Re: Vancouver schedule

[John C Klensin <john-ietf at jck.com>]

--On Wednesday, November 09, 2005 23:40 -0800 Aaron Falk 
<falk at ISI.EDU> wrote:

> Am I the only one dissatisfied with the meeting schedule?  I
> find that the run of meetings from 1300 to 1930 is just too
> long, especially the four hour period from 1300 - 1710.  I
> would strongly prefer our 'traditional' schedule over the
> current one.
>
> Even if I can't know which continent I'll be meeting in, it
> would be nice to know that the daily schedule is one I can
> live with.  ;)

I basically like this schedule.  The idea of having the evening 
free for a leisurely dinner, off-agenda work, or both is, and 
remains, very attractive.   But it is clear to me that it needs 
a little tuning:

	* As others have pointed out, the gap between lunch and
	dinner has gotten too long.   It seems to me that it
	might be more productive to, e.g., cut the current
	morning slot to two hours and insert an hour slot in the
	morning.
	
	* We may be trying to squeeze one more hour than is
	reasonable into some days.  It may be time to really
	start using Friday as other than an overflow area and a
	"maybe something will happen then, so you'd better be
	prepared to be here" time, which has never worked well.
	
	* The sequence of hour slot - 10 minute break - hour
	slot - ten minute break may be a little too tight.  The
	result is almost guaranteed lateness if there is either
	a hall discussion or a need for a bio break after the
	previous session.  And it overconstrains those immediate
	post-meeting quick discussions, which are often
	critical.  Maybe we need to ask Ray and Marcia to see if
	a guideline that we don't have two consecutive ten
	minute breaks could be made to work.
	
	* As Ole suggests, I think continuous availability of
	beverages, especially in the afternoons, is pretty
	important, especially with these longer days.  Having a
	time slot for the cookies is fine, but having a > $500
	registration fee that is supposed to cover refreshments,
	missing the window because of an important conversation
	about session follow-up, and then having to go out of
	the meeting area and stand in line to buy overpriced
	coffee (or even overpriced water) is both inefficient
	and adds insult to injury.

But, personally, I think this longer day- no evenings schedule 
is an improvement and hope we can continue to make it work.

--john


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