I’m fully supportive of making IETF 110 a virtual event. I’m really looking forward to the next in-person meeting but at this point the odds of things being back to safe levels by March are incredibly low.
David
On Tue, Sep 15, 2020 at 12:26 Nick Hilliard <nick@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Michael McBride wrote on 15/09/2020 19:49:
> No, we should cancel. But there’s got to be others, than just me, that
> would be in Prague if it was held. So planning future hybrid events
> would be good.
It's easy both to over-sentimentalise meeting locations and to rage that
the meeting location should be entirely irrelevant. But the location
matters because we're humans and our brains dose dopamine according to
external stimuli.
Prague is gorgeous, it really is. It's one of life's great pleasures to
chat with a friend over breakfast with coffee + pastry in a 19th century
Prague cafe. But that's not why we go to meetings in places like this.
Hybrid events need to happen. However much we like to believe that the
future is virtual, we've got several hundred million years of evolution
all pushing us towards close-up social interaction which you just can't
get over a video call. Whether we like it or not, there are too many
people who are zoomed out at this stage and are craving social
interaction with their peers.
For the moment, we have the privilege and technology to do virtual
meetings, so let's do that. But let's look forward to and plan for
in-person meetings as soon as they are workable. Brian wisely points
out the 1918 pandemic: everything passes but it will take time.
Nick
