On 2 Jul 2025, at 16:02, Michael De Roover <ietf@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > I like this idea of changing the schedule, more so than I like the idea of > changing the location. Earlier in the conversation, there were mentions of > this schedule being a result of COVID-related measures. Since the pandemic is > now by and large over (turned endemic just like all the other ones, easy to > deal with), then the return to pre-pandemic scheduling might be the better > thing to do here. This is not a particularly good hook to hang a reply to myself on, but bear with me. When I first moved from the UK to Canada in 1995 I was quite frightened by the prospect of what negative outside temperatures might entail. Turns out there was no immediate danger to life and limb. Coats exist, as do gloves and hats. Buildings are heated. Exposure to snow is often not fatal. When I went to my first APRICOT meeting in Singapore some time after that, I remember waking up in the morning and opening the window because the hotel room was stuffy. This made the room a lot worse, but miraculously I surivived. Personally, while I enjoy travel for its own sake, if I want to experience a place I will go there when there is no IETF meeting happening. IETF week is a terrible time to experience what a city has to offer if you're participating in the meeting. When I go to an IETF meeting, I am there to do some work and to connect with people in-person who otherwise are harder to maintain working relationships with. If I have to take an occasional walk in the heat or the snow as part of that, I don't see it as a great hardship. It's far more important that facilities and adjacent meeting places like restaurants and corridors are available. I have found this perfectly possible (for example) in Toronto in February and in (another example) Bangkok in, well, any month of the year. I don't think the outside temperature is actually something most IETF participants should need to worry about. When it comes to temperature I have far greater sympathy for people who find themselves having to wear coats in meeting rooms because the air conditioning is aggressively maintaining a room temperature of 18C. Inside conditions are more important than what the weather app says is happening today. If it's too hot or cold outside, well, don't go out. Joe
