The first talk will focus on the development of the International Arthroscopy Association (IAA) from its foundation 1974. As IAA was an open society and wanted as many as possible to join, many did join and its members were young. The second talk will be about International Society of the Knee (ISK) founded in 1976. ISK was small, exclusive, difficult to join and its members were older. With time arthroscopic surgery evolved and the refined equipment such as the rod lens, endoscopic TV, better tools, fibre optics developed, and during that time the top ISK leaders started to retire. Arthroscopy spread to other joints and overlapped with Sports Medicine. The leaders realized this would change the face of orthopaedics and discussed the creation of ISAKOS to meet mutual demands. The third talk will deal with how orthopaedics and orthopaedic surgeons reacted to the revolutionary advances of the late 70s and early 80s and how the group wanted it to be flexible enough to meet the changing needs and be truly international.