Meeting Strategy Report - Input

[Michele Neylon - Blacknight <michele@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All

First of all I would like to thank all those who worked on this report. I know 
how much hard work goes in to creating something like this.

I am submitting these comments in my personal capacity, as someone has been 
attending ICANN meetings for the last 7 years.

The report is an excellent first step in addressing the issues that ICANN and 
its community need to deal with and hopefully the report will generate 
discussion and provoke further input from stakeholders.

I am happy to see that the real duration of the meetings is recognized. For 
many of us the "official" start day is usually 2 or 3 days after we've already 
started our meetings.
It would also make sense to advertise the meeting length to reflect the reality 
- at present the dates that are announced for each meeting ignore the weekend 
activities. Other events advertise the full duration, but clearly indicate 
which days are "more public" than others.

I like the idea of a "public forum" early in the meeting for SO/AC updates and 
input. The current meeting structure means that a lot gets held over until the 
forum on the last day and there's very little opportunity for all groups to 
engage.

For meeting "B" - the lack of a public forum is a bad idea, as it's an 
important opportunity for people who may not be able to voice their concerns 
otherwise. 

The board meetings - at present these can be a lot longer than they need to be. 
If members of the community are encouraged not to read statements into the 
record during the public forum, then the same logic should be applied to long 
swathes of text during the board meeting. 

I would be concerned about extending any of the meetings beyond their current 
length. For some members of the community this would mean being absent from 
their day jobs for up to 10 days, depending on the meeting location. 

I look forward to seeing how this work evolves

Regards

Michele


--
Mr Michele Neylon
Blacknight Solutions
Hosting & Colocation, Domains
http://www.blacknight.co/
http://blog.blacknight.com/
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Twitter: http://twitter.com/mneylon
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