Meetings were generally held in locations where there would be few side detractions and participants were to stay for the entire time. Thus in several ways the meetings were to be different from the meetings of the various professional societies where individuals may appear just in time for their presentations and leave shortly after, such meetings usually do not foster any sort of congenial togetherness. Originally participation was to be by invitation only BUT any interested person could contact the organizing committee to ask that they be invited. While many of the meetings have been held in the western US at least a few have been in the east and midwest. The most recent meeting was held in 1996 in Guanajuato, MX and brought a whole new group of people in contact.
Someone still surfaces each year to propose a location and make the local arrangements.
The involvement of individuals working in many disciplines is a strength of geostatistics but it makes identifying and organizing the community more difficult.