In 1954, a group of businessmen, politicians, and academics from Europe and North America met at the Bilderberg Hotel in the Netherlands for an off-the-record conference about the economy and society.

• Notable members: Tony Blair, Hillary Clinton, Henry Kissinger, Larry Summers, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Stephen Harper

• Theatrics: Meeting in a shadowy hotel, no attributed quotes allowed. Other than that? Sounds like an invitation-only ted Talk.

• Testimony: “If the Council on Foreign Relations raises the hackles of the conspiracy theorists, the Bilderberg meetings must induce apocalyptic visions of omnipotent international bankers plotting with unscrupulous government officials to impose cunning schemes on an ignorant and unsuspecting world.” — David Rockefeller, chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations and Chase Manhattan Bank

Since 1878, American businessmen have flocked to a 2,700-acre ranch in Northern California to socialize and frolic in the woods.