Editing Internet Engineering Task Force (section)

==Meetings==
The first IETF meeting was attended by 21 US federal government-funded researchers on 16 January 1986. It was a continuation of the work of the earlier GADS Task Force. Representatives from non-governmental entities (such as gateway vendors)<ref name=zawgyi>{{cite book|title= www.google.com : Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems Worldwide|author=John S. Quarterman|edition=2|publisher=Digital Press|year=1990|isbn=9781555580339|pages=185&ndash;186}}</ref> were invited to attend starting with the fourth IETF meeting in October 1986. Since that time all IETF meetings have been open to the public.<ref name=Bradner-January1999>[http://oreilly.com/openbook/opensources/book/ietf.html "Internet Engineering Task Force"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228181401/http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/opensources/book/ietf.html |date=December 28, 2014 }}, Scott Bradner, ''Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution'', O'Reilly, 1st Edition, January 1999, {{ISBN|1-56592-582-3}}. Retrieved 21 July 2014.</ref>

Initially, the IETF met quarterly, but from 1991, it has been meeting three times a year. The initial meetings were very small, with fewer than 35 people in attendance at each of the first five meetings. The maximum attendance during the first 13 meetings was only 120 attendees. This occurred at the twelfth meeting, held during January 1989. These meetings have grown in both participation and scope a great deal since the early 1990s; it had a maximum attendance of 2810 at the December 2000 IETF held in [[San Diego, California]]. Attendance declined with industry restructuring during the early 2000s, and is currently around 1200.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ietf.org/meeting/past.html |title=Past Meetings |publisher=IETF |access-date=21 July 2014 |archive-date=August 25, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140825125706/https://www.ietf.org/meeting/past.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Bradner-January1999/>

The locations for IETF meetings vary greatly. A list of past and future meeting locations is on the IETF meetings page.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ietf.org/meeting/ |title=IETF Meetings |publisher=IETF |access-date=17 January 2012 |archive-date=January 15, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115094754/http://www.ietf.org/meeting/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The IETF strives to hold its meetings near where most of the IETF volunteers are located. IETF meetings are held three times a year, with one meeting each in Asia, Europe and North America. An occasional exploratory meeting is held outside of those regions in place of one of the other regions.<ref>{{Cite IETF |title=High-Level Guidance for the Meeting Policy of the IETF |rfc=8719 |author=S. Krishnan|date=February 2020 |publisher=IETF |access-date=August 24, 2024 |doi=10.17487/RFC8719}}</ref>

The IETF also organizes [[hackathon]]s during the IETF meetings. The focus is on implementing code that will improve standards in terms of quality and interoperability.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ietf.org/hackathon/|title=IETF Hackathon|website=IETF|access-date=2017-10-23|archive-date=September 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905175501/https://www.ietf.org/hackathon/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Due to recent changes in USA administration that deny entry to foreign free speech supporters and could impact transgender people. There is a movement to ask the IETF to have its meeting outside of the USA in a safe country instead.<ref>[https://boycott-ietf127.org/ Boycott IETF 127]</ref>