Subject: IESG Statement pertaining to Interim WG Meetings

From: Fred Baker <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 08:18:02 -0400

IESG guidance on interim IETF Working Group meetings and conference calls.

Historically the work of the IETF has been conducted over mailing lists.
This has been to ensure the widest possible involvement in the process.
This process is not as efficient in terms of producing specifications as
extended face-to-face meetings but is much more inclusive. In general IETF
face-to-face meetings are used to hold high-bandwidth discussions on
specific issues that have not been able to be resolved on a mailing list or,
in the case of BOFs, to get a general common understanding of the issues
involved in a particular area.  These face-to-face meetings can be quite
important but are not substitutes for mailing list discussions.  

There is a long history in the IETF of working groups occasionally holding
"interim" face-to-face meetings between the regular IETF meetings to focus
on specific issues or resolve specific problems.

In the past year or two some IETF working groups have also begun to hold
regular conference calls to substitute for face-to-face meetings and to
speed up the working group process.

RFC 2418 section 3.1 tell us that "interim meetings are subject to the same
rules for advance notification, reporting, open participation, and process,
which apply to other working group meetings."

"Advance notification" and "process" require prior approval of the meeting
or conference call by the relevant area directors and publication of an
announcement on the ietf-announce list at least one month prior to the
meeting or call.  This requirements includes the timely publication of an
agenda for the meeting or call.  All such meetings or calls must be open to
all who wish to take part.  Detailed minutes are required to be taken and
submitted and a list of attendees must also be submitted.  This applies to
all in-person meetings to which a large part of the working group is
invited, even if labeled as 'informal' to distinguish them from 'real'
working group meetings.  This does not apply to meetings or conference calls
for small design teams producing input to working groups.  It should also be
noted that as RFC 2418 section 3.2 points out, decisions at meetings
(normal, interim or conference call) are not final and must be reviewed on
the mailing list.

The area directors will evaluate proposed interim meetings and conference
calls to be sure that that the location, timing, etc.  do not unfairly favor
some subset of the potential attendees and that the proposed meeting or call
will not unfairly bias the working group discussions.  Interim meetings
which are proposed to eliminate the need for a working group to meet during
a regular IETF meeting will not generally be approved nor will proposals of
interim meetings to be held within 30 days before a regular IETF meeting.

to summarize:
- WG Interim meetings and Conference Calls need approval
  of relevant ADs
- They must be announced at least 30 days in advance
- The proposed agenda must be published at least 15 days before meeting 
- They cannot be held within 30 days prior to an IETF meeting
- They must be scheduled (location/timing) with fair access for all
  WG participants
- They do not substitute for the mailing list, and any decisions are
  not final and must be approved on the WG mailing list
- Detailed minutes (including list of attendees) must be sent to
  [email-masked] within 10 days of the meeting.

Fred Baker
Chair, IETF