I know that in the past we have discouraged the notion of a per day
attendance fee because it is an administrative nightmare. Requiring
additional staff to stand at each meeting room to screen badges, ...
[Dan] Why would a color coded badge-per-day system would be an
administrative nightmare? Like Monday = green, Tuesday = Yellow,...,Blue =
the whole week. I do not think that this would require more badge screening
than today. This would certainly encourage a more focused participation
planning.
At the moment:
(1) we don't screen badges at all (except at the terminal room)
The assumption is that if you are at the conference hotel, then
you are attending the IETF. And most importantly, you have paid.
(2) the agenda for the IETF meeting is not finalized until
approximately one or two weeks before the meeting. Long after
registration opens and people have made their hotel and plane
reservations.
The nightmare is caused by:
(1) the need to finalize the agenda for the IETF meetings months in
advance. We all know that most working groups do not set the
agenda for their meetings until the last two weeks. And many (most)
don't even ask for a meeting until the last possible minute.
(It seems to have something to do with the topics for discussion
[Internet-Drafts] not being published until the cut off deadline.)
(2) the need handle additional on-site registration. given the late
notice available to those attending for a single day, the on-site
registration is sure to explode.
(3) the need to enforce the new attendance rules. In the past we have
never enforced payment for the conference by the checking of
badges. I know that I have days without wearing mine especially
now that the wireless networks are in place. I never even walk
into the terminal room unless I have to print something. With
single day attendance we will be forced to hire staff to check
badges to ensure compliance.
Jeffrey Altman * Sr.Software Designer C-Kermit 7.1 Alpha available
The Kermit Project @ Columbia University includes Secure Telnet and FTP
http://www.kermit-project.org/ using Kerberos, SRP, and
kermit-support(_at_)kermit-project(_dot_)org OpenSSL. SSH soon to
follow.