Re: [113attendees] hybrid meetings: the worst of both worlds

[Joris Baum <[e-mail]>]

Hi,

I was in the same situation. This was my first on-site IETF and I took 
part in the IETF since 109. You summed it up quite nicely!

I just had a weird idea I wanted to share. Even though the remote 
hallway discussion experience will probably always be a bit lacking 
behind, maybe one way to improve this is to have something like "gather 
areas" on-site. Something like a bridge between virtual and on-site. An 
open space in the hallway with a mic and a big screen where people from 
on-site and gather could talk to each other without a big communication 
barrier.

Regards,

Joris


On 25.03.22 15:31, Jan-Frederik Rieckers wrote:
> Hi,
>
> as a first time on-site attendee I'd like to add my 2ct here.
>
> I have attended 3 IETFs before, but all of them only remotely. Since 
> my interest was in only one working group, I have attended only the 
> meeting of this particular WG and (almost) nothing else.
>
> Although the area of interest has not changed for me, I attended a 
> session in almost any slot and while I could not really contribute 
> there, I have seen some interesting drafts, that I will definitely 
> look into after this meeting.
>
> Being on site instead of online definitely has pushed me to actually 
> attend these sessions. If I hat participated at home I'd probably have 
> only attended one or two sessions of my personal interest.
>
> The second thing as new attendee is the mentioned hallway discussions. 
> I have met a number of people here, who I would have never met if I 
> attended online.
> I don't have the feeling that there was a lack of on site participants 
> to create a 'critical mass', but I haven't been to any other IETF 
> meeting, so my sample size is 1.
>
> When being on site, opening the gather is not really possible, and for 
> the remote participants, you may try to get other work done instead of 
> joining the gather.
> Also, the psychological barrier to "bust in" or to actively come up to 
> a person in gather is quite high for me, so being on site and just 
> greeting people on the hallway and then having them invite me into 
> their communication has helped me to get to know people.
>
> I don't have a solution for the gap between onsite and gather or the 
> gather participation either (maybe a few ideas but probably they only 
> sound good in my head).
>
> I don't think that the hybrid meeting was is "the worst of both 
> worlds" although it definitely had potential for improvement.
>
> But what my main take-away from this IETF was, and what I would 
> probably not have learned if the IETF was completely remote:
>
> * There are a lot of interesting people here and I want to get to know 
> them. And knowing them helps you to find out who to ask.
> * There are a lot of interesting topics and it is really good to look 
> beyond the horizon
>
>
> As Leif already wrote, the missing human interaction will probably 
> lead to a distance between the participants, that could lead to a 
> serious turn in the consensus principle and the discussions. If you 
> know the person on a personal level and you had a drink with them, 
> your discussions will more likely stay on the professional level, if 
> this personal touch is missing, the discussions can get personal very 
> quickly (I have experienced exactly this behavior in some other 
> contexts already)
>
> From my experience the IETF is a very welcoming community and I am so 
> glad that I had the opportunity to be here in person.
>
> Greetings
> Janfred

-- 
Joris Baum
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

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