I am pleased to announce the hotel meeting sites for IETF 68 in Prague and IETF 69 in Chicago, as well as a major contract with an international hotel chain. IETF 68 is being held 18 - 23 March 2007 at the Hilton Prague. This is a "one roof" venue, that is, the meeting is at the hotel with a room block of 500 rooms. IETF 69 is being held at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago from July 22 - 27. This is also a "one roof" meeting with ample meeting space and a room block of 1000 rooms. More information and links for reservation purposes can be located at: http://www3.ietf.org/meetings/meetings.html The foregoing probably tipped you off that the contract is between the Hilton Hotels Corporation and the Internet Society, on behalf of the IETF. This 5 year, multi-event contract provides many benefits to the IETF including favorable guest rates for the market, complimentary Internet, reduced event costs, reduced contracting risk, expedited contracting and more. Moreover, the contract does not prevent the IETF from booking meetings with other hotel chains. I want to thank the NeuStar Secretariat team for their initiative in pursuing this agreement, as well as their skill in negotiating it. It is a first of its kind with the Hilton chain worldwide, and represents a giant step forward in the IETF's commitment to planning meetings 18 to 24 months in advance and undertaking measures that will reduce costs, while providing additional value for the meetings and the participants. As a result of this contract we are already considering venues in 2008 and beyond; and I expect we will be executing contracts for them very quickly over the next six months. If your company has ever considered being a Host and has a particular location in mind, now is the time to contact us. The meeting calendar through 2010 with provisional regional locations can be found here: http://www3.ietf.org/meetings/0mtg-sites.txt A Host brings a certain gravitational pull to a particular location and we are interested in working with you to locate an available, qualified venue and make that happen. By the way, if you'd like to Host and don't have a location in mind -- we have some for you and we want to hear from you too. My thanks also to the Internet Society, our organizational home. We can't do this without their assistance and support - thanks. Ray Pelletier IAD iad@xxxxxxxx _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf