| [eclipse.org-eclipsecon-program-committee] IBM speakers |
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Program Committee members, Given that the issue of IBM speakers not getting travel approval has been raised, we should be very careful about accepting IBM talks. This is unfortunate given the depth of technical expertise at IBM, but the worst situation we, as a program committee, could get into is to decline our #2 choice in favor of our #1 choice and then have the #1 choice withdraw because IBM won't send them to the conference - then we'd either have egg on our faces when we go to the #2 choice or we'd have nothing at all if the #2 choice made other plans. So... how are we going to handle this? Do we need IBM people to get a letter from their manager proving that they can come to the conference before we will accept their talk? - Bjorn P.S. Originally we had intended the speaker agreement to be that double-check on people's attendance, but an unfortunately high number of people have been signing the speaker agreement (wherein they agree to come) and then reneging on that agreement later. So, basically, we can't count on the speaker agreement as an agreement. --
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