This conference was the second in the series, the first having been held at Los Alamos in 1967. A brief comparison between the material presented at these two meetings indicates how high-beta research has developed in the last five years. Although the number of papers at the two meetings was about the same — just under 60 — work in the field of dense high-beta plasmas has expanded throughout the world since 1967. The main topic at Garching, covered in three sessions out of seven, was "pinches", mostly in toroidal geometry. This contrasts with the Los Alamos conference where the main sessions were on linear theta pinches.