> There were 10 participants from Australia and 4 participants from New > Zealand at the last IETF meeting. There was interest to have the IETF in > New Zealand. I guess that it was considered as difficult to convince the > cookie-eating mob that it was a good location. I understand that New Zealand was felt to be too expensive[1] and the travel was too far for many[2]. NZ also suffers from a lack of conference facilities that are functional *and* have suitable accommodation near them to fit the IETF size. As much as I'd like to have NZ as a venue, since I could visit my family... aj A New Zealander, but not living in NZ. Vaguely affiliated with people who looked into hosting IETF in NZ. [1] NZ is surprisingly expensive for hotel accommodation in the major cities, and transport can be expensive or difficult. Flights can also be difficult since there isn't mass competition into the country unless you're trying to jump the Tasman. [2] 3 hours to East Cost AU, 10+ hours to Asia[3], 13+ hours to US, 24+ hours to Europe. Travel times would really hurt here. [3] For the bits of Asia that are directly connected (JP, SG, HK, CN, KR). If you need to connect (e.g. India) you could be looking at 20+ hours too.