This proceedings report presents the outcomes from an international expert meeting to establish consensus guidelines on IVF culture conditions. Topics reviewed and discussed were: embryo culture – basic principles and interactions; temperature in the IVF laboratory; humidity in culture; carbon dioxide control and medium pH; oxygen tension for embryo culture; workstations – design and engineering; incubators – maintaining the culture environment; micromanipulation – maintaining a steady physcochemical environment; handling practices; assessment practices; culture media – buffering and pH, general composition and protein supplementation, sequential or single-step media for human embryo culture; use and management – cold chain and storage; test equipment – calibration and certification; and laboratory equipment and real-time monitoring.