On Mar 18, Brian E Carpenter <brian(_at_)hursley(_dot_)ibm(_dot_)com> wrote:
That's an interesting assertion, but it isn't true. The decline in IETF
attendance
since the economic downturn started is across the board - large companies are
just as sensitive to meeting costs as small companies or individuals. The
whole
idea of tiered prices is based on a massive misunderstanding of the way
companies
manage expenses.
I can assure you it isn't. Have you noticed that nobody from any company has
piped up in this thread to say "oooh, no, that would be a bad idea!". I can
assure you that for large multi-nationals the difference between paying $500
for a delegate and $5000 is a drop in the proverbial ocean, especially when
it comes to standards tracking. Those companies who are whining about
economic downturn are unlikely to send anybody even at $500/head. Those that
value the IETF meetings will see a raised price as being an investment
regardless of price.
In addition, I still find it amazing that people are justifying costs due to
the number of breakfasts and cookies being served. The word 'ludicrous' is
overused on this list, but I think I've found a situation it applies to -
please, ask yourself whether the cookies are really needed. :-)
There seems to be a circular argument occuring here to justify why companies
should be able to send hundreds of employees along at the cost of active
participation from individuals who may very well have valid points - I'm
sure the IETF are interested in hearing from the OSS community as well,
aren't they? Put it this way - let's suppose an organisation wishes to send
more than one rep to a meeting. They pay $250 more per head - if there are
five reps then thats an extra $1250. You then have a choice of either
letting two individuals in for free, or giving a discount of $250 to 5
individuals, or whatever. The company doesn't mind, you probably increase
attendance, and you're STILL not loosing money. Which bit of "you're not
going to see cash disappear if you do this" are people having problems
understanding?
Actually, like I suggested in my previous mail, I suspect that certain
individuals involved with the IETF are quite happy with hob-nobbing with the
big multi-nationals and don't give a damn what lone consulants and
developers who actually have to deploy the technologies think, and I'm
beginning to strongly suspect that if all individual participants crawled
under a rock and never showed any further interest in the IETF, many people
would break open the champagne. Shame really. Ho-hum.
--
Paul Robinson