Hector, You raise an important point - and one that isn't just about mentoring, but the overall approach in our ability to involve more remote participation. We have and will continue to improve the facilities to improve the remote participation experience. Looking back, one big change in the way of working at the IETF in the last couple of years has been that many working groups have virtual meetings. Not so much as a replacement of the physical meetings, but as a place to do the day-to-day or month-to-month work. Like you, I believe the future is in over-the-Internet collaboration :-) Though as in any human interaction the physical meeting still have a place as well… And the success of the IETF depends on the ease of bringing good ideas here and getting them adopted. Including the ability to start things without always having to wait for a meeting and attending it physically. It is true that the mentoring trial is more focused on the participants in the meeting. See the response from Brian. Perhaps it would be useful to consider extending it in the future to cover those who are doing work in some of our working groups but not attending the meetings. But I do think that the mentor program is focused on making people capable of getting their work done at the IETF, including both those who might spend a large part of their day with it as well as those with a narrower interest in a specific topic. It is always useful to understand the process and get to know others involved in it. As you know, most Internet technology efforts will in any case involve multiple aspects, such as the functionality itself, operations, security, etc. As for your questions about individual I-Ds, the answer is that usually nothing happens on its own. Whether you are on site or attending remotely or just participating in mailing list discussions, the procedure is the same. The IETF is about standards, and standards are about groups of people agreeing to some common ideas. In order to make this happen, you need to find your group of like-minded people who have an interest in achieving something similar. Usually you find this from your colleagues in other organisations, from others in hallway discussions, or by sending a proposal to a working group and getting others interested in it. Ultimately, a proposal has to be brought formally to a working group or a new working group charted for the work. If adopted, it will be worked on and eventually comes out as an RFC. Any of the above things - starting new work, talking about I-Ds, finding like-minded people can and has been done remotely. Although there are some things that are easier when you are there in person. As a result, most IETF work involves some amount of activity in the physical meetings. I'd love to see ideas on how we can make it easier for people to participate without necessarily attending the meetings. Jari