Hiya, Given the constraints, that seems to me to make sense. If somehow magic happens and we could meet, I might go to Prague and have beer while attending remotely, but yeah, that's not a reason to risk those costs;-) Thanks also for asking for comment, S. On 14/09/2020 23:49, IETF Executive Director wrote: > The IETF Administration LLC is considering switching IETF 110, due to > be held in Prague in March 2021, to an online meeting long before the > meeting and without using the assessment process used for IETF 108 > and IETF 109. This note is to explain why we are considering this > action and to ask for community feedback. > > The background to this is firstly that we are still in the midst of a > pandemic with ongoing major disruption to global travel. A vaccine > is expected but the timing cannot be predicted and there are still > many obstacles to overcome. In this context, while March 2021 is > still six months away, the likelihood of a return to normal by then, > or at least open travel, is low. > > Secondly, for 2020 the IETF LLC was fortunate enough to have both > pandemic insurance and a strong contractual basis on which to cancel > in-person meetings in the event of a pandemic. With that assurance > we have been able to wait until the last practical moment to decide > on switching to an online meeting. However, pandemic insurance is no > longer available and the contract with the Prague venue does not have > this protection and requires us to rebook within three years or pay a > significant cancellation fee. The restrictions on rebooking are > quite tight and there is only one set of future meeting dates > available for us to rebook and avoid the fee. It is our assessment > that the longer we wait, the higher the risk that this opportunity to > rebook without paying the cancellation fee will no longer be > available. > > We are therefore considering making the decision now to switch IETF > 110 to an online meeting and rebooking the Prague venue for a later > meeting. The alternative of waiting to make the decision until ten > weeks out following a proper assessment, as we have done with IETF > 108 and IETF 109, risks us being subject to a cancellation fee of at > least $450,000 if the rebooking opportunity has gone. On the balance > of probabilities we believe the best course of action is to cancel > and rebook now. > > We would like to hear what the community has to say on this. Please > send any comments either directly to me or to ietf@xxxxxxxx by > midnight UTC on 28 September. > > Jay >
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