Re: [72attendees] New mailing list to discuss IETF Food requirements

Sure...the idea is for the information flow to go both ways.  But in my
experience, the burden of accomodating folks like us is really quite
minimal if things are properly planned in advance. I also know of other
SDOs that manage this quite well (e.g., providing kosher lunches
separately and there are already accomodations for vegetarians when IETF
provides lunch.  It really is as simple as making the staff aware of the
needs since the venues at which IETF holds meetings are typically the
largest and most experienced available. Even in Dublin, once the staff
was aware, accomodations were made - it just made Monday lunchtime
particularly miserable and hectic for everyone (due to no advance
planning - I had successfully eaten at the hotel, so didn't realize how
constrained our lunch options would be) and for some of us, unless foods
are labeled or servers are trained, we still can't eat it.   

I have no doubt that if everyone was impacted in such a way (i.e., no
suitable meal for over 12 hours during the day) that folks would expect
something to be done. And, as I've said before if IETF were to have a
meeting at a location with no cookies or beer, there would certainly be
far more complaints and concerns. And, the no nuts in the cookies folks
were accomodated in the past.  

I do realize that for folks that don't have these limitations, the whole
idea that this requires ANY discussion seems quite trite and whiny, but
again my experience is that the difference in folks' attitudes about
this changes TREMENDOUSLY when it impacts them personally or they have a
family member that's impacted.  

I have already started looking into food options for Minneapolis and
that's one of the things I will post on that list. 

Thanks,
Mary Barnes.

-----Original Message-----
From: Dave CROCKER [mailto:dhc@dcrocker.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 12:54 PM
To: Barnes, Mary (RICH2:AR00)
Cc: 72attendees@ietf.org
Subject: Re: [72attendees] New mailing list to discuss IETF Food
requirements

Mary Barnes wrote:
>    The list is intended to provide a forum for discussion so that we 
> can understand one another's requirements and plan ahead for IETF 
> meetings by both preparing ourselves and the meeting planners."

I hope the discussion distinguishes between defining the burden that is
to be assumed by IETF meeting planners, versus private efforts by IETF
meeting attendees.

 From a pragmatic standpoint, meeting planners cannot accommodate 100%
of attendees' needs.

So, striking a reasonable balance between the two is the interesting
challenge.

d/

ps. Having meetings placed in resource-rich venues, within walking
distance of those resources, is an important way to accommodate diverse
requirements...

-- 

   Dave Crocker
   Brandenburg InternetWorking
   bbiw.net
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