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Re: Excellent choice for summer meeting location!

2005-01-01 08:49:00

IETF destinations are always an interesting discussion,
I know this thread is going to generate a lot of fun :-)
We have already brought up points about heat waves,
terrorists, CO2 emissions, wine, and relative city
violence rates. I'm looking forward to the rest of
this thread...

But I wanted to continue the touristy part discussion
that you Paul brought up:

Your concern over the travel budgets of others is touching (if a
little creepy).

let 'em spend as much money as they want going anywhere they want.  just
keep them away from the meeting rooms unless they have a more compelling
reason to be in there than "this is more fun than my actual job, and the
company is buying me MFLD, so, what's not to like?"

First, I tend to find tourists and MFLD rather harmless.
In fact, I think they are good for our financing. Some
might say necessary. And they usually stay out of the mike,
don't disturb presentations, and don't comment on the mailing
list where the real consensus is verified. But if some of
them do, that's even better - then we have attracted new
contributors. And we DO need new contributors.

Secondly, the perception that people have about the vacation
or business nature of a location is not universal. Some people
get bored in museums, others can't stand beach resorts. Or what
looks like an expensive vacation trip for a US person looks
like a regular business meeting for Europeans and vice
versa. Say, Los Angeles vs. Paris. And managers who approve
travel are different too. Some might worry if a person tries
to go to a meeting without having a clearly defined goal and task;
others might look more at the location or cost. Intercontinental
travel certainly gets more scrutiny than other travel, but
with participants all over the globe this can't be avoided
all the time or for everybody.

In short, I wouldn't worry too much about the touristy nature
of a location. Lets pick locations based on available & good
facilities and connections. And since we have contributors from
all over the world, its good to have meetings in different parts
of the world too. And changing the locations makes it easier
to attract new people, maybe new sponsors, too.

--Jari

P.S. I hope the IETFers have appreciation for other things
too than that what happens in the meeting rooms. I did enjoy
good restaurants in San Diego, the museums in Washington, the
electronics shops in Seoul, and skiing after the meeting in
Salt Lake City. Or shopping in Minneapolis. Maybe next March
I get to go to the museum of questionable medical devices.

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