Hi, Ouch! Doesn't this move the IETF a bit further along the scale of meetings that can only be afforded by corporates and rich people. At some point, the openness of a task force, or other organizational entity, depends on its cost. Isn't the Internet Society able to adequately support the IETF? I thought that was one of its primary missions. Personally I think fees should go down and not up. avri On 01-Oct-14 10:43, IETF Chair wrote: > > In preparing the final budget for 2015 and drafts for 2016 and beyond, > we face continuing rising meeting and other costs and no corresponding > increase in meeting registration fees. In fact, the meeting > registration fee has not changed in 4 years. > > Therefore, the IAOC is proposing to raise the meeting registration fee > by $50 per meeting starting with the March meeting in Dallas as > follows: > > Early Bird Fee $650 to $700, or 8% > Late Fee $800 to $850 > Day Passes $350 to $400 > Full time Students $150 - $175 > > More details below, but we seek community feedback before doing this. > > The cause for the increase is a trend in rising costs. IETF costs relate to the > meetings, support services (secretariat, IT), RFC Editor, and various other > items such as tool development. IETF is funded through the meeting fees, as > well as significant contributions through sponsors and ISOC. > > For the last 4 years, 2011 - 2014, the Registration Fee has been unchanged > at $650, and for the period 2008 through 2010 the Registration Fee was $635. > > Over the period 2007 through 2014 the Registration Fee increased from $600 > to $650, 8.3% over the eight years. During that time Expenses, including > meetings, RFC Editor, Secretariat, IASA, and others, increased 32%. In 2015 > Expenses will increase 6% over the 2014 forecast. > > As a percentage contribution to the budget, registration revenue has declined > from 51% in 2007 to 41% in 2014. Without a registration fee increase in > 2015, that would drop to 36% of the budget. Even with the fee increase of > $50 in 2015, it becomes 39%. > > Since the implementation of IASA in 2005, the IAOC has sought to provide > support services of high quality and value through a “regularization” of > contractual relationship with our vendors in all the above categories. As you > know, we submit statements of work to the community for review and do > competitive Requests for Proposals. Our services continue to change, and in > some cases expand, such as increasing the number of editors to handle the > roughly 340 RFCs per year, outsourcing the NOC, and remote participation > services. > > The suggested registration fee increase is sufficient to re-balance the budget > for 2015. Unfortunately, the cost of hotel facilities and other services continues > to grow slowly. Without further actions, additional increases may be necessary, > and we project a $20 increase for 2016. The IAOC has taken on a task to > determine whether we can reduce and/or prioritize our costs so that the trend > can be minimized. No decisions have been taken about meeting fees beyond > 2015, and they will depend on the success of the IAOC in its task. > > The draft budget, registration fee history, expense history and major expense > trends can be found here: <https://iaoc.ietf.org/2015-budget.html>. > > Thanks for your consideration of this and your feedback. The next IAOC meeting > is October 9th, and if possible, we would prefer to receive feedback by then > > Jari Arkko, IETF Chair > Chris Griffiths, IAOC Chair > > >