Moreover, though some criticise the Commonwealth for being little more than a talking shop, it is a talking shop that poor countries (Zimbabwe apart) seem to like.
Once a talking shop, the parliament's powers have steadily expanded over the past 20 years.
Right now 1, 000 investment professionals are talking shop at the Morningstar investment conference in Chicago.
Some want to transform the Forum from a talking shop into a more unified political movement.
And an occasional talking shop is useful for donors to compare projects and see which work best.
Panel chairman Lord Best said it would not be just a talking shop, but would offer "real answers".
BBC: NEWS | UK | England | London | Experts to debate housing crisis
Kazakhstan also this year chairs the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, a Vienna-based post-cold-war talking shop.
This convention may look too much like just another EU talking shop, but its founders insist it is revolutionary.
And he raised doubts as to whether the new Creative Industries Council would prove anything more than a "talking shop".
BBC: Peers call on government to support creative industries
But none of the 'stans has become a member of the Council of Europe (another talking shop and human-rights guardian, based in Strasbourg).
Sceptics argue that a middle ranking conference about Palestinian reform is one more talking shop which will simply emphasise the problems and not provide the solutions.
Some say the most workable attitude is simply to acknowledge that their husbands aren't going to be there and have fun talking shop with clients and colleagues anyway.
Scottish National Party fisheries spokesman Richard Lochhead wished the new council well - but agreed that it would be "nothing short of a worthy but glorified talking shop".
BBC: NEWS | UK | Scotland | First meeting for fishing summit
The Dakar Conference will just be another talking shop if governments are allowed to give lame excuses about shortcomings in girls education, run-down schools, inadequate teaching-learning aids, poor teacher supply, and funding.
Without a binding manifesto, it distinguishes itself from other parties by the absence of a party whip, which it claims reduces the House of Commons to a "talking shop" that accepts the government's proposals with little scrutiny.
Global warming, dwindling water supplies and the eradication of poverty are among other topics to be tackled by the forum, which is often dismissed as a talking shop that achieves little in the way of concrete progress.
Labour MP Margaret Curran, the shadow Scottish secretary, said the country was trapped between "a UK government that cuts tax credits for working families and a Scottish government that's prepared to launch another talking shop instead of a real plan to get people back to work now".
Those who see the UN as a mere talking-shop should remember that its first meeting on AIDS launched the Global Fund.
The Council of Europe, a continent-wide talking-shop that is the guardian of many international legal conventions, has a treaty on cybercrime dating from 2001.
The World Economic Forum , a talking-shop for the world's leading businessmen and politicians, is abandoning Davos in Switzerland as the venue for next year's annual jamboree.
From now on, the G20 will replace the narrower, Western-dominated G8 as the primary global economic talking-shop, giving the likes of China, India and Brazil a permanent seat at the table.
The United States appointed a special envoy to ASEAN, based in Jakarta, signed the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Co-operation, and has taken part in the ASEAN Regional Forum, a security talking-shop.
But in the shop it's Jourden who does most of the talking, especially if the topic is the romance of hitting the open road on a bike with your buddies.
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