The earliest haiku conference in the United States is believed to have been the 1st Symposium on English-language Haiku, held on May 16, 1967, at Wisconsin State University—Platteville. The organizers and presenters were James and Gayle Bull, Clement Hoyt, and Robert Spiess, all associated with the journal American Haiku.

Two years after the 1st European Haiku Congress in Bad Neuheim, Germany, in May 2005, successfully completed its work, a second gathering of haiku poets from Europe, Japan, and North America was convened in the historic town of Vadstena, Sweden. Participants included 54 haikuists from 15 countries. The conference was convened under the auspices of the Swedish Haiku Society with economic assistance from the Scandinavia-Japan Sasakawa Foundation. Organizers were Kai Falkman, Florence Vilén, and Helga Härle.

The fifth Haiku North America conference took place at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., July 8–11, 1999. Organizers were Sara Brant, Joseph Kirschner, Lidia Rozmus, and Charles Trumbull. Highlights included Gerald Vizenor on “Haiku Culturalism,” George Swede’s historical overview, “Haiku: Looking East, Looking West,” and Haruo Shirane about Western misconceptions of Japanese haiku, “Haiku: Looking West.”

The inaugural Haiku North America conference, a biennial series of meetings of haiku poets and scholars, convened August 23–25, 1991, at Las Positas College in Livermore, California. The keynote address was given by William J. Higginson.

The second Haiku North America conference took place July 15–18, 1993, at Las Positas College in Livermore, Calif. Keynote addresses were given by James W. Hackett and Jane Hirshfield. More than 90 poets from the United States, Canada, and Japan attended.