Draft RIPE 89 Working Group Chair Meeting Summary

31 October 2024
Clarion Congress Hotel Prague

Attendees: Ignas Bagdonas, Sebastian Becker, Markus de Brün, Massimo Candela, Ben Cartwright-Cox, Marco d’Itri, Rob Evans, Will van Gulik, Doris Hauser, Julf Helsingius, Peter Hessler, Alex le Heux, Paul Hoogsteder, Raymond Jetten, Achilleas Kemos, Stavros Konstantaras, Desiree Miloshevic, Moritz Müller (remote), Brian Nisbet, Sasha Romijn, Marcos Sanz, Christian Seitz, Peter Steinhäuser, Stephen Strowes, Leo Vegoda, Stefan Wahl, Martin Winter, János Zsakó

RIPE Chair Team: Mirjam Kühne, Niall O’Reilly

RIPE NCC Staff: Hisham Ibrahim, Phillip Oldham, Gergana Petrova, Marita Phelan, Felipe Victolla Silveira

Scribe: Antony Gollan

1. Welcoming New WG Chairs

Newly appointed chairs were welcomed: Marco d’Itri (Open Source), Sebastian Becker (Routing), and Stefan Wahl (RIPE NCC Services). Julf Helsingius and Achilleas Kemos had both been re-selected for another term chairing the Cooperation WG, and Tobias Knecht and Markus de Brün had both been re-selected for another term chairing the Security WG.

Outgoing chairs Paul Hoogsteder (Routing), Bijal Sanghani (RIPE NCC Services), and Martin Winter (Open Source) were thanked.

2. Feedback from RIPE 89

Feedback included requests for better visibility of the courtesy screen for presenters and including the steno on this screen so they didn’t have to turn away from the audience. It was suggested that they also add a monitor outside meeting rooms to display the agenda and change the names of these rooms (from "Main" and "Side Room") to avoid implying relative importance. It was suggested that the RIPE NCC reserve space in nearby hotels for people who could use cheaper accommodation. More vegetarian food options would also be appreciated.

Bigger capacity venues could be chosen for the Thursday dinner so that more people could attend, including RIPE NCC staff. The meeting badge was a bit flimsy and could be thicker so that it didn’t break over the course of the week, a larger font could also be used for people’s names, and more space could be allowed for stickers.

Positive feedback was given on the venue location, accessibility, and layout, with plenty of seating options on the floor below. The free public transport cards supplied for this meeting had been appreciated. The meeting plan had also worked well in terms of avoiding clashes between WGs with overlapping themes.

Chairs were reminded to make sure people stated their name and affiliation when speaking at the mic.

The RIPE NCC was asked to arrange some Meetecho training for chairs.

Peter Hessler said he had to chair the Database WG on his own at this meeting and was grateful for all the assistance and offers of help from other chairs.

3. PC Submission System (PCSS)

It was noted that the replacement PC Submission System would be ready in advance of RIPE 91. WGs would need some flexibility in terms of scheduling and deadlines and so the PCSS would have to allow for this.

Guidelines had also been developed for presenters, which included use of images (including AI-generated images) in their slides. Chairs were reminded that if they saw plenary submissions they wanted for their WGs, they could always contact the PC.

4. WG Agendas

Mirjam noted that several WGs had posted their agendas quite late and she encouraged chairs to publish at least a draft a few weeks before the meeting as a courtesy to attendees. However, it was noted that company travel policies were making it harder for attendees to confirm their plans until the last minute, which made it difficult to finalise agendas. Mirjam said that WGs didn’t need to hold a session at every RIPE Meeting – they could always skip one if they were having trouble finding content.

Mirjam noted they were also considering a joint session between the Cooperation, Database and Security WGs at RIPE 90.

5. RIPE NomCom Liaison

János Zsakó was appointed as the RIPE WG Chair Collective’s liaison to the RIPE NomCom.

6. AOB

Hisham said at the recent NANOG meeting they’d had something called “Table Topics” – where attendees could join tables that had been allocated to discuss pre-arranged topics. This seemed like a great icebreaker for newer attendees, though it would require some support and coordination with the PC, WG Chairs, speakers, and the RIPE NCC. The idea was supported by the group.