At 02:34 PM 3/16/02 -0800, Bonney Kooper wrote: >The current registration fee of $575 is outrageously >high. Even though IETF claims to be an open forum with >no membership fee - you need $575*3=$1725 per year for >registration fee alone for attending IETF sessions. >This is effectively the membership fee for IETF. Sorry >- not everyone can plan ten days in advance to get >$125 reduction in fee. Just try to run a small >consulting business or work for a 20 person start up - >you would know what I mean. Well, as one who is not attending this meeting, in part for reasons of funding, I think your case here may be a little overstated. While I shall miss the opportunity to share a beer and swap war stories with some friends and colleagues, I don't feel excluded from effective participation in IETF business. While face to face meetings can certainly be very helpful, I have also found that it's quite possible to advance an idea and build working relationships with people I've not met. I have some sympathy: I think being able to attend meetings does enhance one's opportunities to both understand issues and influence outcomes (with emphasis on the former), but the IETF meeting fee is really a small part of the overall cost involved in doing this -- my typical total costs for past IETF meetings have been around $2500, with advance planning. (And that has often been while working for a small startup.) #g ------------------- Graham Klyne <GK@NineByNine.org>