How Can NCSG get the most out of ICANN68? Preparing for Virtual Meetings in the Future

[Stephanie E Perrin]

Any particular reason why, James?

Stephanie Perrin

On 2020-04-08 5:20 p.m., James Gannon wrote:
>
> I would suggest cancelling ICANN68 entirely, and supporting some PDP 
> calls if needed.
>
> ---
>
> *James Gannon*
>
> *From: *NCSG-Discuss <NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> on behalf of 
> Stephanie E Perrin <stephanie.perrin at MAIL.UTORONTO.CA>
> *Reply to: *Stephanie E Perrin <stephanie.perrin at MAIL.UTORONTO.CA>
> *Date: *Wednesday, 8 April 2020 at 18:17
> *To: *"NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU" <NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
> *Subject: *How Can NCSG get the most out of ICANN68? Preparing for 
> Virtual Meetings in the Future
>
> Hi everyone!  I hope you are all keeping well and isolating yourselves 
> in this time of crisis!  Best wishes to all of you who are celebrating 
> religious festivals this week remotely on the Internet!  We can do 
> this, if we all stick together virtually.
>
> Given the unprecedented chaos we are currently experiencing globally 
> as a result of Covid19, I think it is safe to say that most of us are 
> very grateful that ICANN67 was cancelled and converted to a virtual 
> meeting.  We commend staff and leadership for changing directions 
> rapidly and managing to conduct our first virtual meeting.  However, 
> if this is going to be our future for ICANN 68 and potentially even 
> ICANN 69, the NCSG/NPOC/NCUC leadership team believes that we ought to 
> brainstorm a bit and try to figure out how we can reach our goals 
> through this new medium of the virtual public meeting.
>
> ICANN Org did a quick survey on feedback on the Cancun meeting, but we 
> have yet to come up with new ideas on how to do better next time.  The 
> community leaders are planning for a virtual ICANN 68, and we would 
> appreciate hearing from members how we can better meet your needs.  We 
> do not need to “pave the cow-path”, a virtual meeting is not the same 
> as a public 2000 person meeting in a conference facility, it could be 
> very different, utilizing the best that technology can offer. 
> Unmeetings, webinars, extended discussion groups etc. are possible.  
> Please help us with your ideas in the attached google document.  The 
> usual caveat applies in brainstorming…..there are no silly questions, 
> not ideas too crazy to put forward.
>
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OsSmNhKSAh1zYMYZuLuQn_gq2BCsWfz7MBS-dKsfIWI/edit?usp=sharing
>
> For those who are unable to access Google docs, I have copied the 
> draft text below.  Feel free to comment on the list, although comments 
> on the document would be preferred.
>
> *Preparing for Virtual Meetings in the Future*
>
> **
>
> ICANN67 was successfully re-imagined at the last minute, and some of 
> the feedback that we obtained from NCSG members follows:
>
> · Having all the meetings in a 09:00-17:00 period in one time zone can 
> make it very difficult for our members to attend if they live in zones 
> about 8 hours away
>
> · Being able to follow parallel sessions depends on how many devices 
> one has, and how much available bandwidth.  Zoom is not the most user 
> friendly interface for this kind of toggling between meetings, it is 
> certainly not as easy as face to face, where we often can sit in one 
> meeting and follow another.
>
> · Most folks think it is fair to have the next meeting in the Kuala 
> Lumpur time zone as it would have been, but many more people will find 
> that time zone challenging their participation.  We need to find a way 
> to have them participate or it will be a very small group in the meeting.
>
> · Many of our members have day jobs and responsibilities that prevent 
> them from taking a whole week off during work hours to participate 
> remotely in the ICANN meeting.  Now that many are home self-isolating, 
> possibly with children and others to look after, it can be even more 
> difficult, particularly for those who have bandwidth challenges.
>
> Here are some of the real restraints that ICANN has indicated we have 
> to work with.
>
> · Technical staff are in many cases working from home. We cannot have 
> an unlimited schedule, we have to stick to the work day.  There are 
> strict limits to how many parallel sessions we have.
>
> · Translation will be limited as it was the last time, for similar 
> reasons.
>
> · If NCSG decides to do more meetings, we will have to juggle 
> resources very carefully, as we do not have the staff resources that 
> others like ALAC do.
>
> Here are a few of the ideas we have come up with to try to mitigate 
> some of the downsides of a virtual meeting.  Please add yours!  We are 
> scheduling a two hour discussion meeting in a week, to brainstorm 
> about this so that leaders can provide useful input to the meeting 
> planning discussions.
>
> Timing
>
> · Do we need to cram the meeting into one week?  Could we instead have 
> a month of ICANN regular webinars on policy topics? (This is the 
> policy meeting, after all).
>
> · Can we arrange some kind of call to discuss topics that were dealt 
> with during that day, for the folks who are in difficult other time zones?
>
> · Can our regional groups in NCUC help us arrange some kind of 
> engagement activities in parallel?
>
> Engagement
>
> · Let’s be honest, it is hard to beat face to face for engaging new 
> members.  How can we sustain the interest in NCSG work when we are 
> virtual for 2/3 of this year, if not 3/3? Can the regions create more 
> buzz with some virtual non-meetings, google hangouts, zoom webinars, etc.?
>
> · Does ICANN have regional resources that can help us with this 
> effort? If so, who are the contact points?
>
> · What training shall we engage in?  We had plans to do some face to 
> face work in leadership training, and are working on making that 
> virtual.  What do members think we need to do here?
>
> · Outreach in the region will be tough, with no face to face meeting.  
> Can Asia-Pacific members help move us forward on local engagement?
>
> Cross Community Interaction
>
> · At the last meeting, our regular meetings with contracted parties 
> and the public safety group were cancelled.  We had some interaction 
> with ALAC, but it was not a major focus.  This time we should get 
> ahead of planning and propose some group meetings to share 
> perspectives on some key issues.
>
> Content
>
> · This is the policy meeting, so we need to have some deep dives into 
> what is going on in the various policy arenas.  Possible topics for 
> webinars followed by discussions include
>
> o   The human rights cross community group
>
> o   EPDP (it’s true, it never ends…)
>
> o   Rights protection measures
>
> o   Mandatory reviews
>
> o   Sub pro
>
> Please suggest your ideas on how to make this next meeting work for you!
>
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