On Aug 4, 2013, at 2:20 PM, John C Klensin <john-ietf(_at_)jck(_dot_)com> wrote:
I also note that the 1 week cutoff that Michael suggests would,
in most cases, eliminate "had no choice without impeding WG
progress" as an excuse. A week in advance of the meeting, there
should be time, if necessary to find someone else to organize
the presentation or discussion (and to prepare and post late
slides that are still posted before the meeting if needed). If
it is necessary to go ahead without the slides, it is time to
get a warning to that effect and maybe an outline of the issues
to be discussed into the agenda. If the WG's position is that
slides 12 or 24 hours before the WG's session are acceptable,
then the odds are high that one glitch or another will trigger a
"well, there are no slides posted but they are available in the
room and the discussion is important" decision.
John -
I've participated in many IETFs in person but have been remote
for the last two meetings. I agree that the slides are essential
in many cases for following the discussion, and furthermore agree
that it is a complete pain to have to hunt for the slides when they
haven't been posted and are instead just in the room, or on the list,
or at some URL being passed around, etc.
Noting all that agreement, I don't support a "one week" slide cutoff;
the downside of not having a presentation slot as a result would be
a disproportionate impact to working group productivity... delaying
presentation of an important topic for 4 months just because the slides
showed up late (but still days before the actual session) would be
creating a purely administrative and artificial impediment to getting
things done.
Now, something in ietf tools that emailed the WG Chairs (and AD?) noting
that slides aren't up for presentations occurring _tomorrow_ and/or kept
track of presenters with chronic problems missing the deadline getting
their slide decks in the night before might be very useful, and help
quite a bit with improving remote participants ability to follow along.
My .02,
/John