The first time in recent years that we almost didn't have a sponsor was in Adelaide (IETF 47, March 2000). We got down there, there were problems with the original sponsor and lots of scrambling occurred. Among the other things that occured was that there was no T-shirt handed out when we registered. (Later on in the week, the people who stayed to the end of the plenary were surprised with shirts, collared even. But that doesn't the affect the rest of the story.)
So, what happened? In true IETF fashion, a bar BOF met, designed a T-shirt, and made arrangements with a T-shirt shop a couple of blocks from the convention center. Those people who wanted a T-shirt walked over there, picked a T-shirt color, put in an order, paid their money, and got a shirt a couple of days later. (It's definitely one of my most favorite IETF shirts.) I don't know exactly how many people wound up ordering their shirt this way, but I know the owner worked numerous overtime hours to meet the demand.
A few salient points can be garnered from the above: many people are willing to pay extra to get their IETF T-shirt, and there are people who are willing to work on T-shirt designs.
In DC, IETF 61, we have a sponsor scheduled. So we'll likely have T-shirts. Thank you Alcatel!
Here's a suggestion for IETF 61: modify the registration web page to let people specify the size of the T-shirt they'd like to get. Usually, a sponsor has to estimate the number of people who want each T-shirt size. This leads to overbuys of some sizes and underbuys of other sizes. And it leads to some people being dissatisfied with the sizes that they were forced to receive.
Continuing this thought, here's a suggestion for the next IETF meeting that doesn't have a sponsor, whether it's IETF 62 or some future meeting: Take that part of the registration form that asks for T-shirt size and add one more choice: none. Then charge the people who pick a T-shirt an extra $15 to cover the cost of the shirt, and those that don't want it won't pay for it.
Then beforehand, set up a mailing list for those interested in designing the shirt, exchanging designs, and picking one out. I'm sure you'll get enough takers to do it.
Tony Hansen tony+ietf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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