At the 6th World Congress on Prevention of Diabetes and its Complications, diabetes prevention experts from science and practice worldwide met in Dresden, Germany. All areas of diabetes prevention were discussed, but most of the presentations, discussions and workshops were dedicated to the practical experiences in diabetes prevention. How to identify people with increased risk and how to establish motivation to change lifestyles were major topics at the meeting. A European practice guideline 'take action to prevent diabetes' was presented at the meeting as a result of the large European IMAGE project. As a call for action, the people presented the global network of individuals active in diabetes prevention and called to establish a virtual global prevention center. The aim is to establish the prevention of diabetes in 'real world' clinical practice.