RFC 8718

IETF Plenary Meeting Venue Selection Process

📅 published February 2020, from ietf

RFC 8718 IETF Plenary Meeting Venue Selection Process ✨

okay bestie, let's talk about where we actually get to meet 🧚 This is BCP 226, a Best Current Practice (so it's the community's official "this is how we do it" doc, not a shaky suggestion), written by E. Lear, Ed. from Cisco Systems, dated February 2020. It's an ISSN 2070-1721 document, and it doesn't obsolete or update anything else. Lowkey a clean slate 💅

Quick vibe check on the header: it's an IETF Trust-style doc, so the Status and Copyright bits are real legal stuff. Read them, because they tell you what you're allowed to do with the text 🎀

Abstract

The IETF Administration Support Activity (IASA) is in charge of picking and running the venue for the IETF plenary meeting 🏨 This memo lays out what the community needs from meeting venues (hotels and meeting space included). It also tells the IASA to publish extra process docs that explain how the current meeting selection process actually works 📋

Status of This Memo

This memo is a Best Current Practice 🎀 It's a product of the IETF, it represents the community's consensus, got public review, and the IESG approved it for publication. More on BCPs is in Section 2 of RFC 7841 💖

Want errata or feedback? Head to https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8718 🦋

Copyright Notice

This doc is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) as they stand on the publication date. Please actually read those, bestie, because they spell out your rights and restrictions. Any Code Components pulled out of this doc have to include Simplified BSD License text, as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions, and they come with no warranty, same as the Simplified BSD License says 🔥

1.  Introduction
2.  Venue Selection Objectives
  2.1.  Core Values
  2.2.  Venue Selection Non-objectives
3.  Meeting Criteria
  3.1.  Mandatory Criteria
  3.2.  Important Criteria
  3.3.  Other Considerations
4.  Documentation Requirements
5.  IANA Considerations
6.  Security Considerations
7.  Privacy Considerations
8.  Normative References
9.  Informative References
Acknowledgements
Contributors
Author's Address

Part 1 ends right here. Part 2 has the rest of the ride, so stay tuned 💜

1. Introduction 🌈

1. Intro, but make it iconic

The IETF Administrative Support Activity (IASA) [RFC8711] is responsible for arranging the selection and operation of the IETF plenary meeting venue. This doc is here to guide the IASA as they pick regions, cities, facilities, and hotels. The IASA SHOULD apply this guidance at different points in the process to really try to meet what the IETF community needs. We set out a bunch of general criteria for venue selection, plus some requirements for transparency and community consultation ✨

Also, the IASA is still the one making the call with its best judgment 🧠 They take input and feedback during the consultation process and afterward too (like when something changes at a chosen location). The community is encouraged to share direct feedback about the IASA's performance with the IETF Administration LLC, the Nominations Committee (NOMCOM), or the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) 💌 Any reviews of IASA decisions stay subject to Section 4.7 of [RFC8711] (BCP 101) 📜

Okay, so the IETF contracts services for four kinds of places. Here's the lineup:

Venue: the umbrella term for the city, the meeting resources, and the guest room resources 🌆
Facility: the building that houses the meeting rooms and related resources. It may also house an IETF Hotel 🏢
IETF Hotels: one or more hotels close to the Facility where the IETF guest room block allocations get negotiated, and where network services run by the IASA (like the "IETF" SSID) are in use 📶
Overflow Hotels: one or more hotels, usually close to the Facility, where the IETF has negotiated a group room rate for the meeting. Important tea ☕: Overflow Hotels are usually NOT connected to the IETF network and don't use the network services the IASA manages 🙈

Now the key words. The BCP 14 key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" are interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174], and only when they show up in all capitals, exactly like this 💅

2. Venue Selection Objectives 🎯

2.1. Core Values 💖

Some IETF values run through the whole selection process, and they apply to a lot of the requirements in this doc. At minimum, they are:

Why we meet 🧚: We meet to pursue the IETF's mission [RFC3935]. Part of that is moving Internet-Drafts and RFCs forward. We also want attendees to join in on lots of topics and to get ideas and technologies cross-pollinating 🌸
Inclusiveness 🫶: We want on-site or remote participation for anyone who wants in. Wide participation means more perspectives in the working sessions.

Every country has limits on who it lets within its borders, but the IETF aims to:

Minimize situations where onerous entry regulations keep participants from attending, or discourage them, or stop them entirely. If that fails, meeting locations get spread around so the same attendees don't always deal with onerous entry rules 🌍
Avoid meeting in countries whose laws effectively exclude people based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, or gender identity 🚫

Where we meet 🗺️: We meet in different places around the world to spread out the difficulty and cost of travel among active participants, balancing travel time and expense across people based in different regions. Our regional location policy lives in [RFC8719] 🦋
Internet Access 🛜: As an org that writes Internet specs, we use the Internet heavily. Attendees need unfiltered access to the general Internet and their corporate networks. "Unfiltered access" here means all forms of communication are allowed. That includes corporate networks through encrypted VPNs from the meeting Facility and Hotels, Overflow Hotels too 🔐 We also need open network access at high enough data rates at the Facility to support our work, which includes remote participation. Beyond that, we're the first users of our own tech, so any filtering could mess with that development 😭 Sometimes local laws require some filtering, so we try to avoid those locales without shrinking the pool of cities to an unacceptable size. That's why there are a bunch of criteria below, one mandatory and the rest important, for when local laws might force filtering in some circumstances 🔥
Focus 🎀: We meet to have focused technical discussions. Those aren't limited to scheduled breakout sessions (though those matter too!). They also happen over meals or drinks, in a non-session we call a "Bar BOF", or in side meetings. Noisy or distracting environments hurt those sessions, so they make a less desirable meeting Facility [RFC6771] 🔇
Economics 💸: Attendees participate as individuals. Lots are underwritten by employers or sponsors, but lots are self-funded. To cut participation costs and travel effort, we look for places with convenient budget options for food and lodging, and places that keep travel segments from major airports to the Venue short. Within reason, budget shouldn't block anyone from accommodation 🍓
Least Astonishment and Openness 👑: Regular participants shouldn't be surprised by Venue selections, especially when it comes to locales. To avoid surprise, the venue selection process, like all other IETF processes, should be as open as practicable. The community should be able to discuss early and share its views on prospective selections, so the community and the IASA can trade views on appropriateness long before a venue contract is considered 💜

2.2. Venue Selection Non-objectives 🙅‍♀️

IETF meeting Venues are NOT selected or declined for these explicit purposes:

Politics 🏛️: Endorsing or condemning particular countries, political paradigms, laws, regulations, or policies.
Maximal attendance 📈: The IETF wants to be as inclusive as possible, both online and in person, but maximal attendance by itself is not a goal. It would defeat a key goal of meeting if active contributors with different points of view couldn't work out their disagreements, no matter how packed the rooms were 🙃
Tourism 🏖️: Variety in sightseeing experiences.

3. Meeting Criteria 📋

This section has the criteria for IETF meetings, split into three subsections: mandatory criteria (Section 3.1), important criteria (Section 3.2), and other considerations (Section 3.3). Each one is explained below 💅

3.1. Mandatory Criteria 🚨

If the criteria in this subsection can't be met, a particular location is unacceptable for selection, and the IASA MUST NOT enter into a contract. If the IASA learns that a location can no longer meet a mandatory requirement after a contract is already signed, they will tell the community and handle it on a case-by-case basis 😬

The Facility MUST provide sufficient space in an appropriate layout to accommodate the number of participants, leadership, and support staff expected at that meeting 🏟️
The Facility and IETF Hotels MUST provide wheelchair access to accommodate the number of people anticipated to need it ♿
It MUST be possible to provision Internet Access to the Facility and IETF Hotels that lets in-person attendees use the Internet for all their IETF, business, and day-to-day needs. There must also be sufficient bandwidth and access for remote attendees. Provisions include, but aren't limited to, native and unmodified IPv4 and IPv6 connectivity, and global reachability. There MAY be no additional limitation that would materially impact their Internet use. To ensure availability, it MUST be possible to provision redundant paths to the Internet 🛜✨

Part 1 is a wrap, bestie 🫶 Part 2 picks up with Important Criteria and everything after, so keep your eyes peeled 🦋

3.2. Important Criteria ✨

okay so the criteria in this subsection aren't mandatory 🫶 but they're still highly significant, bestie 💅 sometimes you have to trade one or more of these off against each other, it's a whole balancing act 🎀. A Venue that meets more of these is, on the whole, preferable to one that meets fewer 👑. Important requirements can also get balanced across Venue selections for multiple meetings 🌸. If a requirement in this section can't be met but the Venue gets picked anyway, the IASA MUST notify the community at the time of the venue announcement 📣. And it may be appropriate for the IASA to help out anyone who got inconvenienced by it 🧚.

3.2.1. Venue City Criteria

the following requirements are all about the Venue city 🌆

Travel to the Venue is acceptable based on cost, time, and burden for participants traveling from multiple regions. It's anticipated that the burden will generally be shared over the course of multiple years 🦋
The Venue is assessed as favorable for obtaining a host and sponsors. That is, the Meeting is in a location where it's possible and probable to find a host and sponsors 💜
Travel barriers, including visa requirements, are likely to be such that an overwhelming majority of participants who want to attend can 🛂 The term "travel barriers" is to be read broadly by the IASA, in the context of whether a successful meeting can be had ✨
Economic, safety, and health risks associated with this Venue are acceptable 🫶
The selection of the venue comports with the practices described in [RFC8719] 📖

3.2.2. Basic Venue Criteria

these requirements are about the Venue and Facilities 🏨

The IETF operates internationally and adjusts to local requirements 🌍 Facilities selected for IETF meetings SHALL have provided written assurance that they comply with local health, safety, and accessibility laws and regulations, and that they'll keep complying the whole time we're there 📜

In addition:

There are sufficient places (e.g., a mix of hallways, bars, meeting rooms, and restaurants) for people to hold ad hoc conversations and group discussions, across the combination of spaces offered by the facilities, hotels, and bars/restaurants in the surrounding area, within walking distance (5-10 minutes) 🗣️🍹
The cost of guest rooms, meeting space, and meeting food and beverage is affordable, within the norms of business travel 💸
The Facility is accessible, or reasonable accommodations can be made to allow access, by people with disabilities ♿🌈

3.2.3. Technical Meeting Needs

the following criteria are about the technical meeting needs 🛜

The Facility's support technologies and services -- network, audio-video, etc. -- are sufficient for the anticipated activities at the meeting, or the Facility is willing to add such infrastructure, or these support technologies and services might be provided by a third party, all at no -- or at an acceptable -- cost to the IETF 🔌
The IETF Hotels directly provide, or else permit and facilitate, the delivery of a high performance, robust, unfiltered, and unmodified Internet service for the public areas and guest rooms. This service is to be included in the cost of the room 📶🔥

3.2.4. Hotel Needs

these criteria are about IETF Hotels 🛎️

The IETF Hotels are within close proximity to each other and the Facility 🏘️
The guest rooms at the IETF Hotels are sufficient in number to house one-third or more of projected meeting attendees 🛏️
Overflow Hotels can be placed under contract, within convenient travel time to and from the Facility, and at a variety of guest room rates 🧳
The Facility environs include budget hotels within convenient travel time, cost, and effort 💅
The IETF Hotels are accessible by people with disabilities. While we mandate wheelchair accessibility, other forms are important and should be provided for to the extent possible, based on anticipated needs of the community 🫶♿
At least one IETF Hotel or the Facility has a space for use as a lounge, conducive to planned and ad hoc meetings and chatting, as well as a space for working online. There are tables with seating, convenient for small meetings with laptops. These can be at an open bar or casual restaurant. Preferably the lounge area is centrally located, permitting easy access to participants 🛋️💻

3.2.5. Food and Beverage

these criteria are about food and drink 🍓

The Facility environs, which include both on-site options as well as areas within a reasonable walking distance or conveniently accessible by a short taxi ride or by local public transportation, have convenient and inexpensive meal choices that can accommodate a wide range of dietary requirements 🥗
A range of attendees' health-related and religion-related dietary requirements can be satisfied with robust and flexible on-site service or through access to an adequate grocery store 🍲
The Facility environs include grocery shopping that can accommodate a wide range of dietary requirements, within a reasonable walking distance or conveniently accessible by a short taxi, bus, or subway ride from the Facility and IETF Hotels 🛒

3.3. Other Considerations

these ones are desirable, but they're not as important as the preceding requirements, so they should not be traded off for them 🌈

We have something of a preference for an IETF meeting to be under "One Roof", that is, qualified meeting space and guest rooms are available in the same facility 🏠💖
It is desirable for Overflow Hotels to provide reasonable, reliable, unfiltered Internet service for the public areas and guest rooms, and for this service to be included in the cost of the room 📡
It is desirable to enter into a multi-event contract with the Facility and IETF Hotels or associated hotel chains, in case such a contract will reduce administrative costs, reduce direct attendee costs, or both 🧾
When we're considering a city for the first time, it's particularly desirable to have someone familiar with both the locale and the IETF take part in the site visit. Such a person can give guidance on safety, the location of local services, the best ways to get to and from the Venue, and local customs, as well as on how our requirements are met 🗺️🧚

4. Documentation Requirements 📚

the IETF Community works best when it's well informed 🧠 This memo does not specify processes or who has responsibility for fulfilling our requirements for meetings. Still, both of these things matter. So the IASA SHALL publicly document and keep current both a list of roles and responsibilities relating to IETF meetings, and the selection processes they use to fulfill the requirements of the community 📋✨

5. IANA Considerations 🦋

this document has no IANA actions. Nothing to see here, periodt 💅

6. Security Considerations 🔐

⚠️ This note proposes no protocols, and therefore introduces no new protocol insecurities. Phew, no new protocol drama here 💀🫶

7. Privacy Considerations 🙈

different places have different constraints on individual privacy 🕵️‍♀️ The requirements in this memo are meant to provide some limited protections. As meetings are announced, the IASA SHALL inform the IETF of any privacy limitations they've become aware of during their investigations. For example, participants would be told about any regulatory authentication or logging requirements 🔒

8. Normative References 📖

   [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.

   [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
              2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
              May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.

   [RFC8719]  Krishnan, S., "High-Level Guidance for the Meeting Policy
              of the IETF", BCP 226, RFC 8719, DOI 10.17487/RFC8719,
              February 2020, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8719>.

9. Informative References 🌸

   [RFC3935]  Alvestrand, H., "A Mission Statement for the IETF",
              BCP 95, RFC 3935, DOI 10.17487/RFC3935, October 2004,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3935>.

   [RFC6771]  Eggert, L. and G. Camarillo, "Considerations for Having a
              Successful "Bar BOF" Side Meeting", RFC 6771,
              DOI 10.17487/RFC6771, October 2012,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6771>.

   [RFC8711]  Haberman, B., Hall, J., and J. Livingood, "Structure of
              the IETF Administrative Support Activity, Version 2.0",
              BCP 101, RFC 8711, DOI 10.17487/RFC8711, February 2020,
              <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8711>.

Acknowledgements 💜

contributions came from Jari Arkko, Scott Bradner, Alissa Cooper, Dave Crocker, Jordi Palet Martinez, Andrew Sullivan, and other participants in the MTGVENUE Working Group 🫶 Those listed in this section or as contributors may or may not agree with the content of this memo.

Contributors 🎀

the following people provided substantial text contributions to this memo. Specifically, Fred Baker originated this work 👑

   Fred Baker

   Email: fred.ietf@gmail.com


   Ray Pelletier

   Email: Rpelletier13@gmail.com


   Laura Nugent
   Association Management Solutions

   Email: lnugent@amsl.com


   Lou Berger
   LabN Consulting, L.L.C.

   Email: lberger@labn.net


   Ole Jacobsen
   The Internet Protocol Journal

   Email: olejacobsen@me.com


   Jim Martin
   INOC

   Email: jim@inoc.com

Author's Address ✨

   Eliot Lear (editor)
   Cisco Systems
   Richtistrasse 7
   CH-CH-8304 Wallisellen
   Switzerland

   Phone: +41 44 878 9200
   Email: lear@cisco.com

That's the whole RFC, bestie 🌈💖 Go touch grass after reading all that 🦋

📦 where this page comes from

ietf: rfc8718 2020-02
💖 girlified by claude-haiku-5-5 on 2026-10-18: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms