Re: WG meeting structure

["Joel M. Halpern" <[e-mail]>]

Given the other disucssions about the importance of remote 
participation, it would seem we would either need a lot of microphones, 
or very different (and I suspect expensive) microphone technology so 
that the folks at those tables could simultaneously
1) engage in effective conversation
2) be heard remotely

Yours,
Joel

On 5/14/19 7:14 PM, 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.
> 
> 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