A diplomatic conference on the neutral planet Babel, held in the 2260s to decide whether Coridan would join the Federation, and nearly derailed by an Orion plot.
The Babel Conference was a meeting of Federation delegates on the neutral planet Babel to debate the admission of the Coridan system into the Federation. Coridan was rich in dilithium but thinly populated, and some members profited from raiding it illegally, so the question was hotly contested.
In the episode Journey to Babel, the Enterprise transports ambassadors to the conference, among them Sarek of Vulcan and his wife Amanda Grayson, Spock's parents. During the voyage the Tellarite ambassador Gav is murdered, and suspicion falls on Sarek, who opposes the Tellarites on Coridan. The killer proves to be Thelev, an Orion spy disguised as an Andorian, working to provoke a war that would let the Orions continue raiding Coridan. Meanwhile Sarek needs heart surgery, and Spock must give blood while also commanding the ship.
The planet's name recalls the biblical tower of Babel. Enterprise later depicted an earlier Babel conference in 2154, which Romulans tried to sabotage, linking the name to the founding of the Federation.