Getting started in the IETF

We recommend that everyone who wants to get started with the IETF reads our Introduction to the IETF as this succinctly covers the basics of what we are, who we are, what we do and how we do it.

Once you have a basic understanding of the IETF, as almost all of the work of the IETF takes place in Working Groups, we recommend that you read our Guide to IETF Working Groups.

Then to finish the initial set, we strongly recommend that you read our Guide to being effective in the IETF.

For most people those three are the minimum to get you started, but:

• If you have some work that you want to bring to the IETF, we recommend that you read Bringing new work to the IETF.
• If you are considering participating in an IETF meeting the we recommend reading the Guide to IETF Meetings.
• If you are interested in reading or implementing existing RFCs then About RFCs explains the basics of the RFC Series.

If you've got this far and you're looking for more to read then we recommend our Guide to the IETF standards process for a more detailed explanation of IETF processes.

When you're ready to join the conversation, subscribe to a Mailing List.

Finally, if you want to see the IETF in action, then see our YouTube Channel, which has over 4000 recordings of IETF working sessions, generally published within hours of a session finishing.