At IETF 97, the IESG had noted that we had started providing minutes from the so called “BOF Coordination Calls”. In these calls, we go through the set of proposed BOFs and other possible new meetings, in an effort to help the responsible AD decide how the specific proposals should go ahead. Since IETF 96, the IESG and IAB have started publishing the minutes from these calls. In the plenary open mike session, Margaret Cullen raised a question of BOF proponents being invited to the calls. As far as we were able to determine, this hasn’t been the practise during the time that the calls have been run. But the discussion prompted us to document our expectations for the process and make a change, starting from now, i.e., preparations for the IETF-98 BOFs. Our main expectation is that BOF efforts should be far along before the BOF proposal cutoff date, as listed in https://www.ietf.org/meeting/important-dates.html Far enough to have had significant list discussion, and have some of the most obvious questions at least discussed if not answered. The purpose of the BOF call is *not* to run the BOF. The role of the BOF call is to determine how far along the effort is and whether it is ready for the community discussion in the meeting or not. We also spend a lot of time finding IAB BOF shepherds, talking about the scheduling, or suggesting people that could help. A BOF that is not clearly ready for community discussion will most likely not be scheduled at the upcoming meeting. We also expect that the pre-BOF discussions happen primarily on a public forum, such as the BOF’s mailing list or area list. They should not be happening only privately, because it becomes impossible for others to assess the situation. However, we have decided to leave it to the individual sponsoring ADs whether they feel it is necessary to invite BOF organisers/ proponents on the call. This should be seen as an exceptional case, but sometimes it can be helpful to answer questions, even if there isn’t much time for an extensive discussion. Our main guidance is for the BOF proponents to make sure there are documents and broad discussion as the BOF is being prepared. This allows the ADs to make their assessments. Finally, we’d like to remind everyone that BOFs are just one way of introducing work to the IETF. New work can often be taken up by existing working groups, and new working groups can be chartered without using an IETF meeting cycle for a formal BOF meeting. If you are uncertain, members of the IESG or IAB can provide guidance on the options that are available Guidance on running successful BOF meetings can be found at https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5434 Jari Arkko for the IESG and IAB
