The conference used legislative power, gave instructions and orders to the Senate, the Synod, the colleges and other central institutions of the empire.

Formally, the Conference was equal in its significance to the Senate and the Synod, but by decree of October 5, 1756, it received the right to send them "resolutions to execution" in the form of extracts from the protocols.

It did not become a body of national importance and solved special tasks, mainly related to conducting a coherent domestic and foreign policy on the eve of and during the Seven Years' War.

In addition to them, to the order of the Empress, the members of the "presence" were the most influential senators and (during the first year of the Conference) the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Pyotr Fyodorovich.

So, Anton Kersnovsky, the author of the well-known "History of the Russian Army", finds that the Conference was “under Russian conditions a worsened edition of the notorious "Hofkriegsrat": The conference immediately fell entirely under Austrian influence and, commanding the army a thousand versts from St. Petersburg, was led, it seemed, first and foremost by respecting the interests of the Vienna Cabinet.After the accession of Emperor Peter III on January 5, 1762, the Conference lost its independent significance and was abolished by imperial decree of February 8, 1762[1] in connection with the planned withdrawal of Russia from the Seven Years' War.