Hi,
It is extremely unlikely that things will get better by March. In fact,
unfortunately people is preparing for a "second wave" of covid-19.
So I support the decision to switch IETF 110 to an online meeting.
THanks,
Fernando
On 14/9/20 19:55, Stephen Farrell wrote:
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
--
Fernando Gont
SI6 Networks
e-mail: fgont@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PGP Fingerprint: 6666 31C6 D484 63B2 8FB1 E3C4 AE25 0D55 1D4E 7492
