Now of course people are going to make all manner of snarky comments that amount to "Why aren't they all that short," but I hope people understand that the reason this meeting went so quickly is that the 23 people present (quorum is 12 including the Chair) all agreed to not raise any objections, not offer amendments, not make new motions, and not debate anything. When you take out all of the other elements of participatory democracy, you can go really quickly.
I do think it's rather ironic that more people attended this year's "rump" Business Meeting in Wellington than attended the meeting in Yokohama in 2007, and there wasn't a worldwide pandemic restricting people's attendance back then.
This year's meeting is not something I want us to have to repeat. I do hope we're able to meet in person next year in DC. And I'm extremely skeptical of any proposals I've seen thus far for allowing members to participate remotely. A 25-person Zoom call is hard enough. A 250-person call, with everyone trying to speak at once, would be madness. A 1000-person call, with everyone convinced that having any restrictions upon speaking whatsoever, would be complete chaos. It's hard enough to keep things managed with everyone in the same room.
If the only reason people want to participate is to vote, there are better ways to handle it.
