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

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I dont feel that there is sufficient value in forcing folks who are already under real world stress to accomodate a multiday meeting which may or may not end up with people feeling obligated to stay up over the night or take time away from work or family for non core policy matters. Its not the time right now for discussions and info sharing. Yes our PDPs and Council work must continue but I would not fill the time with other discussions right now that are not 100% required. Its just not a stress the community needs at the moment.

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James Gannon
On 08/04/2020 22:33:50, Stephanie E Perrin <stephanie.perrin at mail.utoronto.ca> wrote:
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.
 
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James Gannon
 
From: NCSG-Discuss <NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> [mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] on behalf of Stephanie E Perrin <stephanie.perrin at MAIL.UTORONTO.CA> [mailto:stephanie.perrin at MAIL.UTORONTO.CA]
Reply to: Stephanie E Perrin <stephanie.perrin at MAIL.UTORONTO.CA> [mailto:stephanie.perrin at MAIL.UTORONTO.CA]
Date: Wednesday, 8 April 2020 at 18:17
To: "NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU" [mailto:NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] <NCSG-DISCUSS at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU> [mailto: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 [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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