meeting network

Mon Oct 10 22:44:50 UTC 2011

Years ago, on my own, when I used to attend, I used to call the venue about a month in advance and explain to them what was about to happen. Sort of a warning, per say. I explained, in detail, who NANOG was comprised of (I often would use the term "operators of the internet"). I explained even if they think they have seen this before, they haven't.

Some listened. Some didn't.

This would be something I would be willing to volunteer my time with - discussions with, and negotiations with, venues. It's all in the approach.

> Holding the last 10% of the meeting room payment seems like a good
> start for any venue.
> 
> But as others have indicated, the market may be too small for free-
> market principles to be fully effective.
> 
> 
> I tried this approach many years ago, for a Blogher conference.  The
> hotel's IT people were uncooperative, and incompetent, and they lied
> both about their network design and their equipment capabilities.  I
> have since learned that this is par for the course.  IMHO the only way
> to solve this problem is with big $$$ penalties in the contract, big
> enough that the incompetent IT people realize their jobs are on the
> line
> and relinquish control so experts can get access and set-up things
> properly.
> 
> Also note - the conference or hotel's IT people will always claim they
> have "done this before with no problems" even when they haven't.
> 
> jc