The IESG has approved the following document: - 'Considerations for Having a Successful "Bar BOF" Side Meeting' (draft-eggert-successful-bar-bof-09.txt) as Informational RFC This document has been reviewed in the IETF but is not the product of an IETF Working Group. The IESG contact person is Russ Housley. A URL of this Internet Draft is: http://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-eggert-successful-bar-bof/ Technical Summary New work is typically brought to the IETF by a group of interested individuals. IETF meetings are a convenient place for such groups to gather informally to discuss and develop their ideas. Such side meetings, which are not reflected in the IETF meeting agenda and have no official status, are often half-jokingly referred to as "Bar BOF" sessions, to acknowledge that some of them may eventually lead to a proposal for an official IETF BOF ("birds of a feather" session) on a given topic. During recent IETF meetings, many such "Bar BOF" gatherings have been organized and moderated in ways that made them increasingly indistinguishable from official IETF BOFs or sometimes even IETF working group meetings. This document argues that this recent trend is not helpful in reaching the ultimate goal of many of these gatherings, i.e., to efficiently discuss and develop ideas for new IETF work. It encourages the organizers to consider the benefits of holding them in much less formal settings, and to also consider alternative means to develop their ideas. This document also recommends that the community abandon the term "Bar BOF" and instead use other terms such "side meeting", in order to stress the unofficial nature of these gatherings. Working Group Summary This document is not the product of any IETF WG. Issues covered by this document have been widely discussed on the IETF mailing list. Document Quality The document was reviewed by Russ Housley for the IESG. Note to RFC Editor Please make three changes: First, please remove the extra right parenthesis. OLD: perhaps most importantly, a distinct lack of drinks.) NEW: perhaps most importantly, a distinct lack of drinks. Second, please reword this paragraph in Section 4: OLD: Having side meetings mimic working group meetings is also confusing to attendees. There is at least one case where some side meeting participants believed that they were attending an actual working group meeting, and incorrect press announcements were generated as a consequence. The IESG is usually not amused when mistakes like this happen. When side meetings take place at restaurants or elsewhere away from IETF meeting rooms, the chance for confusion is much lower. NEW: Having side meetings mimic working group meetings is also confusing to attendees. In at least one case, some side meeting participants believed that they were attending an actual working group meeting, and incorrect press announcements were generated. When side meetings take place at restaurants or elsewhere away from IETF meeting rooms, the chance for confusion is much lower. Third, please move the word "also" in Section 5: OLD: organizers should consider the value of also holding NEW: organizers should also consider the value of holding
