On Feb 13, 2015, at 3:05 AM, Dave Cridland <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > And what do you expect when we make it absolutely clear that this is the only thing that counts? Dave, to be fair, what Russ actually said was that some people say the most important thing that happens at IETF _meetings_ is hallway conversation. I tend to agree with that in a sense: I think that the discussions that happen in the hallways are actually triggered by people thinking about presentations and discussions that have happened in meetings, so I don't think you can have the one without the other. One of the things that I obsess about when I'm thinking about attending remotely is how to get the same effect, because I agree with Russ that it's important. But I look at it kind of the opposite of the way you expressed. I think it's important for offsite attendees to be able to participate meaningfully, so what I want is to figure out how we can export the hallway conversations, not how we can exclude people who can't currently access them. I think Melinda is on to something with her discussion about telecommute-friendly versus in-person environments. Rather than just getting discouraged, I think we should try to actively work on this.