Reconsider, and perhaps combine, the definitions of "face-to-face meeting" and "distributed meeting" in §3.1.2. Meetings

[hober]

(Split off from #1084)

In a comment on #1084, @reidmore-online suggested addressing that issue by redefining face-to-face meeting to permit entirely virtual meetings.

If we do that, we could do away with the two terms ("face-to-face" and "distributed" meetings) defined in §3.1.2. Meetings.

[npdoty]

I agree that the distinction is often not important, that most meetings should be distributed, and that AC meetings should be distributed even if there's an in-person component.

There exist some downstream requirements though that might be useful. For face-to-face meetings that require travel, it's useful to announce the meeting date and location and agenda further in advance than a distributed meeting. I think those different requirements are still worthwhile.

[npdoty]

Another option might just be to rename "face-to-face" as "hybrid" and note a requirement (matching our existing practice I think) that effective remote participation is crucial for broad access and inclusion in meetings.

[reidmore-online]

I think Hybrid is familiar to many and possibly clearer now too considering how we run meetings now. +1000 to @npdoty that we need to make sure we still factor in the unique requirements for in-person and hybrid.

[fantasai]

Meetings with an in-person component have additional requirements, and therefore to the extent that the Process defines them, they need to be distinguished. Currently the Process defines some requirements for in-person meetings in https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#meeting-schedules so unless you want to remove those, I don't think this is a valid change.

[reidmore-online]

This is an excellent opportunity for us to consider whether content like https://www.w3.org/policies/process/#meeting-schedules belongs in the process core, and could be better placed in a separate linked document.

One of the challenges with any content in the Process is that changing or updating it is a heavy lift, but content like this, which should be regularly updated or explored doesn't need the rigor that an update to the Process demands. The constraints of the process mean we also can't be as descriptive or useful in sections like this as we might be able to if it were in an associated document. I can see this section being much more functional to community as a separate "How to plan meetings" type resource.