Subject: IETF 110 will be an online meeting

From: IETF Executive Director <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 2020 15:16:31 +1300

The IETF LLC has decided to replace the in-person IETF 110 Prague meeting with an online meeting due to exceptional circumstances and following a community consultation where the feedback was almost entirely supportive [1].  Discussions are still underway regarding rebooking the Prague venue for a later in-person meeting.

From the consultation email:

> The background to this is firstly that we are still in the midst of a pandemic with ongoing major disruption to global travel.  A vaccine is expected but the timing cannot be predicted and there are still many obstacles to overcome.  In this context, while March 2021 is still six months away, the likelihood of a return to normal by then, or at least open travel, is low.  
> 
> Secondly, for 2020 the IETF LLC was fortunate enough to have both pandemic insurance and a strong contractual basis on which to cancel in-person meetings in the event of a pandemic.  With that assurance we have been able to wait until the last practical moment to decide on switching to an online meeting.  However, pandemic insurance is no longer available and the contract with the Prague venue does not have this protection and requires us to rebook within three years or pay a significant cancellation fee.  The restrictions on rebooking are quite tight and there is only one set of future meeting dates available for us to rebook and avoid the fee.  It is our assessment that the longer we wait, the higher the risk that this opportunity to rebook without paying the cancellation fee will no longer be available.
> 
> We are therefore considering making the decision now to switch IETF 110 to an online meeting and rebooking the Prague venue for a later meeting.  The alternative of waiting to make the decision until ten weeks out following a proper assessment, as we have done with  IETF 108 and IETF 109, risks us being subject to a cancellation fee of at least $450,000 if the rebooking opportunity has gone.  On the balance of probabilities we believe the best course of action is to cancel and rebook now.

Further details about the online meeting will be shared as they become available.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions.

[1]  https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/msg/ietf-announce/SHCfGwQ2Y5P6bDp6WRpYS1t95IY/

-- 
Jay Daley
IETF Executive Director
[email-masked]

-- 
Jay Daley
IETF Executive Director
[email-masked]