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Re: [802SEC] Plenary organization



Tony,

As I mentioned when I brought up the general topic some months back:

    * I believe that Monday mornings are not being used very
      effectively. I think we could probably shorten the EC opening
      meeting, and we could definitely drop the 802 plenary meeting
      altogether.
    * We already have too little time on Fridays. Decreasing our time,
      and moving it into the sleeping time of some members would make
      the problem worse than it already is. I would rather have the EC
      meetings start Monday morning, and hopefully end early afternoon.
    * I see the cost/benefit ratio of the Wednesday socials to be
      heavily skewed towards the costs exceeding the benefits. I would
      be quite happy to see this disappear.
    * I tend to lose two weekends for most 802 plenaries. If it were
      possibly to lose only one weekend, I would be much happier. So, I
      would be fine with moving the Monday EC meeting to Sundays,
      leaving all of Monday for WG meetings, and running the Friday EC
      meeting from 08:00 or 09:00 until around 15:00.


jl

On 10/16/2008 1:47 AM, Tony Jeffree wrote:
> Colleauges –
>
> Given the not inconsiderable workload that some working groups are attempting to tackle, I
> feel it is worth re-visiting once again the question of how we organize our Plenaries to
> maximize the time available for useful technical work (which I believe, when all is said
> and done, is why we have these meetings in the first place). At present, with the existing
> meeting format, I get 2 ½ clear days of Task Group meetings; that is rather less than we
> need for effective progress. I am reluctant to move the closing 802.1 plenary to Friday
> morning (as some WGs have done) with the present format, because firstly I doubt we would
> get the right level of attendance to conduct effective business, given that there would
> not be technical meetings that day, and secondly it would leave me with no time for
> preparation for the closing EC meeting.
>
> So how can this be fixed?
>
> Firstly, Monday mornings at Plenary sessions are largely a no-op in my view. I don’t think
> that the format of the Monday morning plenary meeting is useful to the majority of
> attendees, and if it didn’t happen, I don’t believe there are many attendees that would
> miss it at all. If it wasn’t there, we could start our WG opening plenaries before lunch
> and in my case, we could be off and running with Task Group meetings by early-mid
> afternoon. 
>
> Secondly, we could make the radical move to take the opening EC meeting out of the
> “working week” altogether, by holding it on the Sunday evening. We already have a Sunday
> PM rules meeting; maybe putting the two together on the Sunday evening would help us to
> crispen up both activities. Again, this would help free up Monday time for WG activity.
>
> Thirdly, although for some EC members, holding the closing EC on Friday afternoon helps
> with their travel plans, for others of us it creates a double whammy:
>
> 1)	We have to stay over until Saturday anyway, because even a 6PM close is too late
> to get away on the Friday evening; and
> 2)	The fact that the closing meeting is in the afternoon makes it difficult to make
> sensible use of Friday morning (see opening para - we need some time to prepare stuff for
> the EC meeting following our closing WG Plenaries, and holding a short Plenary on Friday
> morning is a guarantee of low attendance).
>
> So I would advocate moving the EC meeting to the 7pm-midnight slot on Friday evening,
> freeing up most of Friday for WG business – finishing the WG closing plenary at (say) 3pm
> would still allow us to get straight for the EC meeting, but would also give us an extra
> morning or part-morning for task group work.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Regards,
> Tony
>
>
>
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