Acculturation [was Re: PowerPoint considered harmful]

[Brian E Carpenter <[e-mail]>]

On 02/12/2012 18:06, Melinda Shore wrote:
...
> I know the EDU team is working hard and has a tough task, but
> I also wonder if improving however it is that we acculturate
> newer participants might not help, as well.  I would guess that
> if you polled meeting participants you'd get a majority of
> respondents thinking that meetings are for presentation and
> that meetings are used for document adoption and document
> content decisions.

We get exactly two shots at new participants: the newcomers
tutorial, and the newcomers reception, both on Sunday afternoon
(i.e. before some people even arrive). After that, they are in
the mix, and further acculturation happens in the WGs and
corridors (plus, no doubt, some extreme puzzlement in plenary).

The newbie presentation has about 68 slides. They include these words:

Working Groups
* this is where the IETF primarily get its work done
* most discussions on a WG mailing list
* face-to-face meetings focused on key issues (ideally)
	note: face-to-face meetings generally quite short
...
* no defined membership
* just participants
* “Rough consensus and running code...”
* no formal voting  (can not define the constituency)
	can do show of hands or hum - but no count
* does not require unanimity
* chair determines if there is consensus
* disputes resolved by discussion
* mailing list and face-to-face meetings
* final decisions must be verified on mailing list
  to ensure those not present at face-to-face are included
* but taking into account face-to-face discussion

A Working Group Session
* WGs only meet for a few hours at an IETF meeting
* most working group work is done on the WG mailing list
* often only specific unresolved issues are discussed at meetings
  so read the IDs and mailing list before the session

     Brian