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Re: Meeting Venue Preference Survey

2010-08-30 12:54:04

On Aug 29, 2010, at 8:10 PM, Dave CROCKER wrote:


At the risk of turning this into a string of competing anectdotes


It turned into that long ago.  In terms of the tone in these discussions, 
folk continue to believe that their personal experiences are relevant for 
deciding logistics policy in choosing IETF meetings.

Unfortunately, such folk constitute a remarkably skewed sample of what is 
typically touted as the target population of IETF attendees.

The premise to these anecdotes appears to be that IETF meetings are designed 
for people who have:

 * hefty corporate travel funding        -- so money is largely no object

As someone who frequently pays for IETF travel out of my own pocket, I can 
assure you that this is not true for me.
Ditto for meeting and travel time sinks. 

However, "90% of life consists of simply showing up," and that is especially 
true for the IETF; to participate, you have to show up, and that requires 
travel. 

Regards
Marshall

 * extensive travel experience           -- therefore accepting requirements
                                            to handle complex travel details
 * frequent travel schedules             -- so extraneous, 1/2-day incremental
                                            time and cost doesn't mean much
 * a full week at the meeting            -- so remote locations have minor
                                            impact
 * a desire to use meetings for tourism  -- which is more important than venue
                                            convenience or reliability
 * complete lack of empathy for anyone not fitting into this category

"Lack of empathy" is typically being demonstrated by overt hostility, but 
certainly dismissive handwaves.  The concerns of others simply do not matter 
and are to be classed as petty, naive, or the like.

It's difficult to imagine a more elitist demographic, particular for a 
community that has been predicated on diversity and inclusiveness.

At the least, the IETF should be honest and re-cast its community culture as 
being tailored for well-funded professional meeting goers...

d/
-- 

 Dave Crocker
 Brandenburg InternetWorking
 bbiw.net
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