WG 14 Standing Document 1

WG14 and PL22.11 (C) Joint Mailing and Meeting Information

1. Mailings

Pre- and post-meeting documents are made available in machine-readable form to all PL22.11 and WG14 members. All documents are placed on the WG14 web site, most made publicly available, however some are not and are password protected. All documents are made available in machine-readable format, in accordance with the JTC 1 guidelines.

There is currently no process for getting paper copies of the documents.

1.1 Mailing Dates

1.1.1 Pre-Meeting Documents Deadline

The deadline for providing to the WG14 Convener all documents for the pre-meeting collection is four weeks prior to the meeting. The dates are published in the minutes.

The mailing itself will be made available at least three weeks before the meeting date. By agreement, this will satisfy the INCITS PL22.11 two week rule for giving members adequate time to consider issues before the meeting.

1.1.2 Post-Meeting Documents Deadlines

Post-meeting documents must be submitted within four weeks of the close of the meeting. The minutes and PL22.11 attendance for the meeting must be submitted to the WG14 Convener within two weeks of the close of the meeting. This is to satisfies the INCITS requirement to distribute minutes and record the attendance.

2. Meetings

WG14 and PL22.11 members interested in sponsoring meetings should contact the WG14 Convener.

2.1 Meeting Dates

Meetings are scheduled in the months of April and October. Co-located WG14 and PL22.11 meetings run Monday through Friday. The Friday meeting is always concluded on or before Noon, allowing participants to schedule their travel. (Calendar or logistics problems sometimes dictate adjustments to these general rules; in the text below Monday and Friday refer to relative days of the meeting, not fixed days of the week.)

2.2 Meeting Sponsors and Locations

WG14 meetings should have ISO/IEC JTC1 national body sponsors such as ANSI (US), BSI (UK), SCC (Canada), etc. PL22.11 meetings require committee member sponsors such as Dinkumware, Sun Microsystems, etc. Hence, co-located meetings should have two sponsors for each meeting.

The selection of meeting sponsors and locations reflects:

• The need to meet outside the United States, and preferably outside North America, annually.
• The need to vary the geographic location of meetings so as to encourage widest participation.
• The attempt to arrange meetings respecting the order in which sponsors have volunteered.

2.3 Meeting Costs

Based on recent meetings, the cost for hosting a meeting ranges from a low $1,500 to a high of $10,000, with the higher cost including an (optional) reception or other entertainment. A significant portion of the cost is providing network access during the meeting. Recognizing that these costs could be prohibitive, we recommend that one or more sponsors join to share the meeting cost. An example of this is the Santa Cruz meeting in October 2002, when Dinkumware and Perennial shared the costs. The rules of ISO, as well as some national bodies, do not permit the imposition of a mandatory facilities charge upon attendees. Naturally, the hotel can impose guest-room rates upon each guest, and reasonable charges can be made for meals, but neither can be made mandatory for day-attendees.

2.4 Meeting Invitation Letter

The usual process for WG14 meetings begins with a formal invitation from the sponsoring national member body. Using the example of INCITS PL22.11 corporate members, the sponsoring company sends an invitation letter to the INCITS PL22.11 International Representative, the invitation is then forwarded to the ITI Secretariat. If the invitation letter demonstrates that adequate support is provided for the meeting, then the invitation letter is forwarded to ANSI for issuance to the SC22 Secretariat and the WG14 convener. Adequate support includes indication of how clerical, copying, and refreshment needs will be met, in addition to the information provided in the meeting information package. Any concerns or questions should be directed to the INCITS PL22.11 International Representative or the WG14 Convener. Given the possibility of many delays, it is advisable to send copies of the invitation letter and its attachments to the SC22 Secretariat and the WG14 convener. If meeting sponsors need assistance, the PL22.11 International Representative and the WG14 Convener should be consulted.

2.5 Meeting Information Distribution

Meeting sponsors must distribute the meeting information package such that it is a available for discussion at the meeting prior to the one they are sponsoring, Monday morning agenda time is made available for this topic. For example, the package describing the April 2002 meeting must be available at the October 2001 meeting and be included in the post-October meeting documents.

The meeting information package should accompany the national member body meeting invitation letter. The invitation letter must be sent approximately 6 months in advance of the sponsored meeting. This allows the letter to progress through the national member body standards organization, where it is eventually sent to the WG14 Convener in time to announce the meeting 3 to 4 months in advance as required by ISO/IEC JTC 1 guidelines.

2.6 Meeting Support Requirements

2.6.1 Meeting Information Package

Meeting sponsors must prepare a meeting information package which:

• identifies the nearest major airport and its distance to the meeting facility, train stations and other major transportation hubs should also be identified
• identifies the lodging facility or facilities and their distance to the meeting facility
• identifies available ground transportation for getting from the airport to the lodging and meeting facility; this could include comments on price and relative convenience of train, taxi, subway, and bus transport.
• provides the address, telephone numbers, facsimile numbers, e-mail address and web site URL for use in locating the hotel and meeting locations and to make reservations as necessary.

Information on local attractions is optional but appreciated.

If the sponsor desires, it is acceptable to host the meeting in corporate, academic or standards institution facilities rather than a hotel. Transportation arrangements for the day and evening meetings would be required. Using non-hotel facilities has the advantage that sponsors need not be locked into binding arrangements with hotels and attendees may feel free to stay in the hotel of their choice. On the other hand, having the entire committee at the same location fosters off-hours communication. However, if using a corporate location, the sponsor must be sure that security arrangements will be acceptable to all the attendees. The following arrangements have usually been acceptable: signing-in, signing-out, wearing a guest badge, even wearing an escort required badge. Examples of unacceptable arrangements would include non-disclosure agreements, national-security requirements, country-of-origin requirements, and so on.

2.6.2 Lodging Arrangements

Attendees of North American meetings like to pay less than $130 per room per night. Recent experience seemed to indicate a threshold around $150.

2.6.3 Plenary Meeting Room

WG14 and PL22.11 meet Monday through Friday in joint session. Sometimes the daily schedule is 0930-1700, sometimes it is 0900-1700. The Monday session starts 30 minutes later. Most of the members bring portable computers, so outlets for each attendee are necessary. Attendance has been 20-25 people. The usual meeting setup has been the "hollow square" with all participants around the edges. It is considered mandatory to provide each participant with at least four square feet (one-half square meter?) of table space for laptop computers, notes, and documents.

2.6.4 Break-out Rooms

Subcommittees meet in parallel sessions Tuesday through Thursday. One room for subcommittees should be available.

2.6.5 Computer Support

Internet access and a local area network, available in the main meeting room is a requirement. An SMPT server, DNS sever, Wireless network name and pass phrase and any pertinent networking parameters should be known before the start of the meeting. Internet connectivity allows access to external ISO web sites, allows immediate distribution of working documents, and has eliminated the need for printing and photocopying.

Access to a printer and/or a copier service at the meeting location is not required (the use of networking has made this an obsolete requirement). If these facilities are provided, they are normally paid for by the host, and cannot be imposed as a fee upon attendees.

2.6.6 Teleconference Support

WG 14 makes tele-conferencing/web-conferencing available to all that can not attend the meeting in person. Therefore, a speaker telephone with external microphones is required.

2.6.7 Document Projection Support

An overhead document projection system is desirable, but not required.

2.6.8 Refreshment Services

Lunch service is not necessary, but advice on where to eat is welcome. Morning coffee, tea, and pastries (bagels, danish, muffins, etc) are expected to be provided one-half hour prior to morning start time. (If most attendees are staying in the meeting hotel, and if the hotel provides the coffee-and-pastry service to all the guests, then the host need not provide redundant service in the meeting room.) Refreshment breaks at 1030 and 1500 are fairly standard and appreciated: coffee and tea at the morning break; coffee, tea, juices, cookies, and so on at the afternoon break.

2.6.9 Evening Reception or Entertainment

Some meeting sponsors host an evening reception. This is purely optional. To contain costs, other companies might be involved in the planning and funding of a reception. Many members travel with families, especially for the outside of their country meetings, so please indicate if families are welcome at the reception.

3. Contacts

4. Acknowledgments - Some Previous Meetings and Sponsors