Re: WG meeting structure

[Fred Baker <[e-mail]>]

Am I willing? Yes. Do I think it's a wonderful idea? I don't. Why? Because I already have little trouble getting people to come to the microphone when they care about something, and I already instruct speakers to leave at least half of their slot for discussion. The one thing I would request is that breakout rooms not have large visual blockages in them that prevent people from coming to the microphone, or interacting with the speaker.

I would suggest that chairs be given the option of choosing such a room layout, and that at least one room be configured as you suggest for those chairs that request it.

> On May 14, 2019, at 4:14 PM, Pete Resnick <[e-mail]> 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
> --
> Pete Resnick http://www.episteme.net/
> All connections to the world are tenuous at best
> 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The fact that there is a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven is an interesting comment on projected traffic volume...