Re: WG meeting structure

[Stephen Farrell <[e-mail]>]

Hi Pete,

On 15/05/2019 00:14, Pete Resnick wrote:
> In part inspired by Dave Taht's thread on the IETF list; in part
> something I've been thinking about for some time.

Wasn't exactly this done for QUIC or maybe HTTPBIS a few times
a couple of years ago? (With spill over to other WGs in the
relevant room on that day.) I forget if that was considered
a success or not.

S.

> 
> Some of us chairs would like more discussing and less presenting in WG
> sessions. Even for the largest of WG sessions, I tend to see one or two
> dozen people coming to the mic and discussing, and the rest just
> visiting, so this is not an inconceivable idea for most WGs. Getting
> this accomplished is in part having the chairs structure the agenda
> somewhat differently, and we should really start discussing ways to
> accomplish that. But a practical tool to promote discussion is changing
> the room layout. The secretariat has already said that they're willing
> to set up something like this if there are enough takers, and I know a
> few chairs (including myself) who really want this, but I'd like to know
> if we've got enough critical mass to try this out, at least for one or
> two rooms:
> 
> The idea is to set up the room like this (check out this ASCII art!):
> 
>              +------+
>              |screen|
>              +------+
>   X  X  X  O +-+  +-+ O  X  X  X
>   X  X  X  O | |  | | O  X  X  X
>   X  X  X  O |T|  |T| O  X  X  X
>   X  X  X  O |a|  |a| O  X  X  X
>   X  X  X  O |b|  |b| O  X  X  X
>   X  X  X  O |l|  |l| O  X  X  X
>   X  X  X  O |e|  |e| O  X  X  X
>   X  X  X  O | |  | | O  X  X  X
>   X  X  X  O | |__| | O  X  X  X
>            O +______+ O
>    M        O  O  O  O        M
>       X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X
>       X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X
>       X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X
>       X  X  X  X  X  X  X  X
> 
> Basically, the idea is to have U-shaped table setup, with the screen up
> at the open end. You'd get people at the table all the way around (the
> Os) who plan to participate in the discussion. (I've also seen this done
> with nested tables for more folks in the discussion.) Rows behind (in 3
> directions; the Xs) are for folks who plan to mostly just listen; those
> could fill the rest of the room and could probably scale to 100 or more
> seats depending on the size of the room. There would be a few wireless
> mics to pass around the tables, with perhaps a fixed mic at the bottom
> of the U for the WG chairs, and a couple of floor mics (the Ms) for
> folks who aren't around the table who happen to have comments.
> 
> How many of you be willing to run a WG session this way if the setup was
> offered?
> 
> pr