Folks,
HTA> I'm more worried about the differential impact raising fees would have - it
HTA> would mean very little for the "professional standardizers" from the
HTA> vendors, but would have a negative effect on the self-funded, the academics
HTA> and other groups that help us preserve a multifaceted perspective on what
HTA> the Internet is and should be.
Participants-on-a-budget have a number of notable challenges to
consider:
1. Expense of getting to the meeting site
2. Hotel expense
3. IETF fees
The cheapest travel venues are international hubs... with many
airlines providing competing service. For example, San Francisco is
probably pretty good for this, especially since the region is serviced
by three airports. Having to travel an extra air leg from the hub,
only makes sense when the site costs are substantially lower, to
offset the extra travel.
On the other hand, the IETF hotel in S.F. is not all that cheap,
running perhaps USD 30 per day higher than we have usually been
seeing. IETF planning used to include secondary hotels for those with
limited budgets. That stopped some time ago. It would be nice to have
IETF meeting planning add this sort of information back in.
By paying attention to keeping the travel costs down, IETF planning
can make it much easier for attendees can be in a position to pay
higher meeting fees.
As noted, there also are both tactical (eg, streamlined food and
communication services) and strategic (eg, long-term contracts)
changes that well might bring meeting costs down.
Ted Ts'o highlighted the key requirement: Let's make our choices based
on serious cost consideration, with other concerns being secondary.
d/
ps. it is worth noting that repeated use of a small set of venues
will make net access, as well as costs, better.
--
Dave Crocker <mailto:dcrocker(_at_)brandenburg(_dot_)com>
Brandenburg InternetWorking <http://www.brandenburg.com>
Sunnyvale, CA USA <tel:+1.408.246.8253>, <fax:+1.866.358.5301>