The question on RIPE meeting format & sponsorship came up a few times in
the past, and the room's feedback was "yes, we want to bring in new people
to the community, so please go *out* to places, and *do* subsidize the
meeting, so people can afford to come"...  personally, I see a virtual
RIPE meeting as waste of time.  The point is "meet people, have good
discussions, build a community" which just doesn't work properly in the
virtual format - at least not for me.  Maybe I'm just too old and AI 
will make sure we do not need personal contacts anymore...