Looking Forward to RIPE 81

We're less than one week out from RIPE 81 and, as I write this, more than 800 people have registered to attend the meeting, 130 of whom are newcomers. One thing that's particularly great to see is that people are really making use of the mentoring programme facilitated by the RIPE NCC. Most of you who asked for a mentor should have been introduced to one by now. This is a great way for more experienced RIPE participants to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. I am already looking forward to interacting with my mentee.

What's New at RIPE 81

As this is our second RIPE Meeting to take place completely online, we've made some adjustments based on what we learned from our first go at this last May. The most notable of these is that we'll be using a new meeting platform, Meetecho, this time around. Everyone who registers for the RIPE Meeting will receive a unique link to join Meetecho and there will be a session held on Monday morning where attendees can drop by to test their set up (attendees will receive more details on this by email). We hope that everyone will be able to join this platform so that we have everyone together on one meeting platform.

Also this time, the meeting plan looks a little different (we basically added another half day). This will give us more time for the plenary sessions and also enough time for all the working groups to meet. To make things easier, all sessions will start at the full hour and last for 45 minutes followed by a break.

If you're altogether new to RIPE Meetings, I recommend you attend the Newcomers Introduction that will take place on Tuesday morning at 10:00. This might also be a nice refresher for other attendees - and this time with a brand new set of slides and speakers!

Every morning we will start with a virtual welcome coffee before the start of the first session:

Content Highlights

The Programme Committee has chosen seven presentations so far for the plenary, covering interesting topics such as RPKI, IPv6, geolocation and the impact COVID-19 has had on Internet traffic. Tuesday, the first day of the meeting, will be mostly dedicated to plenary sessions. All the RIPE Working Groups will meet at this RIPE Meeting, most of them taking a 45 minute slot on either Wednesday or Thursday. The agendas for all these session will soon if not already be available just one click away from the meeting plan.

If you have time on Monday, before the official opening of RIPE 81, I'd like to draw your attention to a number of interesting Bird of a Feather (BoF) sessions:

• The Role of RIRs and LIRs in SCION
• Sustainable ICT Procurement and RIPE
• RIPE Database Requirements Task Force

These topics can then be further discussed during the week.

Community Plenary

We will end the meeting with another half day of plenary sessions: first the Community Plenary, followed by the official Closing Plenary. The Community Plenary was re-introduced some meetings ago to cover high-level topics that are of relevance to the entire community (as opposed to more specific topics discussed in the working group sessions). This time we will hear about the development of a new Code of Conduct as well as various reports, for instance from the Address Supporting Organisation, the RIPE Nominating Committee, and the current RIPE task forces.

The new RIPE Chair Team will also give a brief update of our activities so far.

Socials Activities

On Tuesday towards the end of the day there will be two social events: at 17:00 you can meet the new RIPE Chair Team and ask us any questions you might have. After that at 18:00 the RIPE NCC Executive Board will be waiting for you.

Meet Niall O'Reilly and Mirjam Kühne, the new RIPE Chair Team on Tuesday afternoon

For this RIPE Meeting, we'll be trying out a new way of doing our virtual social events that we think will really help participants and speakers get to know each other throughout the week. More information on this coming soon! Also, as part of an initiative taken up by the IoT WG chairs, there will be a special social event on Monday evening at 19:00.

Last but not least, we will have a virtual RIPE dinner again on Thursday evening. As this will take place the night before Halloween, you can expect a theme! Feel free to start planning your outfits accordingly. 

I very much hope I'll see many of you during the RIPE Meeting week. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask in the comments field below. You can also reach me under chair@ripe.net. During the week of the meeting itself, please do follow us on twitter (@ripemeeting).