal beneficiary of a discussion about the central laboratory. It is less clear who actually benefits from discussions of the drug brochure, FDA guidelines, case report form, etc.