Subject: Re: making our meetings more worth the time/expense

From: Stewart Bryant <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 16:46:45 +0100

On 31/07/2013 15:00, Barry Leiba wrote:
>>> The most valuable part of IETF meeting is and has always been the hall
>>> conversations and side meetings
>> I think *side meetings* are killing IETF, I call it *hidden meetings*, there
>> is no input for IETF when we have side meetings. The input to IETF in
>> through meeting sessions and discussion lists.
> I have no argument with your last sentence; it's absolutely correct.
>
> But I think you misunderstand the point Donald is making about things
> such as small hallway conversations.
>
> Example: A few people get together in a corner and one says, "About
> that point I made on the list that you brushed off... here's what I'm
> talking about:", and five or ten minutes of discussion ensues.  At the
> end, either the guy with the point now understands why he's wrong (or
> why his point isn't practical), or the document editor says, "OK, I
> get your point now.  Let me work up some proposed text and post it to
> the list."
>
> Example: A few people get together during a session time they have
> free, and they bash out some text to resolve an issue that came up.
> They come to the working group meeting session with an explanation of
> their conversation and the proposed text, and it's discussed in the
> meeting session (and posted to the list afterward).
>
> Example: Someone has an idea for a new document or other new work, so
> he gathers some people to have breakfast one morning, explains his
> idea, bashes it around with his colleagues, and as a result of that
> breakfast chat he goes home after the IETF meeting and writes up an
> Internet Draft.
>
> None of this is hidden; none of this is secret.  It's all the way work
> gets done efficiently: a small group of people crack some tough nuts,
> and present the results to a wider audience.
I agree with Barry. That is, and always will be, the dynamic at any
conference like meeting, it's a fundamental of human behavior.

Equally there is nothing to stop folks gathering together
for a short conference call outside IETF week to move  a point forward.
That also happen all the time and is something that those unable to
get to meetings can do.

Stewart