On 5/13/22 11:15, Livingood, Jason wrote:
The fee waivers are currently for remote participation. If someone has no or low income, it seems logical that they will be unable to afford airfare and hotels, etc. In which case they are participating in a low cost remote manner and can apply for a fee waiver.
Those are really not valid assumptions. I've often found ways to save tremendously on airfare, lodging, or both. Sometimes I had a friend living nearby with whom I could stay. Sometimes the conference was within a reasonable driving distance. Sometimes I have had a sponsor who was willing to pay for airfare, or meeting fee, but not both. Sometimes with diligent shopping, I've found great deals on travel, even if it meant I had to drive a few hours each way to an airport with a low fare. Sometimes I've been able to use frequent flyer miles left over from years ago when I traveled frequently.
And remote participation, while certainly better than nothing, is not usually an adequate substitute for being there.
I also think it's really easy for people who are funded by their employers to assume that other participants "should" be like them - e.g someone who is qualified to participate in IETF will have a job that pays for their travel and meeting fees. But in talking to other attendees at several IETF conferences over the years, I've found that this simply isn't true. I've talked to many extremely qualified and valuable participants whose jobs really aren't about protocol design and whose employers don't really support their IETF work, or only support it partially. (Perhaps people don't always like to say so, though, out of concern of being seen as less legitimate by other "professionals" at IETF.)
Keith
