18:59:10 #startmeeting 18:59:10 Meeting started Mon Jan 11 18:59:10 2021 UTC. The chair is nattie. Information about MeetBot at http://wiki.debian.org/MeetBot. 18:59:10 Useful Commands: #action #agreed #help #info #idea #link #topic. 18:59:20 #link https://deb.li/dc21meet agenda, as always) 18:59:26 #topic roll call 18:59:30 holler if you're here 18:59:54 hollering (as instructed) 18:59:55 o/ Hi 19:00:26 * nattie gives it a few more moments before proceeding 19:00:54 o/ o/ o/ 19:01:13 *three* Gunnars, well! that makes us well and truly quorate! 19:01:19 #topic update from Team India 19:01:22 No, just three hollerings 19:01:22 anupaannjoseph[m]: over to you 19:01:27 * tzafrir is here as well 19:01:46 Ok, that was fast. 19:02:05 anupaannjoseph[m]: DebConf is an agile™ organization! 19:02:06 I thought there was another item in the agenda. 19:02:27 I have a speech prepared. 19:02:43 Incoming... 19:02:49 * anupaannjoseph[m] sent a long message: < https://matrix.org/_matrix/media/r0/download/matrix.org/gMlkWCIdDgZXfDilvRgrUFAS/message.txt > 19:03:08 humh... 19:03:18 that didn't work great for us following along with IRC :-) 19:03:27 Hello everyone :) 19:03:35 Sorry I am late 19:03:43 * nattie gives people a moment to read the speech :) 19:03:54 Sorry about that. 19:04:39 Should I remove the website link? Will that make it any better. Or maybe break it into small paras? 19:04:55 small paragraphs would be friendliest, i think, if you could 19:05:00 well, it's done, so I think we can all look over there 19:05:12 but meetings held over IRC are easier to follow... using IRC's usual interaction style 19:05:32 also, if you care about your text being in the minutes... it should be here and not as an outside reference 19:05:40 but, again - it's done :-) 19:06:11 Oops. Sorry again! Will keep that in mind hereafter. 19:06:40 i'll summarise a little bit 19:07:01 #info the CfP for MDCO India closed yesterday, and there were some 50 talk proposals 19:07:22 #info a second track/stream has been requested 19:07:22 #link https://in2021.mini.debconf.org 19:07:27 thanks DLange 19:07:36 o/ 19:07:47 #info volunteers are required to staff all these talks! 19:08:03 #action everyone attend MDCO India :) 19:08:32 Thanks nattie :) 19:09:02 i don't think there's anything else particularly on the agenda, is there? 19:09:11 anupaannjoseph[m]: I would strongly recommend _making sure_ you have enough volunteers before asking a 2nd talk room... 19:09:32 volunteers are *really* necessary in online-only settings, and understaffed rooms don't work well 19:10:09 Sure, working on that now. Have a video-team training coming Saturday. Trying to pull in maximum volunteers for that. 19:11:31 anything else on this topic? 19:11:57 #topic Schedule next meeting 19:12:00 And I'm not sure if we have to submit a revised budget in the new situation. 19:12:10 #undo 19:12:10 Removing item from minutes: 19:12:31 nattie: May be an update on Israel? 19:12:51 DLange: sure 19:13:07 anupaannjoseph[m]: i think it would only need a minor adjustment 19:13:19 #topic update on Haifa 19:13:24 tzafrir: are you around? 19:13:28 Yes 19:14:16 Right now it seems that vaccination is in progress. 19:14:38 Theoretically by March we should have a wide coverage. 19:14:57 And a "green passport" program in place. 19:15:39 green passport being...? confirmation of vaccination? 19:15:49 But as mentioned elsewhere, we'll have to see about the situation in other countries as well. 19:15:54 I think in many parts of the world, people won't be able to get vaccinated yet, by then 19:16:01 yes, confirmation. 19:16:40 right, there would be two different points to assess - First, whether Israel is likely to finish lockdowns; second, whether enough people would be able to travel 19:16:42 it would certainly be cutting it very fine 19:16:44 And I have not asked yet, but I'm still not sure if an international conference will be acceptable. 19:17:01 #info vaccinations have begun in Israel 19:17:15 By March: yes, very likely to finish lockdowns. 19:17:19 tzafrir's answer (and what I have read so far) points towards me expecting Israel will be open(ish?) by August... 19:17:30 #info However, it's not yet established whether an international conference will be feasible yet 19:17:43 ... But many among us will probably not be willing to travel. How many will? VERY hard to estimate 19:17:51 we can ask again 19:17:54 worked last time 19:18:32 #info Whether an in-person DC21 goes ahead will depend on a combination of a lack of lockdown in Israel, and international travel being possible 19:18:40 We left asking too late, last time 19:19:19 what would be a good time in your opinion to ask? 19:19:34 (and what would be a good threshold for us to say "go!"?) 19:19:47 Before we start any reg 19:19:57 I think we said we want to decide in April, so we should probably ask in April, too 19:19:58 We want to decide by April, right? 19:20:05 yeah 19:20:22 though i guess one could ask preliminarily as early as next month 19:20:49 So at around March I'll try asking about feasiblity international conference. 19:20:50 I guess the main problem would be trying to get a CfP going if the out-of-country prospective speakers won't know for a while whether they'll be vaccinated by debconf or not 19:21:12 #info Tzafrir will inquire in March about the feasibility of an international conference 19:21:32 (Although March 24th is elections day) 19:21:37 Well, I think that we can issue a CfP... And state from the beginning that, in case we do hold an in-person conference, remote participation (as speakers) will also be available 19:21:40 last time we decide April was ok, IMO maybe we should decide even earlier 19:21:51 gwolf: fair enough 19:21:54 tzafrir: How many election days do we expect this year before August? ;-) 19:22:18 terceiro: why? 19:22:42 because starting things off with uncertainty is tiresome and demotivating for a lot of people, myself included 19:23:07 I mean some uncertainty is inevitable 19:23:31 but ... whether or not the conference happens in person or online is too much uncertainty 19:23:32 * nattie thinks it's a good idea to have solid contingency plans 19:23:34 We already set a decision date 19:23:42 But I can't recall what it was 19:23:50 yeah, but then asking people many, many months ahead in these times doesn't get any useful info 19:24:00 they just don't know 19:24:05 * gwolf agrees with DLange 19:24:08 tumblingweed: April as said above 19:25:38 terceiro: I think it will be less demotivating if we start planning an online conference, and later on, we can add a "hey, want to travel? let us meet in Haifa!" component ;-) 19:25:51 "online first" 19:25:56 gwolf: fair enough 19:26:07 anything else on this for the moment? 19:26:24 as mentioned, Tzafrir will ask the university in March whether it looks likely 19:26:25 FWIW I expect _all_ conferences to be online-first for quite some time, if not forever... 19:26:55 (then again, I make for a very lousy fortune teller) 19:27:42 Agreed on that? 19:28:02 Err, the line before the last one) 19:28:07 tzafrir: i've put it as an #info, but i can put it as a different kind of item if you like 19:29:00 #topic Scheduling next meeting 19:29:10 are we fine with continuing on a four-week cycle for the moment? 19:29:30 +1 19:29:35 When do we issue the CfP? 19:29:41 do we have a date for it? 19:29:46 April :) 19:30:12 everyone fine with the 8th of February at 19:00 UTC? 19:30:18 It said Feb on https://debconf21.debconf.org/schedule/important-dates/ 19:30:26 ok, so I don't feel a need to rush anything :-] 19:30:28 if not, please say so now 19:30:41 may be that needs a fix :) anisa ^ courtesy highlight :) 19:31:26 8 Feb looks fine 19:32:18 going one, twice... 19:32:31 #agreed next meeting 8 February 2021, 19:00 UTC 19:32:34 #topic AOB 19:32:42 speak now or forever hold your peas 19:32:45 DLange: sure 19:32:51 * gwolf grabs a can of beans 19:33:43 * nattie brings the rice 19:33:55 anything else before i close for today? 19:34:57 doesn't look like it, so... 19:34:59 #endmeeting