  Our knowledge of the initial conditions and early stages of high mass star
formation is very limited. We will review recent surveys of regions in the
early stages of massive star formation using molecular tracers of high density
and dust continuum emission and consider the status of evolutionary schemes.
Comparison to the situation for low mass, relatively isolated star formation
will be used to illustrate the outstanding issues in massive star formation.
The problem of initial conditions is particularly acute because there is a lack
of observational evidence for regions capable of forming massive stars BEFORE
star formation actually begins. By analogy with the Pre-Protostellar Cores
(PPCs) studied for low-mass star formation, one might call such regions
Pre-Proto-cluster Cores (PPclCs). We will conclude with some speculation about
what such cores might look like and possibilities for their detection.
