On Thu, 25 Mar 2010, Spencer Dawkins wrote:
If the goal is to provide access to the IETF for first-time attendees, maybe
we should make day passes available for first-time attendees.
I think that would be the wrong goal, though I'll admit it motivated the
original experiment.
The goal should be to maximize the amount of expertise which can
particiate as fully as possible for whatever the economic reasoning they
may not be able or wish to stay all week. I know that when I hung around
all week and sat in a week of WG meetings, I was not prepared for many
of the meetings I sat in on, but at times felt I had something to
contribute. I never had time to follow-up so even if my points were valid,
there was no advocacy on the mailing list, etc. I don't think this helped
the IETF.
As a consultant, activities like the IETF, which are funded by my business
so are technically employer sponsored, impact my personal bottom line. In
addition, any day I'm not working for a client is lost income. Had
multiple day passes been permitted, I would have stayed for the extra WG
meeting, but $450 vs $200 + an extra day in the hotel, rental car, and
lost revenue was enough to disuade me from sticking around.
Given the campaign to sell green dots, it seems to be pretty short sighted
to not sell extra days. My extra day would have been worth 10 green dot
sales and my onsite contributions might have been worth something as well.
The marginal cost of my being present for an extra day in terms of any
hotel fees based on number of participants in the refreshment process
would have been quite low.
If you really want a first time attendee program, make is really low cost
or free. Enought to cover the marginal refreshment costs. Don't limit
it to 1 day, use special colored badges so everyone else can easily
recognize the newbies and welcome them.
Dave Morris
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