Welcome to a resource site for chairs and others providing leadership and support for IETF Working Groups (WGs) and IRTF Research Groups. General information and resources are provided on this page, below. Additional information is grouped by key WG chair tasks—managing mailing lists, managing documents, organizing meetings, and supporting participants— and available via the left-side menu items on each page.
NOTE: Issues and suggestions can be made via the GitHub repository, or by sending email to support@ietf.org
Learn skills to make your working group more productive: Recordings and other materials from the IETF chairs training courses are now available.
This section provides general information about IETF WG and the WG chair role.
A summary of information and resources for chairing when you are getting started.
More details on roles related to managing a Working Group, including:
These are the formally documented procedures for IETF working groups
Photos of all current IETF WG chairs. (If you are a WG chair and would like to add or update your photo, send email with an attachment to support@ietf.org)
Published in 1996, this is the foundational document describing the IETF standards process. An informal guide provides another view of various aspects of the Internet standards process.
This page provides a mechanism for filing disclosures about intellectual property rights (IPR) and for finding out what IPR disclosures have been filed. The IETF intellectual property rights rules are defined in RFC 8179, "Intellectual Property Rights in IETF Technology".
The disclosure process for intellectual property rights (IPR) in documents produced within the IETF stream is essential to the accurate development of community consensus. RFC6702 describes some strategies that may be used by working group chairs, and working group secretaries to promote compliance with the IPR disclosure rules.
A reminder about the "Note Well" should begin every meeting. The notewell is available in HTML, PDF, and PPTX.
Working Group milestones
A guide for updating working group milestones in the IETF Datatracker.
Liaison Statements
Find and access liaison statments. The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) appoints liaisons with other organizations on behalf of the IETF.
IETF Datatracker sandbox
This non-production instance of the IETF Datatracker allows training and testing of features and capabilities.
IETF Note taking tool
This service provides IETF participants with ephemeral note-taking capabilities which can be useful for WG meetings.
WG Chairs email list
The information page and subscription form for the discussion email list for IETF WG chairs, secretaries, and leaders of other IETF-related groups.
WG Chairs email list archive
A web-based public archive of the IETF Working Group chairs email list.
Github is used by some IETF WGs. A Github Use for Working Groups is available.
Meetecho is used for remote participation in IETF Meetings. A guide for chairs and a guide for participants are available.
Webex is used by many IETF groups. Webex provides a quick guide and How-to videos. Some Webex tips have been developed based on IETF experience.
These pages provide information, tools, and resources related to common IETF WG chair tasks:
These IETF Working Group Chairs training courses aim to help new and experienced chairs develop and enhance skills that are important to effectively manage working group discussions.