I believe this is a prudent course of action.
Thanks,
/Carlos
On 14 Sep 2020, at 19:49, 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
--
Jay Daley
IETF Executive Director
exec-director@xxxxxxxx
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