Considerations for Cancellation of IETF MeetingsF5 Networks, Inc.martin.h.duke@gmail.com
General
shmoovirtualizepostponemoveThe IETF ordinarily holds three in-person meetings per year to discuss issues
and advance the Internet. However, various events can make a planned
in-person meeting infeasible. This document provides criteria to aid the IETF
Administration LLC (IETF LLC), the Internet Engineering Steering
Group (IESG), and the Chair of the
Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) in deciding to relocate, virtualize, postpone, or
cancel an in-person IETF meeting.Status of This Memo
This memo documents an Internet Best Current Practice.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by
the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information
on BCPs is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any
errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2021 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
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Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
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Table of Contents
. Introduction
. Conventions
. Decision Criteria and Roles
. IETF LLC
. The IESG and the Chair of the IRTF
. Remedies
. Relocation
. Virtualization
. Postponement
. Cancellation
. Refunds
. Security Considerations
. IANA Considerations
. Normative References
Acknowledgments
Author's Address
IntroductionAmong the highlights of the IETF calendar are in-person general meetings, which
happen three times a year at various locations around the world.Various major events may affect the suitability of a scheduled in-person IETF
meeting, though this may not be immediately obvious for some events. Examples of such events include the following:
A meeting venue itself may unexpectedly close or otherwise be unable to meet
IETF meeting requirements due to a health issue, legal violation, or other
localized problem.
A natural disaster could degrade the travel and meeting infrastructure in a
planned location and make it unethical to further burden that infrastructure
with a meeting.
War, civil unrest, or a public health crisis could make a meeting unsafe and/or
result in widespread national or corporate travel bans.
An economic crisis could sharply reduce resources available for travel,
resulting in lower expected attendance.
Changes in visa policies or other unexpected governmental restrictions might
make the venue inaccessible to numerous attendees.
This document provides criteria to aid the IETF Administration
LLC (IETF LLC), the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), and the Chair of the
Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) in deciding to relocate, virtualize, postpone, or
cancel an in-person IETF meeting.ConventionsThe key words "MUST", "MUST NOT",
"REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD",
"SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14
when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.In this document, the term "venue" refers to both the facility that houses the
sessions and the official meeting hotel(s), as defined in .Decision Criteria and RolesThe IETF LLC assesses whether an in-person meeting is logistically and financially
viable in light of events and assembles information about various travel
restrictions that might impact attendance. The
IESG and the Chair of the IRTF assess if the
projected attendance is sufficient for a viable in-person meeting.IETF LLCThe IETF LLC is responsible for assessing the suitability of a venue for an IETF
meeting and is responsible for any reassessment in response to a major event
that leaves the prior conclusion in doubt. If such an event occurs more than
fourteen weeks before the start of the scheduled meeting, it is deemed a
non-emergency situation. Later events, up to and including the week of a meeting
itself, are deemed emergency situations.In non-emergency situations, if the IETF LLC determines the scheduled meeting
clearly
cannot proceed (e.g., the venue has permanently closed), then it MUST
share the reason(s) with the community and MUST consult on its
proposed remedy. In less clear cases, the IETF LLC SHOULD conduct a
formal reassessment process that includes:
Consulting with the community on the timetable of the decision process.
Consulting with the community on criteria to assess the impact of new
developments.
Publishing an assessment report and recommended remedy.
Seeking approval of the IESG and the Chair of the IRTF for the
recommendation.
In emergency situations, which lack the time for a consultation process, this
document provides criteria that have IETF consensus and that the IETF LLC
MUST apply in its assessment.The IETF LLC will collect information about the likely impact to in-person
attendance of national travel advisories, national and corporate travel bans,
availability of transportation, quarantine requirements, etc., and report the
results to the IESG and the Chair of the IRTF.These criteria, some of which are derived from , apply
to venues that are re-evaluated due to an emergency:
Local safety guidelines allow the venue and hotels to host a meeting with the
expected number of participants and staff.
It is possible to provision Internet access to the venue that allows those
attending in person to utilize the Internet for all their IETF, business, and
day-to-day needs; in addition, there must be sufficient bandwidth and access for
remote attendees. Provisions include, but are not limited to, native and
unmodified IPv4 and IPv6 connectivity and global reachability; there may be no
additional limitation that would materially impact their Internet use. To
ensure availability, it MUST be possible to provision redundant
paths to the Internet.
A reasonable number of food and drink establishments are open and available
within walking distance to provide for the expected number of participants and
staff.
Local health and public safety infrastructure expects to have adequate
capacity to support an influx of visitors during the meeting week.
Finally, the IETF LLC MUST assess the impact on its own operations,
including:
The number of critical support staff, contractors, and volunteers who can be
at the venue.
The financial impact of continuing a meeting or implementing any of the
possible remedies.
The IETF LLC SHOULD cancel an in-person meeting and explore
potential
remedies if it judges a meeting to be logistically impossible or inconsistent with its
fiduciary responsibilities.In the event of considerations this document does not foresee, the IETF LLC should
protect the health and safety of attendees and staff, as well as the fiscal
health of the organization, with approval from the IESG and the Chair of the IRTF. The
IESG should pursue a later update of this document.The IESG and the Chair of the IRTFIf the IETF LLC assesses there are no fundamental logistical or financial obstacles
to holding a meeting in an emergency situation, the IESG and the Chair of the IRTF
assess
if projected attendance is high enough to achieve the benefit of an in-person
meeting. The IESG and the Chair of the IRTF SHOULD cancel the in-person
meeting if that benefit is insufficient.The IESG and the Chair of the IRTF are discouraged from relying on a simple head
count of
expected meeting attendance. Even dramatically smaller meetings with large
remote participation may be successful. In addition to the IETF LLC's estimate, the
IESG and the Chair of the IRTF might consider:
Are many working groups and research groups largely unaffected by the
restrictions, so that they can operate effectively?
Is there a critical mass of key personnel at most working group meetings to
leverage the advantages of in-person meetings, even if many participants are
remote?
RemediesIf a meeting cannot be held at the scheduled time and place, the IETF LLC, IESG, and
Chair of the IRTF have several options. The remedies in this section should be
considered in light of four principles (presented in no particular order):
Hold the scheduled sessions of a meeting in some format.
Provide benefits of in-person interactions when possible.
Avoid exorbitant additional travel expenses due to last-minute flight changes,
etc.
Ensure sufficient time and resources to adequately prepare an alternative.
The following remedies are listed in approximate declining order of preference.RelocationFor attendees, the least disruptive response is to retain the meeting week but
move it to a more-accessible venue. To the maximum extent possible, this will be
geographically close to the original venue. In particular, the IETF LLC
SHOULD meet the criteria in
and .Relocation that requires new air travel arrangements for attendees SHOULD NOT occur less than one month prior to the start of the meeting.VirtualizationThe second option, and one that has fewer issues with venue availability, is to
make a meeting fully online. This requires different IETF processes and
logistical operations that are outside the scope of this document.PostponementAlthough it is more disruptive to the schedules of participants, the next best
option is to delay a meeting until a specific date, at the same venue, at
which conditions are expected to improve. The new end date of a meeting must
be at least 30 days before the beginning of the following IETF meeting, and a
meeting MUST begin no earlier than 30 days after the postponement
announcement.Due to scheduling constraints at the venue, this will usually not be feasible.
However, it is more likely to allow attendees to recover at least some of their
travel expenses than other options.Note that it is possible to both postpone and relocate a meeting, though this
has the disadvantages of both.CancellationThe IETF LLC, IESG, and Chair of the IRTF may cancel a meeting entirely in the
event that
worldwide conditions make it difficult for attendees to even attend online. Not
holding a meeting at all can have wide implications, such as effects on the
nomination process and seating of new officers.Cancellation is likely the only practical alternative when emergencies occur
immediately before or during a meeting, so that there is no opportunity to
make other arrangements.RefundsThe IETF SHOULD NOT reimburse registered attendees for unrecoverable
travel expenses (airfare, hotel deposits, etc.).However, there are several cases where full or partial refund of registration
fees are appropriate:
Cancellation SHOULD result in a full refund to all participants.
It MAY be prorated if some portion of the sessions completed without
incident.
Upon postponement, the IETF LLC SHOULD offer refunds to registered
attendees who claim they cannot attend at the newly scheduled time. Attendees can opt
out of receiving a refund.
When a meeting is virtualized, the IETF LLC MUST offer to refund
registered attendees the difference between their paid registration fee and the
equivalent fee for an online meeting. The IETF LLC SHOULD offer
refunds to
registered attendees who do not wish to attend an online meeting.
The IETF LLC SHOULD offer refunds to attendees whose government
forbids, or has issued a safety advisory against, visits to the host venue, even if
the in-person meeting will continue. It SHOULD NOT refund
cancellations due to employer policy or personal risk assessments.
These provisions intend to maintain trust between the IETF and its participants.
However, under extraordinary threats to the solvency of the organization, the
IETF LLC may suspend them.Security ConsiderationsThis document introduces no new concerns for the security of Internet protocols.IANA ConsiderationsThis document has no IANA actions.Normative ReferencesKey words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement LevelsIn many standards track documents several words are used to signify the requirements in the specification. These words are often capitalized. This document defines these words as they should be interpreted in IETF documents. This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements.Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC 2119 Key WordsRFC 2119 specifies common key words that may be used in protocol specifications. This document aims to reduce the ambiguity by clarifying that only UPPERCASE usage of the key words have the defined special meanings.IETF Plenary Meeting Venue Selection ProcessThe IETF Administration Support Activity (IASA) is responsible for arranging the selection and operation of the IETF plenary meeting venue. This memo specifies IETF community requirements for meeting venues, including hotels and meeting space. It also directs the IASA to make available additional process documents that describe the current meeting selection process.High-Level Guidance for the Meeting Policy of the IETFThis document describes a meeting location policy for the IETF and the various stakeholders required to realize this policy.Acknowledgments provided extensive input to make this document more
usable by the IETF LLC. Many members of the IESG and the
SHMOO Working Group also provided useful comments.Author's AddressF5 Networks, Inc.martin.h.duke@gmail.com