stds-802-16: Friday meetings at Session #10

["Roger B. Marks" <r.b.marks@ieee.org>]

Fine Folks of 802.16:

I'd like to clarify the situation with respect to 802.16 meetings on 
Friday, 10 November at Session #10. People seem to be unsure what 
business will be going on then and how to plan their trips. The 
bottom line is that, for most of use, the Session wraps up at 5 pm 
Thursday.

This issue has come to the forefront because the conference hotel has 
become sold out on Thursday night (even though there are plenty of 
rooms available earlier in the week).

Now that 802 is no longer holding Friday Plenary meetings, the 
Working Groups were invited to use the meeting facilities on Friday 
morning. However, since the 802 Executive Committee still meets on 
Thursday night, we need to wrap up much of the WG's business on 
Thursday afternoon (in time to work like crazy to get items onto the 
ExCom agenda and motions into ExCom Committee mailboxes early enough 
to get consideration).

Since we need a Working Group Plenary Meeting on Thursday, we may as 
well wrap up all our WG business for the week then. [We could also 
use Thursday only for urgent decisions and put others off until a 
Friday morning Plenary; this would give us more working time on 
Thursday, but, on the whole, it may not be worth the trouble. Let's 
put this idea aside for now.]

So, as I wrote in the announcement, "The 802.16 Plenary Session will 
open at 1 pm on Monday and close by 5 pm on Thursday. Task Groups may 
meet on Monday and/or Friday mornings."

Given that the WG will have adjourned, I don't think Task Groups are 
going to be in position to hold decision-making meetings on Friday. I 
think the best we can hope for is to use the time to mop up the week. 
Mop-up activities will mainly be centered around finalizing 
documents. In particular, for the 10th of November, here is what I 
expect:

*The Secretaries get their documents, including the minutes, 
completed, indexed, and filed.

*The editorial teams update their documents with comment resolutions 
approved during the week and prepare drafts for Working Group Letter 
Ballot (we expect to launch two such ballots in November).

*Ad hoc groups plan out their next step.

*We clean up, pack the networking gear, and ship it off to Israel for 
Session #11.

Finally, the ALMOST BOTTOM LINE:

*We will not hold formal meetings on November 10 (that means no 
minutes and no votes).

*Friday attendance will not count toward Session #10 participation credit.

*I would like all of the 802.16 and Task Group officials (Chairs and 
Vice Chairs, Secretaries, Editors) to be available on Friday morning 
if possible. We will have a lot to do.

Now, the BOTTOM LINE:

*If you haven't reserved your hotel room, I suggest you do so now 
<http://ieee802.org/16/meetings/mtg10>.
*Reserve only through Wednesday night.
*If you think you might want to stay Thursday night, ask the hotel to 
put you on the waiting list. There is a good chance you will end up 
with a room.
*If you already have a room reserved for Thursday and think you might 
not need it, please cancel it.
*If you are a voter and leave before 5 pm on Thursday, you may miss a 
vote. When you pick your flight, note that the airport is 6 miles 
from the hotel <http://www.hyatt.com/usa/tampa/hotels/map_tpart.html>.

Sorry for the confusion. I hope this note helps.

Cheers!

Roger