Future F2F meeting dates & hosts?!

[Jeff Hodges <jhodges@oblix.com>]

At F2F #3, the general consensus was that we should plan on (at least) two more
F2F meetings in the relatively near future.  

We were targeting mid-to-end of August 2001 (F2F #4), and
end-of-Sep-to-beginning-of-October 2001 (F2F #5). 

This note is a call for possible hosts, and the specific dates within the above
ranges where they would be available to host. If a potential host can identify a
window of a week or two, within which the SSTC members can subsequently identify
specific target meeting days (contiguous of course), all the better. 

Eve has pointed out that the Extreme Markup Languages 2001 conference is
occuring in Montreal 12-17 Aug, and that it might be possible for OASIS to
acquire a meeting room for us at the conf hotel. This is of course predicated on
whether having a F2F during that week works out for us. 

Bob Blakley has indicated that it is likely he can arrange to host an F2F at IBM
in Austin during the last two weeks of Aug. He's doing some last-minute checks
on his schedule and will let us know next week whether he'll in fact be able to
make a firm offer.

The hosting horizon's wide open for the end-of-Sep-to-beginning-of-October
target.


We also discussed, in the last hour of F2F #3, whether we should again meet for
two days, or perhaps more. The general sense was that perhaps meeting for three
days would be good because we will have MUCH to cover. Four days was considered
too long by most. Folks felt that it'd be likely that we'd need another F2F (or
a portion thereof) to finish-up core assertion and protocol work, and that it'd
be good to spend a fair bit of time on bindings work. 


Also, I want to note my upcoming vacation dates:

  The week of 13-17 Aug, and..
  
  19-28 Sep

So we'll likely need to factor in Joe Pato's availability to chair (or have a
pro-tem figured out) if our meeting dates fall during one of my vacation slots
(tho he may chair even if I'm not on vacation - this is still TBD). 

Also, something to consider when setting our next F2F meeting dates is having
enough time between now and then to make solid progress on the baseline
consensus design established at F2F #3, produce docs and iterate on them at
least once, and for the wider group to absorb & critique it. 


THE BOTTOM LINE
---------------

So, please respond to this message if you are able and interested in hosting a
F2F in one of the above general time frames (mid-to-end of August 2001, and/or
end-of-Sep-to-beginning-of-October 2001).

Also respond if you have strong feelings about more precisely when those
meetings should occur and how long they ought to be. 

I'll use this information to craft some Evites next week so we can begin to get
these events firmed up. 

thanks,

JeffH