Re: Call for objections *by 8 Feb*: HTML A11Y Face to Face meeting 6-7 April 2010 in Birmingham, UK

We arrived at that this hosting offer and April 6-7 date after
considerable time spent on discussions about potential hosting
arrangements and alternative dates. We had a viable hosting offer
with a couple of choices for dates (either April 6-7 or within the
week of April 26) and the selection of the April 6-7 date was
made after some specific indications of conflicts for the week of
April 26, combined with a sentiment that we should try if possible
to have the meeting sooner rather than later.

We have a number of people who have confirmed that they can attend
on April 6-7. We do also now have a number of people who've made
it known that they have schedule conflicts for the date -- but we
also all know from experience that we are almost certainly going
to have a number of conflicts for pretty much any date we try to
make a decision on.

Indications so far seem to lean toward suggesting that enough
people can attend for April 6-7 to make having a meeting then
worthwhile. It is possible that were we to spend yet a few more
weeks discussing it we *might* be able to get another hosting
offer for a date when more people might be able to attend. Or we
might actually not. Certainly in the mean time we would have
pushed back for a few more weeks the benefits that a face-to-face
meeting can provide in helping to move work forward faster.

So at some point, we have to try to close discussion about dates
and try to just get something pinned down and see how many people
can make and decide if we can get a critical mass for a workable
meeting on that date or not. So far it seems like the plan for
April 6-7 in Birmingham could give us that.

  --Mike

Martin Kliehm <martin.kliehm@namics.com>, 2010-02-13 10:08 +0100:

>  On 04.02.2010, at 18:14, Michael Cooper <cooper@w3.org> wrote:
> > Dates: 6 and 7 April 2010 (Tuesday and Wednesday)
> > Location: Birmingham, UK
> 
>  Over the last week I heard several voices that the date is inconvenient 
>  especially for people in the UK because it's the Easter week where many are 
>  on vacation, for example Bruce Lawsom who *lives* in Birmingham. For me it 
>  doesn't seem to make too much sense to hold the meeting in the UK at a time 
>  when Brits are on vacation?
> 
>  I understand that there haven't been too many offers of sponsoring another 
>  venue in Europe and that we need something not too late, preferably in the 
>  week of April 13-14? There's a large accessibility conference in Paris on 
>  the 12th, can we find a venue there? I guess I could ask the organizers. 
>  Otherwise I could try to find a place in Frankfurt; we have a very decent 
>  international airport, too. ;-) Are there any special requirements for the 
>  venue, like wheelchair accessibility?
> 
>  Cheers,
>  Martin
> 
> 

-- 
Michael(tm) Smith
http://people.w3.org/mike

Received on Tuesday, 16 February 2010 22:35:57 UTC