Subject: Consultation and survey on planning for IETF 112 and COVID-related restrictions

From: IETF Executive Director <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2021 18:57:40 +1200

As the global COVID-19 pandemic is still with us, the IESG, IETF Administration LLC and IRTF Chair need to make a decision on whether to go ahead with an in-person meeting for IETF 112 Madrid or switch to an online meeting following the formal assessment process used for recent online IETF meetings.  If we do go ahead then we also need to decide how we will operate a meeting under COVID-related protocols and restrictions, such as wearing of face masks and social distancing.

We are therefore seeking feedback on the following:

1. Assessment Criteria
We propose to use the same criteria [1] for assessing whether to go ahead with an in-person IETF 112 meeting or switch to an online meeting.  These criteria were previously consulted on, amended as a result of the consultation, and worked well [2].

2.  Interim planning guidelines and conditional plan for IETF meetings in a COVID-impacted venue
We propose to operate COVID-impacted meetings in compliance with the interim planning guidelines as set out in:

    https://www.ietf.org/media/documents/Interim_planning_guidelines_for_IETF_meetings_in_COVID-impacted_venues.pdf

and using a plan that is put together using the following conditional template, depending on the specific local regulations we need to comply with:

    https://www.ietf.org/media/documents/Conditional_plan_for_IETF_meetings_in_COVID-impacted_venues.pdf

3. The possible number of onsite participants
We want to try and estimate the number of onsite participants if we are able to go ahead with a meeting in Madrid, under a few possible scenarios.  To help us with this, we ask that you complete the following very short survey:

    https://ietf.iad1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5vgbeMAOCNRwYPc

4. Fee structure
The fee structure we propose to use is set out in the conditional plan above and depends on the conditions around this meeting.  
- The onsite participation fee will either be the normal fee or a higher fee if COVID testing or other protocol costs need to be included.
- The remote fee will either be zero or as used for recent online IETF Meetings including unlimited fee waivers [3] if the number of onsite participants is too small for the meeting to be financially viable with no fee for remote participants

5. Decision timetable
We propose to use the following assessment timetable:

11 Jul 2021 This consultation and survey opens.

26 Jul 2021 Consultation and survey closes.

02 Aug 2021 Response to consultation communicated and assessment begins using the final criteria.

09 Aug 2021 Decision made and communicated.

16 Aug 2021 Registration opens.

08 Nov 2021 IETF 112 begins.

The proposed decision date of 09 August 2021 is 13 weeks before the meeting date, which should leave sufficient time for people to make travel arrangements if we do go ahead with an onsite meeting. 

Please send any feedback to [email-masked] by 26 July 2021.

[1]  https://www.ietf.org/how/meetings/109/assessment-framework-person-vs-online-ietf-109-meeting/
[2]  https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/ietf-announce/IE3AjAAzALF6WWV4N5-L0OEW0O0/
[3]  https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/ietf-announce/WG48WAAgvYDtYT3zsRw4XOKZh5s/

-- 
Lars Eggert, IETF Chair
Jay Daley, IETF Executive Director
Colin Perkins, IRTF Chair