From: Arturo Servin <arturo(_dot_)servin(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com>
Your comment just reinforce my perception that the IETF is not
interested in being an global organization of standards.
People is asking how to evolve the IETF, well, one possibility is to
start thinking global and to reach more people outside the common
venues. It is more expensive, more complex, yes. But in my opinion is
worthy if we really want to show that we care about the multistakeholder
model that we preach.
In my opinion, the *location* of IETF meetings is not important for
the technological openness of the standards, but it *is* important
for its *symbolism*. My observation is that members have been
supportive of attempts to hold IETF meetings in diverse locations, but
there are constraints that limit the locations that are practical.
I am in no way involved with IETF site selection, but based on the
extensive discussions of site selection on this mailing list, the
constraints seem to be as follows. The list suggests some things that
individuals can do to help find suitable locations, which I've listed
at the end.
The meetings require a certain number of hotel rooms, a fairly large
array of meeting rooms, and large common spaces, in one or a small
cluster of hotels. (These arrangements are fairly easy to find in
North America and Europe, but are much less common in the rest of the
world.)
The hotel has to be willing to allow the IETF to install its wireless
network and to take control of the hotel's Internet connectivity.
Members desire locations that offer tourism possibilities, which
generally means that the meeting site is in or near a city center.
Because IETF participation is not of immediate commercial value to the
employers of most participants, cost is of significant concern. In
practice, the cost and availability of air transportation seems to be
the most variable factor, and the less international traffic to a
given location, the more expensive air fares seem to be. (You can
explore the available air fares at
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/search.htm.)
The meeting fees cover only part of the meeting costs, so it is
necessary to find sponsors to pay the remainder of the costs. The
sponsors usually are associated with the meeting location in some way.
Since finding sponsors is difficult, meeting locations are harder to
set than meeting dates.
What an individual can do to encourage selecting a particular location
is to find hotels that have the necessary meeting spaces. If
possible, it would be helpful to determine that the management would
be willing to let the IETF take over their network. Most importantly,
a local individual can find local sponsors for the meeting.
Dale