Re: Planned changes to registration payments & deadlines

[Ted Lemon <mellon@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Apr 24, 2018, at 12:45 AM, John C Klensin <john-ietf@xxxxxxx> wrote:

No.  But, if the IETF wants a broad range of expertise and
perspectives to be represented, then we had best be sensitive to
the implications of changes that might [further] decrease that
range.  I don't think any of us can predict those effects with
guaranteed accuracy, but saying "well, it is just too bad for
anyone who can't adapt, or who works for an organization that
won't adapt, we don't need them" seems to me to be unwise.  It
could turn out to be especially unwise if our credibility as a
standards-setter turned out to depend on exactly those
properties, and relying on no one noticing also seems unwise.

What you are saying here could be true, John, or it could be false.   We have no data to support either belief.   We do have data to support the belief that if the IETF doesn't raise its fees, it's going to be a problem.   It is on the basis of that data that decisions have to be made.   I have no idea how prevalent the policies you suggest are, or how many valuable IETF members will no longer be able to attend because of them, if this particular change is made.

An argument can be made that rather than having an early-bird discount, we should arrange the discount in some other way, such that these particular people would not be eligible for it, and hence their travel departments would have no basis for complaint.   But absent any information about how many people would be affected by this, it's silly to speculate.

To give you an example of the context in which this decision is being made, look at the decision to do an IETF in Hawaii.   Hawaii is a vacation destination; my accounting department pushed back on this for the first time in twenty years of coming to the IETF.   Others reported that they were unable to get travel approval.   This is a real-world example of the theoretical problem you are describing, but it has nothing to do with early bird discounts, and was not anticipated by the IAOC, as far as I know.

Importantly, a lot of good work got done at that IETF, and people who could not attend in person attended remotely.   Although I personally hated the venue, I went, and did my work, and it was fine.

If there are some few individuals who can't go to IETF because their accounting department isn't willing to pay rack rate on the conference fee, that will do a similar amount of damage, and we'll figure out how to adjust.   That's all we can do.   We are not omniscient.   At present, I anticipate the number of people who will be affected by this particular risk to be zero, but it's possible that you are right to be concerned; if so, we will deal with it when we learn more.