On 16 Nov 2012, at 13:25, Carlos M. Martinez <carlosm3011@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Moving the IETF forward will involve reaching out to other peoples, > other regions, and yes, travel farther away once in a while. I also > understand that we need to do our part in terms of fostering and > increasing the contribution of our region. I said this in an earlier > email and I stand by it. A strength of the IETF is that to participate you can simply join discussions on mailing lists and participate remotely when physical meetings are held. This may mean that for the majority of IETF contributors, the location of the meetings isn't critical, because attendance at every physical meeting isn't required. However, when planning where meetings are held I hope organisers take into account the chairs of the 100+ working groups in the IETF, for whom attendance may not be compulsory but it's certainly highly desirable. If the cost of attending meetings and the complexity of travel goes up, it may become harder to find volunteers willing to take on WG chair and other similar responsibilities for the benefit of the IETF community as a whole. Tim