Re: stds-802-16: Meeting schedules

[Jim Mollenauer <jmollenauer@TSAnet.com>]

[Notice: It is the policy of 802.16 to treat messages posted here as non-confidential.]

Jerry--

Let me try to address your concerns.  It's IEEE 802 policy that interim meetings must be
announced a month ahead of time, to avoid the situation where people are unable to attend
because of short notice.  Unfortunately, the announcement of an informal get-together
sounded a lot like a call for an interim meeting, when that wasn't the intention (see
Roger's email).  It is necessary to have interim meetings to keep the work going at a
reasonable pace; the three plenary meetings a year are not enough.  On the other hand, once
a month is too often; no one can get much else done on their day job.  So most 802 working
groups settle into one interim meeting between each pair of plenaries, or once every two
months.  Once in a while meetings are called more often, when there are special
circumstances.

I wish I know how to get it all done by email; the IETF is the only group I know that
manages it.

At any rate, as we come together as a working group, all these issues are bound to sort
themselves out and we'll develop a routine that suits most of the participants reasonably
well.

Jim Mollenauer

Jerry Woodard wrote:

> [Notice: It is the policy of 802.16 to treat messages posted here as non-confidential.]
>
> [Notice: It is the policy of 802.16 to treat messages posted here as
> non-confidential.]
>
> Folks -
>
> Let me see if I have this 802.16 schedule straight:
>
> (1) We have a regular quarterly meeting scheduled in Montreal starting July
> 5.
> (2) We have an interim meeting scheduled in Boulder starting May 10.
> (3) There was an "interim" interim meeting held in Dallas on April 12.
> (4) There is yet another "interim" interim meeting desired to be held in
> Dallas before May 12.
>
> I understand that anything that is "decided" at these ad hoc meetings will
> not become official until "voted on" at the main meeting.
>
> I object.
>
> This process is a charade that disenfranchises most of the 802.16 study
> group.  It is expensive and disruptive for most of us to stop work on our
> employer's assigned tasks and fly off to attend a series of hastily
> contrived volunteer committee meetings.
>
> I see that there are two possible choices for 802.16:
> (1) A couple of you folks just go ahead and make the decisions, write the
> documents, and then ask the rest of us to mail in our votes so that there is
> an appearance of a consensus, or
> (2) Limit the meetings to the quarterly gatherings at which times an open
> discussion can be held on all topics with no preconceived outcome.
>
> Jerry Woodard
> Wytec, Inc.