[NCSG-EC] Future of ICANN Meetings

[Bruna Martins dos Santos]

Dear EC,

During this past week, the GNSO Leadership hosted a call as a  follow-up
process to the ICANN Org Survey requesting feedback on the meetings format.

The call has discussed the attached paper (that I politely ask you not to
share with anyone), and I am pasting below a short summary of the
discussions provided by GNSO Chair, Philippe Fouquart:


   - *There was surprise from many that the results of the survey were
   seemingly extrapolated to influence the overall and ongoing meetings
   strategy, not just virtual ICANN Public Meetings.*
   - *While it seemed that at least most of the SG/C/Council leaders that
   took part in the call are supportive of the principles under “Proposed
   Enhancements to ICANN Public Meetings Based on Community Recommendations,”
   there are concerns about the implications for the virtual environment, but
   also and mainly when the meetings return to face-to-face.*
   - *Specifically, there are concerns about the “focus on cross-community
   interaction and policy development work,” as it is unclear what the
   definition of cross-community means in this context. To that end, the GNSO
   welcomes further clarity on what criteria may be used to determine if a
   proposed session is adequately cross-community.*
   - *Participants appreciated that there is a focus on “Networking” during
   ICANN Public Meetings, but are unsure how that effectively translates to a
   virtual setting. SG/C open meetings are an example of sessions where the
   purpose is not strictly networking, but it is indeed an important component
   of the session (in addition to simply conducting SG/C business, performing
   outreach, and information sharing, all of which can be construed as
   cross-community in nature). SG/C open meetings in a face-to-face setting
   are well positioned to meet those multiple goals, many of which can be
   considered aspects of networking.*
      - *Therefore, the SG/C/Council leaders welcome additional clarity on
      what the numerous blocks committed to Networking will look like
in practice
      for ICANN70, as currently envisioned.*
      - *One idea could be parsing “networking” into various components:
      Internal (within a group), networking, outreach across groups with the
      option of break out rooms/designated areas on the schedule in order
      encourage interaction between various groups.*
   - *Specifically for the virtual format, at least most on the call
   believe it is possible to hold SG/C/Council meetings outside of the
   specific time allocations for ICANN70, although not far from the ICANN week
   (eg the week after or before).*
   - *However, if this were to serve as the trend after the return to
   face-to-face meetings (i.e., forcing member meetings, open meetings, and
   Council meetings off the ICANN meeting schedule), there will likely be
   substantial opposition from across the community. More generally, there are
   some concerns that changes made for ICANN70 and potentially future virtual
   meetings may establish a precedent for the return to face-to-face meetings.*
      - *there was general consensus for saying that there was strong
      benefits in holding SG/C/Council meetings during the
face-to-face meetings.*
      - *Giving the tight timeframe for input, there was wide agreement
      that there is inadequate time and community consultation to establish an
      ongoing meetings strategy, especially one that would also be
applicable to
      face-to-face meetings.*
   - *One specific element of the proposal, the single session for SO/AC
   updates to the ICANN Board, met wide skepticism . Allocating only 10
   minutes per group leaves no time for interaction and dialogue, which
   seemingly makes this a poor use of time.*


In terms of next steps, I believe this is leading towards one review by the
board and a discussion on this community's approach to meetings. Based on
the discussion items pasted below, the GNSO Leadership will reply to the
org consultation tomorrow and in January, a finalized version of "Future of
ICANN Meetings" paper should be issued with new suggestions for the
meetings format, number of days and so forth.

I bring your attention to this as the new meetings format might bring an
increased need for us to work with our community and host NCSG meetings in
the weeks before the actual ICANN Meetings.

Looking forward to hearing back from you on this! (and I have cc'ed Tanya
and Tomslin here in case any relevant discussions arise from this list)

Best,

-- 
*Bruna Martins dos Santos *

Skype ID: bruna.martinsantos
@boomartins
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