On 2020-01-27T16:43:30, Matthew Johns <matthew.johns(a)suse.com> wrote: Rescheduling Cephalocon would be a major organizational headache - the hotel is the least significant concern to myself, but the attendees that have already booked and paid for flights, visa, etc. If we reschedule, we'd end up rescheduling to next year in Canada. I don't think it'd be realistic to reschedule in 2-3 months in Seoul. Regards, Lars -- SUSE Software Solutions Germany GmbH, MD: Felix Imendörffer, HRB 36809 (AG Nürnberg) "Architects should open possibilities and not determine everything." (Ueli Zbinden)

Thanks both. I'm concerned about attendees from China being unable to leave their country, but also for other countries getting locked down as the infection spreads, in addition to attendees from other countries being unwilling to attend for fear of infection. I appreciate the cost of flights, hotels and visas are high for attendees, but wanted to make sure we'd done some due diligence in case the virus does escalate. Being able to offer refunds is great. I wonder if it's worth agreeing and putting out a proactive message around the outbreak to let the attendees know that we're not ignoring it? While we don't want to scare people off or give them an easy way out to get a refund if they're feeling a little nervous or can't be bothered, we also don't want to appear to be ignoring the elephant in the room/region. Maybe something around "if a travel ban is enforced in your country/region we will provide a refund for your ticket upon receipt of proof of the travel ban"? It's then the responsibility of the attendees to ensure they have travel insurance (I would hope that all do) that would cover the cost of their flights/hotels if their companies won't/haven’t. Thanks, Matthew -----Original Message----- From: Emily Ruf <eruf(a)linuxfoundation.org> Sent: 27 January 2020 21:03 To: Lars Marowsky-Bree <lmb(a)suse.com> Cc: cephalocon-seoul-2020(a)ceph.io; Sage Weil <sweil(a)redhat.com>om>; Mike Perez <miperez(a)redhat.com>om>; jcrowley(a)linuxfoundation.org Subject: [Cephalocon-seoul-2020] Re: Invitation: Cephalocon 2020 Planning @ Weekly from 12pm to 12:30pm on Tuesday from Tue Dec 10 to Tue Mar 17, 2020 (EST) (matthew.johns(a)suse.com) We are also watching this and how it progresses and for any specific travel bans or advisories. Besides overall consideration, your specific concern are those coming from China and not being able to attend; is that correct? If someone is no longer allowed to attend, we can of course refund them. In the extreme case, there is language in our contract that potentially covers this should we find the need to cancel. Potentially, because it’s never black and white as we can’t cover every possible scenario. We can discuss more on tomorrow’s call if needed. _______________________________________________ Cephalocon-seoul-2020 mailing list -- cephalocon-seoul-2020(a)ceph.io To unsubscribe send an email to cephalocon-seoul-2020-leave(a)ceph.io

I'm also concerned about my safety for this event. Moving the date of the event is not going to make a difference as we don't know how long this outbreak will last. We should wait and see how registration numbers go until mid next week and discuss how we want to move forward. I'm doing my best with local Ceph Seoul groups and other promoting. On Tue, Jan 28, 2020 at 1:10 AM Lars Marowsky-Bree &lt;lmb(a)suse.com&gt; wrote: -- Mike Perez he/him Ceph Community Manager M: +1-951-572-2633 494C 5D25 2968 D361 65FB 3829 94BC D781 ADA8 8AEA @Thingee <https://twitter.com/thingee> Thingee <https://www.linkedin.com/thingee> <https://www.facebook.com/RedHatInc> <https://www.redhat.com>

First, so we’re all on the same page, Ceph has the final call on how we proceed and we’re here to help and provide as much information we can to make the right decision. The entire LF Senior Leadership Team has a F2F meeting on Monday and this is a significant topic. They will have feedback from the membership and other communities. For now, a few questions to ask…most of which I’m sure you’ve already considered. What are the pros/cons of canceling, postponing, moving forward as-is. How many people make this event successful? Are they the right people? We expect the Coronovirus scare will impact registration and sponsorship How many people do we expect to cancel or not register for this particular concern Assuming we do not have attendance from China, how does this impact the event? If we move forward AND someone gets sick at our event or after our event, how does that reflect on Ceph? Do we anticipate further travel restrictions into Seoul? Also for your consideration, following are the cancellation fees. We have not yet talked to the hotel though are not confident we are in a Force Majeure situation yet. There are no travel limitations coming into Seoul. Sleeping Rooms 75% up to Feb 15 ( $29,965) 100% on or after Feb 16 ($39,953) Meeting Space/F&B 50% up to Feb 2 ($61,908) 75% up to Feb 23 ($92,862) 100% on or after Feb 24 ($123,826) Next Steps? I suggest we wait until I have feedback from the LF leadership team. Also, since this scare has been changing on a daily basis, a lot could change between now and then. We can connect via email on Monday and follow up conversation during our regular call on Tuesday. Any initial thoughts? Emily

Red Hat just issued an advisory for its employees. Notably, "all travel to, from or within the APAC region is postponed absent critical business need approved by next level management,". Let's sync up Monday afternoon and see where things stand? sage On Thu, 30 Jan 2020, Emily Ruf wrote:

Hi Sage and all the organizers, FYI, I would like to add what the current atmosphere here regarding nCoV (Novel Coronavirus). Please consider that it is my personal opinion. We have 12 confirmed patients now in Korea. We believe that the situation is still under CDC control. However, situation is not settling down yet, we need more time to find out it becomes perfectly under control or it is getting worse as time goes on. Korea government does not have any travel restrictions coming into Seoul, but there are high pressure from the public to place an entering restriction for anyone who visited China. That said, it is possible that there will probably be some level of travel restriction soon. (something similar to what USA government announced) particular concern For local attendees, I am pretty sure the current Coronavirus situation will have negative impact on participation. There are no official restriction on any public event, however, some of public places (e.g., public library, public theater, etc) has been closed temporarily. Most of things are 'business as usual', however, it is clear that people is trying to avoid highly populated area (e.g., shopping mall, movie theater, etc). >> If we move forward AND someone gets sick at our event or after our event, how does that reflect on Ceph? IMHO, sponsors will probably think about their 'public image'. No one wants to have 'bad reputation'. It is absolutely top concern among people, media, government, companies here in Korea as of today. *Jaesuk Ahn*, Ph.D. Cloud Labs, SK Telecom .. Member of OpenStack User Committee On Sat, Feb 1, 2020 at 5:46 AM Emily Ruf &lt;eruf(a)linuxfoundation.org&gt; wrote: > Thank you for passing this along. Certainly makes things more interesting. > > We’ll connect on Monday. > > > > > On Jan 31, 2020, at 3:35 PM, Sage Weil &lt;sweil(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote: > > > > Red Hat just issued an advisory for its employees. Notably, "all travel > > to, from or within the APAC region is postponed absent critical business > > need approved by next level management,". > > > > Let's sync up Monday afternoon and see where things stand? > > > > sage > > > > > > On Thu, 30 Jan 2020, Emily Ruf wrote: > > > >> First, so we’re all on the same page, Ceph has the final call on how we > proceed and we’re here to help and provide as much information we can to > make the right decision. > >> > >> The entire LF Senior Leadership Team has a F2F meeting on Monday and > this is a significant topic. They will have feedback from the membership > and other communities. > >> > >> For now, a few questions to ask…most of which I’m sure you’ve already > considered. > >> What are the pros/cons of canceling, postponing, moving forward as-is. > How many people make this event successful? Are they the right people? > > > particular concern > >> Assuming we do not have attendance from China, how does this impact the > event? > >> If we move forward AND someone gets sick at our event or after our > event, how does that reflect on Ceph? > > >> > >> Also for your consideration, following are the cancellation fees. We > have not yet talked to the hotel though are not confident we are in a Force > Majeure situation yet. There are no travel limitations coming into Seoul. > >> > >> Sleeping Rooms > >> 75% up to Feb 15 ( $29,965) > >> 100% on or after Feb 16 ($39,953) > >> > >> Meeting Space/F&B > >> 50% up to Feb 2 ($61,908) > >> 75% up to Feb 23 ($92,862) > >> 100% on or after Feb 24 ($123,826) > >> > >> Next Steps? I suggest we wait until I have feedback from the LF > leadership team. Also, since this scare has been changing on a daily basis, > a lot could change between now and then. We can connect via email on Monday > and follow up conversation during our regular call on Tuesday. > >> > >> Any initial thoughts? > >> > >> Emily > >> > >> > >> > >>> On Jan 30, 2020, at 8:28 AM, Emily Ruf &lt;eruf(a)linuxfoundation.org&gt; > wrote: > >>> > >>> Morning all - We have a meeting with LF leadership this morning to > discuss the concerns and options. I’ll come back to the group with the > information for further consideration. > >>> > >>> We had two emails from sponsors and one speaker yesterday and provide > the following response: At this time, we are planning to move forward with > Cephalocon in Seoul. However, attendee safety is important to us and we are > monitoring this closely. If the situation changes and it impacts the event, > we will notify all registered attendees, speakers, sponsors, etc. > >>> > >>> > >>>> On Jan 30, 2020, at 4:32 AM, Mike Perez &lt;miperez(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote: > >>>> > >>>> I'm also concerned about my safety for this event. Moving the date of > the event is not going to make a difference as we don't know how long this > outbreak will last. We should wait and see how registration numbers go > until mid next week and discuss how we want to move forward. I'm doing my > best with local Ceph Seoul groups and other promoting. > >>>> > >>>> On Tue, Jan 28, 2020 at 1:10 AM Lars Marowsky-Bree &lt;lmb(a)suse.com&gt; > wrote: > >>>> On 2020-01-28T07:00:43, Matthew Johns &lt;matthew.johns(a)suse.com&gt; wrote: > >>>> > >>>> Hi Matthew, > >>>> > >>>> I hear you. I think we should inquire at the hotel behind the scenes, > >>>> but I also think it's too early to message our attendees without > knowing > >>>> how South Korea will be affected. > >>>> > >>>> Now, obviously safety is utmost priority, but it seems difficult to > >>>> assess how such a force majeure event is going to play out. So far, > >>>> South Korea has only seen 4 incidents, all linked to Wuhan province. > >>>> > >>>> I think even a travel ban for all of China is unlikely. Wuhan > province, > >>>> yes, but I'd suspect other regions will be allowed to travel. > >>>> > >>>> At least that's what I'm hoping! > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> Regards, > >>>> Lars > >>>> > >>>> -- > >>>> SUSE Software Solutions Germany GmbH, MD: Felix Imendörffer, HRB > 36809 (AG Nürnberg) > >>>> "Architects should open possibilities and not determine everything." > (Ueli Zbinden) > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> -- > >>>> Mike Perez > >>>> He/Him > >>>> Ceph Community Manager > >>>> > >>>> M: +1-951-572-2633 > >>>> 494C 5D25 2968 D361 65FB 3829 94BC D781 ADA8 8AEA > >>>> @Thingee Thingee > >>>> > >>> > >> > _______________________________________________ > Cephalocon-seoul-2020 mailing list -- cephalocon-seoul-2020(a)ceph.io > To unsubscribe send an email to cephalocon-seoul-2020-leave(a)ceph.io >

Yes, I’ll be available in about 30 min. Does 12:45 PT work? On Mon, Feb 3, 2020 at 1:57 PM Sage Weil &lt;sweil(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote: -- Emily Ruf, CMP Event Manager The Linux Foundation M: 512-745-1456 E: eruf(a)linuxfoundation.org

https://bluejeans.com/480388789 if anyone else can join On Mon, 3 Feb 2020, Emily Ruf wrote:

Hi everyone, I think we need to cancel (or postpone). - Most of the speakers are outside South Korea, and a significant fraction of the attendees as well. - Red Hat is shut down all travel to APAC without a special exception. I don't think we have a great case to make an exception here. As a result, the engineering management has already pulled the plug (they were going to send ~50 for a team meeting adjacent). I think other organizations are going to make similar decisions. - As an anecdotal data point,we just had an email to events(a)ceph.io a few minutes ago saying they are advised by their government not to travel to China or South Korea (not sure which govt that was unfortunately). - Most likely nobody from China will be able to attend. That includes several sponsors and probably a good number of attendees. - Jaesuk Ahn thinks this will also depress attendance locally. So... I think the only real question is whether we cancel outright or try to reschedule at the same venue later in the year. 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). 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. In any case, I lean toward canceling outright at this point. What do people think? sage On Mon, 3 Feb 2020, Emily Ruf wrote:

If not for this situation, how may Chinese attendees were we anticipating? As of Friday, there were 12 registered from China.

On 2020-02-03T17:52:02, Emily Ruf &lt;eruf(a)linuxfoundation.org&gt; wrote: That's indeed dire. We were hoping for quite a bit more; China obviously is one of the major communities in the region. We should talk cancellation options with the hotel. My guess is that we best cancel entirely (and discuss a new venue/time separately instead of rushing), but if the hotel is open to waiving fees if we reschedule there, that might be an option. Week 21 (May 18-22) as already proposed, or in the second half of June, early July? I feel we need sufficient time for folks to make alternate plans. Let's hope everyone recovers quickly, that the illness comes under control and that we have a vaccine soon. Regards, Lars -- Architect SDS, Distinguished Engineer SUSE Software Solutions Germany GmbH, MD: Felix Imendörffer, HRB 36809 (AG Nürnberg) "Architects should open possibilities and not determine everything." (Ueli Zbinden)

On 2020-02-04T11:10:19, Emily Ruf &lt;eruf(a)linuxfoundation.org&gt; wrote: Well, the public announcement already went out via Twitter, and clearly couldn't even wait for the call one hour later. A wee bit too proactive maybe? Perhaps we could at least fix the two spelling mistakes? ;-) -- Architect SDS, Distinguished Engineer SUSE Software Solutions Germany GmbH, MD: Felix Imendörffer, HRB 36809 (AG Nürnberg) "Architects should open possibilities and not determine everything." (Ueli Zbinden)