Re: So, where to repeat?

On 8/9/2012 11:37 AM, Geoff Mulligan wrote:
> > > Frankfurt is a city in Germany.  I believe the IETF has never been
...
> I've found it relatively inexpensive, clean and very easy to get to.
Ole's comment was reflecting secretariat and IAOC research.

Individual experience can be very misleading here.  Sometimes, yes, it 
can point to approaches that haven't been considered.  But the 
'sometimes' is meant as a polite way of saying 'almost never'.
As someone who has challenged the IETF's venue selection process 
vigorously for 20 years, I am forced to admit that any possible problems 
in the process seem to be strategic, not tactical.  I haven't seen any 
evidence that the current process obtains distorted data or makes silly 
decisions in the /details/ of researching or arranging a given city.
Anyone thinking otherwise needs to employ the full set of requirements 
for an IETF meeting, not merely a stray, isolated item, such as 
discounted hotel price.

> > > Other than those two tidbits about it, I've no idea what is to be
> > > accomplished by someone's randomly throwing out the names of cities for
> > > a discussion like this, especially when threads like these always have a
> > > great deal of trouble staying focused on the /principle/ rather than
> > > haggling the details.
> > The principle would be to go to aviation hubs so as to minimize the
> > collective pain. Most people from the US going to Prague, would have a
> > connection in Frankfurt, so a meeting in Frankfurt would reduce the
> > amount of flights.
> This is why I threw out a "not so random" city name - Frankfurt.
Indeed, random was the wrong word.  That word is often used incorrectly. 
 The correct word is "arbitrary".
It is frankly entirely arbitrary to suggest a particular city, in terms 
of the a directed discussion about the /approach/ of choosing cities.
It presumes that the existing processes haven't researched most choices 
for Europe, Asia, or North America.
d/

--
 Dave Crocker
 Brandenburg InternetWorking
 bbiw.net