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Jesse, It has never been more than one or two per
Plenary Session that I am aware of, and those were mostly due to insufficient
lead time to get the Visa approved prior to the meeting dates, not that the Visa
would not be granted. With our improved process for registration and
facilities for providing advance session invitations we expect the numbers to
drop to virtual zero. It just took us a while to understand exactly what
impact the new homeland security policies were having and the requirements to
compensate for them effectively.
I
think we are over the hump on this one now.
:-) We did have 18 attendees from the Peoples Republic of
China at our San Antonio session and I don't believe anyone had to cancel for
Visa reasons.
Thanx, Buzz
Dr. Everett O. (Buzz) Rigsbee
Boeing - SSG
PO Box 3707, M/S: 7M-FM
Seattle, WA 98124-2207
(425) 865-2443 Fx: (425)
865-6721
Cell: (425)
417-1022
everett.o.rigsbee@boeing.com
Does
anyone have statistics on the number of people who signed up for the meetings
but then canceled due to visa problems? If not, how are we going to determine
how much of a problem U.S. plenaries are causing? If so, can you share the
statistics with us? This would be useful information to apply to lobbying
efforts to reform the U.S. visa rules.
From:
Rigsbee, Everett O [mailto:everett.o.rigsbee@boeing.com]
Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 10:00
AM
To: Bruce Kraemer ;
p.nikolich@ieee.org
Cc:
stuart.kerry@PHILIPS.COM; Walker, Jesse; 802 @F2F Dawn S; Darcel Moro @F2F;
802 @F2F Jennifer Hull; 802 Exec
Subject: RE: Plenary Meeting
locations
Bruce, This
issue has been discussed at length by the 802 ExecComm and the following
observations were noted:
1. It is
extremely difficult and expensive to hold 802 Plenary sessions for 1600+
individuals in non-North American locations because of the lack of large
facilities, and the difficulty in coordinating with multiple foreign
venues. The cost problems have been severely aggravated by the recent
decline of the US dollar, and many of our attendees already claim that the
cost of attending 802 Plenaries is too high for their company. The US is
currently a relative bargain for foreign travelers and we do have some
excellent facilities scheduled.
2. However IEEE
802 has a strong desire to show itself to be a truly international
organization by holding sessions abroard.
3. WG's have
been doing that successfully with their smaller interim sessions, but it would
still be important to have an all-802 session abroad.
4. Therefore
IEEE 802 will make a best effort attempt to hold an 802-Hosted Interim meeting
for all 802 WGs in a non-North American venue (now currently targeted for
January 2007). Choices with estimated costs for venues for this meeting
will be presented at our March 2005 Plenary in Atlanta, GA. We are still
expecting our new China Liaison, Roger Marx, to provide some sponsor contacts
for possible venues inside China itself.
I hope this helps to
address your concerns.
Thanx,
Buzz
Dr. Everett O. (Buzz)
Rigsbee
Boeing -
SSG
PO Box 3707, M/S:
7M-FM
Seattle, WA
98124-2207
(425)
865-2443 Fx: (425) 865-6721
Cell: (425)
417-1022
everett.o.rigsbee@boeing.com
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