Doc No: ISO/IEC JTC1/SC22/WG21/N1340 J16 01-0049 Date: November 6, 2001 Project: JTC1.22.32 Ref. Doc: Reply To: Thomas Plum Convener, SC22/WG21 Plum Hall Inc 3 Waihona Box 44610 Kamuela HI 96743 email: standards@plumhall.com Tel: +1-808-882-1255 fax: +1-808-882-1556 WG21 and J16 (C++) Joint Mailing and Meeting Information ======================================================== 1. Mailings Pre- and post-meeting documents are made available in machine-readable form to all J16 and WG21 members. A list of internet sites is available from the J16 Vice Chairman (see section 4, Contacts) and is frequently broadcast over the committee's email reflector. All documents, including the working drafts of the standard, are made available machine-readable format, specifically in PostScript, Adobe Acrobat, plain-text, and HTML formats. Paper copies of the documents can be optionally sent to any J16 or WG21 members in the US and abroad by ITI, which charges those members an annual fee for this service. Contact the J16 Chairman for details. There is currently no process for getting copies of just the documents not available electronically. 1.1 Mailing Dates 1.1.1 Pre-Meeting Documents Deadline The deadline for providing to the J16 Vice Chair all documents for the pre-meeting collection is six weeks minus one day prior to the meeting (i.e., the Tuesday, 41 days prior to Monday of the meeting week). The mailing itself will be postmarked at least three weeks before the meeting date. By agreement, this will satisfy the J16 "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 fourteen days of the close of the meeting. This satisfies the NCITS requirement to distribute minutes within two weeks, and helps satisfy the ISO/IEC JTC1 requirement to provide meeting agenda and meeting announcement information two to three months in advance. 2. Meetings WG21 and J16 members interested in sponsoring meetings should contact the WG21 Convener. (See section 4, Contacts.) 2.1 Meeting Dates Meetings are scheduled in the months of April and October. WG21 meets alone Sunday evenings. Co-located WG21 and J16 meetings run Monday through Friday. (Calendar or logistics problems sometimes dictate adjustments to these general rules; in the notes below "Sunday", "Monday" and "Friday" refer to relative days of the meeting, not fixed days of the week.) 2.2 Meeting Sponsors and Locations WG21 meetings should have ISO/IEC JTC1 national body sponsors such as ANSI (US), BSI (UK), DIN (Germany), etc. J16 meetings require committee member sponsors such as ATT, Compaq, 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 $6,000 to $10,000, with the higher cost including an (optional) reception or other entertainment. A significant portion of the cost is photocopying documents 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 1998, when Perennial, SGI, and Plum Hall 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 WG21 meetings begins with a formal invitation from the sponsoring national member body. Using the example of J16 corporate members, the sponsoring company sends an invitation letter 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 WG21 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. Given the possibility of many delays, it is advisable to send copies of the invitation letter and its attachments to the SC22 Secretariat (Matt Deane) and the WG21 convener. If meeting sponsors need assistance, the J16 International Representative and the WG21 Convener may 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. For example, the package describing the April 2000 meeting must be available at the October 1999 meeting. The meeting information package should accompany the national member body meeting invitation letter. The invitation letter must be sent approximately 5 to 6 months in advance of the sponsored meeting. This allows the letter to progress through the national member body (standards organization, e.g., ANSI) where it is eventually sent to the WG21 Convener in time to announce the meeting 3 to 4 months in advance as required by ISO/IEC JTC1 rules. 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 - 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 and facsimile numbers 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, etc. 2.6.2 Lodging Arrangements Attendees of North American meetings like to pay less than $100 per room per night. Recent experience seemed to indicate a threshold around $130. The conference hotel in Lund charged about $170 per room per night so about half the attendees stayed elsewhere. Recent experience matched those numbers fairly closely. A designated conference hotel or list of hotels is acceptable. 2.6.3 WG21-Only Meeting Room WG21 meetings are on Sunday evening prior to the week of co-located WG21 and J16 meetings. They usually begin at 1800 and last about two hours. A room accommodating about 25-30 people is required. 2.6.4 Plenary Meeting Room WG21 and J16 meet Monday through Friday in joint session. Sometimes the daily schedule is 0830-1730, sometimes it is 0800-1730. Usually the Monday session starts 30 minutes later to a small jet-lag adjustment. Often technical sessions are scheduled in the evening, 1900-2200. A single room with a computer projector is needed, and microphones for the speaker at the projector, the joint meeting chair, and for each 6-8 committee members. Most of the members bring portable computers, so outlets for each attendee are necessary. Attendance has been 40-70 people. The usual meeting setup has been the "hollow square" with all participants around the edges. An alternative for smaller rooms has been two long rectangular tables with participants along each side (a "beer hall" setup); the smaller setup has sometimes obviated the need for participant microphones. 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, documents, etc. Ethernet connectivity within the meeting room allows immediate distribution of working documents and has greatly reduced the need for photocopying. Internet connectivity allows access to external ISO web sites (even if it also diverts attendees' attention). Sometimes the external internet connection consisted only of one telephone line; on other occasions very fat pipes were made available. Internet access is not an absolute requirement (at least not yet, as of 2001). 2.6.5 Break-out Rooms Subcommittees meet in parallel sessions Monday afternoon through Thursday. 3-4 rooms for subcommittees should be available; two groups can meet in the plenary session room if absolutely necessary. 2.6.6 Computer Support Access to a laser printer is necessary throughout the week to prepare documents. This permits documents to be prepared during the meeting. The printer room may be the same as one of the break-out rooms, if space permits both functions. 2.6.7 Copier Support Copier service is necessary throughout the week. One-day turnaround is preferred on documents that are collected at lunch and the evening break. This service is normally paid for by the host, and cannot be imposed as a fee upon attendees. 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 1000 and 1500 are fairly standard and appreciated: coffee and tea at the morning break; coffee, tea, soft drinks, cookies etc 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. Some members travel with families, especially for the outside-USA meetings, so please indicate if families are welcome at the reception. The best evening for the reception is Thursday; the worst is probably Wednesday, since that evening is used to draft formal motions. Technical sessions are often held Monday or Tuesday. 3. Contacts J16 Chairman: Steve Clamage J16 Vice chair: Clark Nelson J16 International Rep: Clark Nelson ITI Secretariat: Kate McMillan WG21 Convener: Tom Plum SC22 Secretariat: Matt Deane 5. Acknowledgments -- Previous Meetings and Corporate Sponsors Meeting Location Corporate Sponsor ------------- ---------------------- ------------------------------ Dec 89 Washington, DC Hewlett-Packard Mar 90 Somerset, NJ ATT Jul 90 Seattle, WA Microsoft Nov 90 Palo Alto, CA HP Mar 91 Nashua, NH DEC Jun 91 Lund, Sweden Lund Inst. Nov 91 Dallas, TX Texas Instruments Mar 92 London, United Kingdom Symantec Jul 92 Toronto, Canada IBM Nov 92 Boston, MA OSF Mar 93 Portland, OR Sequent, Tektronix, Mentor Graphics Jul 93 Munich, Germany Siemens Nixdorf Nov 93 San Jose, CA Taligent Mar 94 San Diego, CA ATT/NCR Jul 94 Waterloo, Canada Watcom Nov 94 Valley Forge, PA Unisys Mar 95 Austin, TX Motorola Jul 95 Monterey, CA Sun Microsystems Nov 95 Tokyo, Japan IBM Mar 96 Santa Cruz, CA Borland Jul 96 Stockholm, Sweden Ericsson Nov 96 Kona, HI Plum Hall Mar 97 Nashua, NH Digital Jul 97 London, England, UK Programming Research Nov 97 Morristown, NJ AT&T Mar 98 Nice, France ILOG Oct 98 Santa Cruz, CA Silicon Graphics, Plum Hall, Perennial Apr 99 Dublin, Ireland Martin O'Riordan Oct 99 Kona, HI Plum Hall Apr 00 Tokyo, Japan ITSCJ Oct 00 Toronto, Canada IBM, Eastman-Kodak, Peer Direct Apr 01 Copenhagen, Denmark DS Oct 01 Redmond, WA Microsoft