On 2020-02-03T20:59:58, Sage Weil <sweil(a)redhat.com> wrote:
Hi Sage,
such sad news. I'm afraid it looks this way, especially given that it
seems very likely our Chinese attendees, speakers, and sponsors may not
be able to join us.
People in South Korea may also be concerned about such gatherings, as
Cephalocon obviously would be.
Lufthansa has shutdown most China flights until end of March, even
Beijing until at least end of February, which would affect
connections.
And we'd be the subject of the general mood, and even if Seoul is fine,
many lump all of APAC together into one bucket. (The anecdotal evidence
had a footer that said "Canada", fwiw, and Canada's government hasn't
issued a travel warning as far as I can see.)
Personally, I'd (for now) be happy to go ahead - Seoul, at least at this
point, is fine enough. But that's not what we're dealing with.
I think we need to cancel (or postpone).
I'm worried about rescheduling because it's
not clear how much later it
needs to be to avoid the coronavirus outbreak (and any residual reluctance
to travel etc).
Rescheduling would be desirable, but it would likely have to be at least
by 3-6 months - even after this outbreak has settled, people will need
time to make new travel arrangements, revisit talks, check new schedules
etc.
The challenge with canceling is to pressure the hotel
to let us out of the
contract using the 'force majeur' provision, which isn't a black and white
proposition because many attendees still *can* come (e.g., few travel
restrictions to South Korea so far). Maybe that will change in the next
few days.
That'll also affect individual travelers who have booked flights.
In any case, I lean toward canceling outright at this
point.
Personally, I'd still wait another week as the situation continues to
develop. (And if a force majeur such as a travel advisory from the US or
within the EU to SK arises, I think that'd help cancellation fees ...)
But if we can neither get the Chinese community to attend, and RH is
pulling out, then the question really boils down to "how to cancel in
the least costly way", not "if".
Regards,
Lars
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"Architects should open possibilities and not determine everything." (Ueli
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