I know you've heard this all before, but it's been getting increasingly difficult for us WG Chairs to get all the key people working on a protocol to fly across the planet for a 2 hour meeting. These are busy people who can't afford to block out an entire week because they don't know when or where the 2 hour meeting is going to be. (This even applies to some WG Chairs ;-)
...especially when the 2 hour meeting is all-too-often mostly consumed with PowerPoint presentations (not discussions) of half-baked or irrelevant proposals, given to a roomful of people who are mostly zoned out staring at their laptops (probably because staring at slides is just too painful). I never cease to be amazed at how poorly we use our meeting time these days, especially given what we invest in those meetings in terms of money and travel stress.
(Or maybe I'm just attending the wrong groups? once in awhile I do stumble on a group that is using its time productively)
I would support any plan that will make meetings cheaper and easier to attend for everybody. I'd like quick action, not a 2 year study to think about it.
sometimes I find remote participation (via audio streaming and jabber) more effective than actually attending the meeting. I sometimes am surprised to find that the extra distance makes it easier for me to see what is relevant. I also think it might be less distracting to attend a meeting from my own office than to be in a room full of people who aren't paying attention.
of course, that doesn't make up for the lack of face time in the bar - and the ability to work things out in the hallways and generally just get to know our fellow conspirators personally is a lot of the reason we need to have these meetings. unfortunately, it's hard to get expensed to travel halfway across the world to drink with other geeks.
Keith _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf