Specific Questions about Registration details for IETF 108

[Bob Hinden <[e-mail]>]

Jay,

I have some specific questions about the registration fees for IETF 108 as announced.  Note, I am OK with charging a fee for remote participation, but I still have questions.  I have reviewed your blog entry [3].

While I support charging a fee to participate, I don’t see any justification for having different fee levels (Early, Standard, Late).  Why is this being done?   It makes some sense for a face-to-face meeting, where we do need to know how many people will be on site, cookies to buy, etc., but that is not the case here.   Do we have a cash flow problem that we need to get the money early?   Please explain, this seems completely arbitrary to me.

How does the fee relate to the costs of running the meeting?    As it said in your blog entry:

"As noted above, $515,145 is much higher than the direct cost of running an online meeting due to the way we spread some operational costs.”

How much higher is it?   Please share the details.   I infer the fee is being set do to how the LLC is doing its accounting, not related to the direct costs.

I would prefer that the fee be set based on our costs for running the meeting.

Bob









> On May 27, 2020, at 6:12 PM, IETF Executive Director <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
> As previously announced [1], IETF 108 is switching to a fully online meeting over 5 days, 25-31 July, with an agenda structure similar to that of an in-person meeting [2].
> 
> Registrations will open on 8 June 2020 and the registration fees will be as follows:
> 
>    Early-Bird:  USD 230, until 26 June 2020
>    Standard:  USD 280, until 20 July 2020
>    Late:  USD 330, after 20 July 2020
>    Full-time Student:  USD 50
>    One Day Pass:  USD 125
> 
> This meeting will have a substantial agenda but as the cost of an online meeting is lower, the registration fees have been set at approximately one-third of those for an in-person meeting.  A detailed explanation of why we charge a fee for meetings and how the fee reduction was set for IETF 108 is provided in a separate blog post [3].
> 
> As online participants have until now not had to pay a fee, it is recognised that there may be some for whom the fee presents a barrier to participation and so we will provide up to 100 early bird fee waivers for IETF 108. If the number of waiver requests exceeds the number we can offer, waiver recipients will be chosen at random using a process similar to the one specified in RFC 3797. Details of how to apply for a waiver will be provided when registration opens.
> 
> No decision has been made on whether or not a fee for online participation is needed when we return to in-person meetings.
> 
> As this is a fully online meeting, there are two key changes in the meeting process for you to be aware of:
> 
> 1.  When you register you will be able to choose if you want to receive an IETF 108 t-shirt delivered to you at no additional expense. Numbers will be limited to 1000 t-shirts on a first-come-first-served basis with 900 for Early Birds and 100 for Students.
> 
> 2.  All participants will need a Datatracker account in order to authenticate with Meetecho.  If you do not already have an account then one will be created for you during registration and you will receive a password setup link by email.
> 
> As with in-person meetings, a video recording of each scheduled session will be posted after the session concludes and the proceedings will be posted in the normal timeframe following the meeting.
> 
> Finally, we are still in the process of securing sponsors with some generous contributions already agreed and more under discussion.  Full details and thanks will follow later.
> 
> Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions or comments.
> 
> [1]  https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/ietf-announce/kzC7M48oKrAwdh9uyOvseeKFW3A/
> [2]  https://www.ietf.org/blog/ietf108-survey-results-informed-planning/
> [3]  https://www.ietf.org/blog/ietf108-registration-fees
> 
> --
> Jay Daley
> IETF Executive Director
> [e-mail]
> 
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