To make sure that my vote is not forgotten, I don't want to change the
San Diego meeting. (Sorry Jay. My vote is for purely selfish reasons,
but it is my vote just the same.)
I am not opposed to changing the New York meeting, however. (I would
like to know about this decision by Sept 1 at the latest.) I do not expect
to attend the New York meeting.
/* - - -S-I-G-N-A-T-U-R-E- -B-L-O-C-K- - -
Jay R. Cummings
Services Manageability Development Team
Development Manager
Novell, Inc. -- where *Everything's Connected*
Prv-D-12-1
122 East 1700 South
Provo, Utah 84606
Phone: 1-800-453-1267 x.1-3895
(801) 861-3895
Fax: (801) 861-7520
INTERNET: jay_cummings at novell.com
- - -S-I-G-N-A-T-U-R-E- -B-L-O-C-K- - - */
Date: Mon, 05 Aug 1996 14:42:00 -0600
From: JK Martin <jkm at underscore.com>
To: pwg at pwg.org
Subject: A Final Request to Change the PWG Meetings for August/Sept
All,
Regarding the proposed change in date/location of the August PWG meeting
from San Diego (Aug 29-30) to Atlanta (week of Sept 16 sometime)...
I shall try to make this as painless as possible, although I know there
will be some folks who feel otherwise.
The current plan for the next two meetings is:
Thurs-Fri, Aug 29-30 San Diego
Wed-Thurs Oct 2-3 New York (downtown Manhatten)
The proposal is to change these dates to:
Two (or three) convenient days during the Sept 16-20 Interop in Atlanta,
where this ONE meeting replaces both the upcoming San Diego AND New York
meetings. (We have already tentatively booked a week in an Atlanta area
hotel, so we should be able to freely choose the appropriate meeting dates.)
As of this writing:
- Exactly 5 people have publicly voted FOR the change, and
exactly 5 people have publicly voted AGAINST it (but one of those
against the change is "on the fence" and will accept the change).
- Only 6 people have actually registered with the San Diego Marriott
for the PWG meetings; funny thing is, only TWO of the people against
the proposed change have actually registered with the hotel!
- It will cost us $300 to cancel JUST the PWG meetings for that week;
considering the excessive funding required to attend BOTH the San Diego
AND New York meetings, Underscore is willing to pay for that cancellation
fee...if that becomes a real issue. (Strange, since we are probably the
smallest company in the PWG...)
Again, for the record, I'd like to point out the advantages of the proposed
change in meeting date/location:
- No hassles with trying to book flights and deal with most of American
humanity at the start of the Labor Day weekend.
- Ability to piggy-back a visit to (arguably) the most important network
management trade show that leverages the last three years worth of PWG
standards activities.
- SIGNIFICANTLY reduced overall cost; please make sure you remember that
the New York location will cost $209 PER NIGHT...and did I mention TAXES?
New York is notorious for exceptional taxes for this kind of thing.
To ensure that we accomplish as much as possible, I would recommend a 3-day
meeting in Atlanta to ensure proper coverage, although I really don't care
either way (2-days or 3-days).
Some important points to ponder:
- Those claiming they have "non-refundable" tickets can contact me for
details on how those tickets are not really non-refundable; I had posted
some info on the list last week about this, but I would be willing to
assist folks, if necessary.
- From my discussions with various folks, New York is not a convenient
location for most people; that is, there are no PWG participants in
that immediate area that would benefit from a PWG meeting "close by".
- All we have been talking about for the last several months is having
a real, public bake-off at the Atlanta Networld-Interop show...yet we
had never setup a PWG meeting during that time. If we set it up so that
we actually meet in Atlanta, then if we can get something together by
then, we'll actually BE THERE to see it happen. (What were we thinking
in the first place, anyway??)
Finally, there must be some of you wondering what my personal, vested
interest is in pushing for this meeting change. Ok, I'll 'fess up on
this:
- Positioning the PWG to deal with the massive surge of humanity at
the very start of the Labor Day weekend is totally unacceptable;
however, given our history with the letting FarPoint Communications
schedule the joint meetings, this should come as no surprise.
- The New York date AND location is (once again) totally inappropriate
and nonproductive for most (if not all) PWG participants. It's costly,
it's inconvenient, and once again we lose the ability to draw more
attendance due to its cost and location.
- I actually will not be able to attend the planned New York meeting,
anyway, due to previous commitments.
Now, you may ask, why do I rant and rave about the New York meeting when
I can't even attend? Good question...
You see, when Mr. Stein (FarPoint Communications) originally posted the
PROPOSED meeting schedule (emphasis on PROPOSED) last May, I immediately
(within HOURS of his posting) made a serious plea to have the Oct 2-3
meeting changed. In asking for the change I said:
- My company is committed to conducting its very first trade show
booth at the critical Usenix LISA show in Chicago on Oct 4, so
that's not something I can get out of.
- I don't mind how the meeting date is changed; you can move forward
or backward to any date you'd like, only that I can't make it the
week of Sept 20 thru Oct 4.
Some TWO WEEKS later Mr. Stein replied:
"Sorry, just can't do it." (end of discussion)
Now, I ask you, what's wrong with this picture? Why can't you change a
meeting data FIVE MONTHS IN ADVANCE???
Now folks, if you couldn't tell by now, the PWG means a lot to both
me and my company. Underscore spends CONSIDERABLE time and money
on this organization, and while I may be a bit of a pain to some
folks now and then, I'd like to think I share more than my burden
of the work to make our efforts successful in a non-partisan fashion
within our industry.
All I'm asking is for a reasonable change of venue for (what I hope
are) some very good reasons.
I have received votes from 9 persons to date. Please cast your vote
on this proposed change by 8:00 am, Wednesday morning, August 7.
(I promise to hold no ill regard for those who vote against this
proposal... ;-)
...jay
PS: Did I tell you that I know where each of you live?... ;-)
PPS: Oh yeah, one last thing. Recall that at least one person posted
a message on the list saying that the PWG part of the San Diego
joint meetings couldn't be cancelled due to the signed contract?
Well, that turned out to not be true at all...and, in fact, never
was true in the first place...
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