| Internet-Draft | IETF Venue Reassessment | November 2025 |
| Hardie | Expires 11 May 2026 | [Page] |
The current venue selection procedures do not describe how to request reconsideration of a venue's suitability in the event of major changes related to the safety of a venue or the ability of IETF participants to enter the relevant jurisdicition. This draft sets out a strawman process for this procedure.¶
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.¶
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.¶
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."¶
This Internet-Draft will expire on 11 May 2026.¶
Copyright (c) 2025 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.¶
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.¶
The IETF Administration Support Activity (IASA) is responsible for arranging the selection and operation of the IETF plenary meeting venue, according to the principles set out in [RFC8718]. The specific procedures for meeting planning in place at the time this document was written were found at [MeetingPlanning]¶
The current meeting procedures set out in some detail how meeting venues are identified and evaluated. They also contain specific information on how the evaluation of exploratory meetings differs from those in the standard rotation. Under normal circumstances the decision to hold a meeting at a specific venue, once taken, continues to guide activity through the meeting at issue.¶
There are, however, certain extraordinary circumstances which may require that a decision be reconsidered. This document sets out a strawman process for that reconsideration.¶
Reconsideration should be an extraordinary event, occurring only when there have been substantive changes in the circumstances relevant to the venue. Changes in travel costs, exchange rates, and other commercial circumstances do not normally justify reconsideration.¶
Large-scale changes to the set of participants who may travel to the venue may be a justification for reconsideration. While it is a non-goal within the venue selection process to insure maximal attendance, the projected attendance and the composition of the set of attendees are key elements used in assessing whether or not the venue will support an effective meeting. Changes in the set of participants who may travel may invalidate previous projections or understandings of the inclusiveness supported by the venue, thus justifying a reconsideration.¶
Our procedures require that the safety and health risks associated with a venue be acceptable. If there are substantive changes to the safety or health risks associated with the venue for some or all of IETF participants, those changes may justify a reconsideration.¶
A reconsideration may be triggered at any time by the IETF LLC, based on its own information.¶
A reconsideration may be requested informally by any member or members of the community in any of the normal venues for feedback, including email to the IETF LLC board, attendance at its public meetings, or at the IETF plenary. Reconsiderations requested by this method are handled at the discretion of the IETF LLC.¶
A formal request for reconsideration may be presented to the chair of the board of the IETF LLC by any ten members of the IETF community who meet the criteria set out below. Such requests must specify the venue and the change which justifies the request for reconsideration. Any evidence supplied supporting the request must include information on the source of the evidence and a clear statement of why it justifies the request for reconsideration.¶
A person may be eligible to participate in this process because they have registered for and attended 3 out of the last 5 IETF meetings. A person may also be eligible because they served as a Working Group Chair or Secretary within 3 years prior to the request.¶
NOTE: This follows the selection criteria for NomCom members, but it does not reuse it because those criteria exclude sitting members of IETF leadership bodies. Since those roles do not bear on the individuals' assessment of a venue, they are not excluded here.¶
When changes have justified a reconsideration, the form of the reassessment will depend on the specific changes which have been brought forward. Generally, the IETF LLC will follow those steps in the current meeting assessment process which relate to the conditions which have changed, focusing on those steps which are necessary to confirm that the venue remains viable or to confirm the impact on the meeting of the changes that have been brought forward.¶
If a formal request for reconsideration has occurred, then the reassessment must include a request for community feedback and an assessment by the IESG of the meeting viability.¶
Thanks to those on the IETF main mailing list for their comments on this broad topic.¶
This memo has no actions for actions for IANA.¶
This specification does not update the security considerations associated with venue selection.¶