I'm not quite sure the currency exchange issues are key for this discussion.
FWIW, I think you can still budget in Euros for the Berlin meeting, but I'm
only 97% sure :-)
Anyway, I wanted to highlight that, as has been pointed out by many, just
meeting at some place makes little sense. But the question on the table is not
just that. We're asking both about the meeting and about what other forms of
getting additional participation from the region would be useful. My personal
opinion is that we need to do multiple things to make an impact. And again IMO,
meetings should be a part of that set. But definitely not alone. I know many of
you have been very willing to help out in going out to new areas of the world
to speak, gather input, and get familiar with more people. Thank you. I
certainly plan to do that as well.
The other thing that was mentioned was political pressure to appear
international. My opinion is that doing something purely based on that would be
silly and potentially harmful. However, I think we have a situation where we
simultaneously need wider involvement from different organisations & areas, are
reaching out to new types of participants (including, shock! even regulators in
cases like PAWS), and do face some pressures about how we are perceived. An
IETF that is open, has broad participation that is based on actual technical
substance is in a very good position to continue to be perceived as the
authority it is. This is not to say we are not already about all those things;
we are. But I think we definitely need to go even further.
A few other responses:
Randy wrote:
(1) "need-based" evangelism. Outreach efforts are more
effective if they sincerely address specific needs of
the target community. Does face-to-face participation in
the IETF offer things practitioners in under-represented
regions feel they need? As long as we focus on how it
could help *us*, rather than what needs it would address
for them, it'll be far less effective than it could be.
Very true.
Melinda wrote:
The industry sector bias in IETF participation is
possibly compounding the regional bias.
Yes.
Jari