In message <E4316CBB-6978-4217-ABC4-F60293516819@gmail.com>, at 18:34:31 on Wed, 11 Dec 2013, Gordon Lennox <gordon.lennox.13@gmail.com> writes
I seem to remember that early roundtables were organised at Schipol to make it as easy as possible for government people to attend. When even that was seen to have its limits then the Roundtables were organised in Brussels.
That makes it sound like all of them are now Brussels-based but in fact they appear to be alternating, with one each in Brussels and Amsterdam each year. 2014 will be the third year.
From what I have heard that works. Not only do people from the Commission attend but also people from other states who either work in Brussels or travel in for the day. And by the way, picking up on Roland's point, it is probably more the familiarity of Brussels as a destination than allows people from out of town to attend rather than the issue of expenses. They can also add in some side meetings which adds value. So all in all the Roundtables are appreciated and working.
Yes, looking at the records (on the RIPE NCC website) the attendance from out-of-town has been maintained and the Commission has risen from typically one or two attendees (in Amsterdam) to between six and eleven (in Brussels).
I think though that it is recognised that there is a problem with small groups of people or even individuals going to Brussels and claiming to represent the WG - unless of course there has been discussion and consensus on the message to be passed. Maybe other people think otherwise. Maybe we need to discuss this
If the material presented is simply "this is what the WG does, these are its working methods, some of the topics discussed recently and how to get involved", then I don't think that should be a problem. In the past the Roundtables have had presentations about the proceedings of the RIPE 'Policy' workgroups.
I also have a variety of problems with the notion of "free consultancy". I won't try to cover them all here and now.
But the Commission spends a lot of money on acquiring information: from research projects, to studies, to workshops, to consultation processes.
Feeding into consultations, either in writing or much better by attending hearings, is a very good way to "get involved" in the flow of information. -- Roland Perry