Subject: Re: IETF #53 Schedule Stability

From: Stephen Trowbridge <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 21 Feb 2002 13:43:23 -0700

Michel,
I am not asking to move "my" meetings in close proximity. If they
were Monday and Thursday (or Friday A.M.), then I have to deal with it,
but I can still by a cheap ticket.
What I am asking is that if, on March 1, the agenda says my meetings
are Monday and Tuesday, and I buy a cheap ticket to go home Wednesday,
the agenda doesn't change on March 11 moving my meetings to Thursday
and Friday.
IETF is one of four standards organizations in which I participate.
In the past, a last minute change would mean that my company would
pay extra on my travel voucher to cover the penalties. Today, I
have hard limits on expenditures and a last minute change means I
either cancel this trip, or I cancel another trip to pay the
penalties for the change. It doesn't seem like too much to ask
that the WG and BOF times are set within a week of having all of
the requests to avoid participants having to make these kinds of
choices. I would be surprised if I am the only participant facing
these kinds of "new economy" rules.
Steve

Michel Py wrote:
> 
> Steve,
> 
> > As the deadline for requests is February 22, would it
> > be possible to stabilize the agenda (at least WG and
> > BOF meeting times, not necessarily WG agendas) by
> > March 1? This would still allow for 14-day advance
> > purchase of airline tickets.
> 
> I think you are asking for a miracle here...... Don't get we wrong I
> would love it too.
> 
> And there will be too many situations when the only two meetings you are
> interested in are on Monday and Thursday.
> 
> Michel.

---

From: "Lars-Erik Jonsson (EPL)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 09:54:17 +0100

Stephen,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stephen Trowbridge [mailto:[email-masked]]
> Sent: February 21, 2002 21:43

> the agenda doesn't change on March 11 moving my meetings to Thursday

If you are only interested in one or a few WG(s), and if you are not
going to IETF meetings to get a broader picture and get involved in
fruitful hallway discussions that can not be scheduled, it might be
worth considering not to go at all. Everything that happened at the
scheduled meetings will be reported in the minutes, and final decisions
are still taken on the mailing lists.

> IETF is one of four standards organizations in which I participate.

Ever considered to get more seriously involved in the IETF, or focus
on the other bodies?

The unstable characteristics of our agendas may also be seen as a feature, 
forcing us to stay for the whole week and thereby (slowly) get a better
understanding of the broader picture, which our future IETF work will
benefit from.

Cheers,
/Lars-Erik