[ncc-services-wg] Figuring out RIPE meetings

Dear RIPE NCC services working group,

I spoke up during the RIPE NCC services working group during the AOB 
(any other business) time at the end of the session during the RIPE 87 
meeting. We only had a very short amount of time, and I did not warn 
anyone. More than one person asked me for clarification, so I thought I 
should send an e-mail to explain. This is that e-mail.

There are two places where discussions about the RIPE meeting could 
happen, either in the RIPE list (with the whole RIPE community) or in 
the RIPE NCC services working group (for non-member RIPE NCC services). 
I picked the RIPE NCC services, because I think it is basically about 
implementation and not about over-arching meeting goals. There is 
definitely discussion to be had about meeting goals - for example how to 
deal with a meeting that grows over time - but that is not my focus here.

Basically I wanted to rant a bit about two things:

1. The last few meeting locations have not been great.
2. Communication about meetings has been been poor.

The most recent meeting, near Rome, was in a location that meant you had 
to either stay in the meeting venue hotel or take a taxi to get to the 
meeting every day. It was also far away from the actual city, so getting 
out to visit a restaurant or even just be away from the venue at all 
took some time. There are a lot of valid complaints about the way the 
meeting venue was laid out, but my main concern was the choice of venue 
itself.

The meeting before this, RIPE 86 in Rotterdam, was in a conference 
center. That is not necessarily bad - RIPE 78 in Rotterdam was in a 
conference center that was actually pretty good. In the case of RIPE 86 
in Rotterdam the conference center was far from anything else, including 
hotels and restaurants. It could be reached by public transport or by 
just cycling or walking, so it was better than Rome, but still not great.

RIPE 85 in Belgrade was probably a better location as far as venue. The 
main issues with that meeting were due to it being in Serbia, which has 
both benefits and drawbacks, but discussion about which countries or 
regions are appropriate for a RIPE meeting probably belongs on the RIPE 
list.

I realize that there are a lot of reasons why venues were chosen, but I 
feel like we as the RIPE community have no insight into these. Which 
leads me to my second point of communication being poor.

To me, it feels like we (the RIPE community) are basically just 
observers in how our own meetings are arranged, and end up having to 
accept whatever is delivered by our vendor (the RIPE NCC). I do not 
think this is how anyone wants the RIPE meetings to be arranged, and I 
definitely do not think that there is any blame here... possibly we have 
all kind of slowly moved into a situation where the RIPE NCC has done 
such a good job of handling meetings over the years that we just let 
them handle everything apart from the actual agendas and discussions.

What I was asking for at the microphone at RIPE 87 was for more 
communication about future meeting planning from the RIPE NCC, and if 
possible some discussion around it. Arranging conferences or meetings 
has been especially difficult since the end of the COVID-19 lockdowns, 
but we (the RIPE community) are in this together along with the RIPE 
NCC. The RIPE community is willing to help when it makes sense, and can 
be trusted to be understanding otherwise.

Hisham from the RIPE NCC grabbed for a quick chat some time after the 
RIPE NCC services working group session. He was very open about the 
challenges that the RIPE NCC are facing planing RIPE meetings, as well 
as a lot of the thought processes they have around selecting cities, 
picking venues, and so on. The meetings have not been dropped or 
ignored, and I know that the RIPE NCC is going to be giving us some 
interesting articles meeting organization in the near future. I really 
appreciate him reaching out to me, and look forward to everyone learning 
about the efforts around meeting planning.

Anyway, that's it. No secret agenda or hidden meanings, I promise! 😄

Cheers,

--
Shane
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