I agree with those who assert... Innovation and collaboration are accelerated and improved by in-person unstructured and informal exchange of information and ideas. Structured meetings work perfectly well using remote meeting tools, but constraining interaction to structured remote meetings reduces quality and quantity of results because too much is literally left unsaid. Fewer meetings with more people are more cost effective than more meetings with fewer people. Pierce -----Original Message----- From: Jim Reid <jim@xxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2025 9:16 AM To: Salz, Rich <rsalz=40akamai.com@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: IETF <ietf@xxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: Remote hubs (Was What should we do?) EXTERNAL EMAIL > On 27 Mar 2025, at 12:51, Salz, Rich <rsalz=40akamai.com@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > But for those who won’t or can’t travel to be on-site are remote hubs useful? Dhruv’s experiment says it can be. Should the IETF work to support those communities? It depends on what is meant by "support". Setting clear expectations for both parties on what they should/must provide will be important too. Remote hubs are a great idea in principle. [So is free beer.] How they work out could well be another story. [So is free beer.] Some sort of trial would be worthwhile. The IETF could say "if you're willing to host a remote hub for your local community, let us know because we're willing to help". Requests for assistance could then be assessed/triaged on a case-by-case basis - a bit like the waiver programme for remote participants. After the event, the secretariat could then do a cost/benefit analysis of how those remote hub(s) worked out in practice and recommend next steps. Says me glibly handwaving at someone else to do all that work. I wouldn't be in favour of the IETF being pro-active here. After all, asking those who can't travel if they want a remote hub will almost certainly get a positive response even if they don't take up the offer once the hub is in place. A passive approach would be prudent until there's enough data to make an objective decision. I'd also be wary of putting significant resources into supporting remote hubs if it turns out hardly anyone uses them.
