Summitry, an established and popular form of contemporary international diplomacy, requires enormous efforts of preparation and organization by literally thousands of people. So too with TIME staff members. This week's preview of the dual Western alliance summits at Versailles and in Bonn, and the visits by President Reagan with America's closest allies, required substantial preparation by TIME bureaus--including previews of the summit written by five European statesmen and collected by Senior European Correspondent William Rademaekers.

In Paris, Bureau Chief Jordan Bonfante and his correspondents, supplemented by European Economic Correspondent Lawrence Malkin, were working on the summit scheduled to begin Friday at Louis XIV's baroque chateau. The bureau was also setting up its own additional facilities outside the press center in a hotel 400 yards from the chateau gates; these included telex connections with the bureau's main office 14 miles away in downtown Paris. In London, Bureau Chief Bonnie Angelo made detailed preparations to cover the Reagans' stay at Windsor Castle, even as the bureau, including Frank Melville and Art White, continued with its eighth consecutive week of reporting on the Falklands war. At the same time, Correspondent Mary Cronin was chronicling Pope John Paul II's historic visit to Britain. From Bonn, which will handle the last leg of the presidential tour, Bureau Chief Roland Flamini was trying to anticipate the possible diplomatic repercussions of planned demonstrations by the large West German antinuclear movement. Correspondent Diane L. Coutu was already in West Berlin laying the reportorial groundwork for President Reagan's visit to that symbolic city.

Accompanying President Reagan on his travels are White House Correspondent Laurence Barrett and State Department Correspondent Gregory H. Wierzynski. For Barrett, who interviewed the President this week on his preparations for the summit, it was familiar turf. He had traveled with White House Aide Michael Deaver on a five-day advance scouting trip of the President's itinerary. Also in the summit party to Europe are four TIME photographers. One of them, David Hume Kennerly, last week shot a cover photograph of the President in his private quarters aboard Air Force One. The luxury jet's departure was delayed five minutes so that Kennerly could complete his photo session. Says he: "I could hear the meter ticking on the world's most expensive taxi."

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