Re: [gnso-igo-ingo] IGO/GNSO Working Group Meeting Times

[Avri Doria <avri@xxxxxxx>]

Hi,

What is our global population spread?  How many times zones does the group 
touch on?  Not counting those of us who hop from time zone to time zone with 
fair regularity.

I was in Dubai* last night for the meeting, it was late, 10 PM - Midnight, but 
at least it came after the day's work.  I lived in S.Korea for a while where 
most of the ICANN meetings started between 1 and 3 am.  It was doable, 
especially once I learned to go back to sleep.

I have found in other groups that sometimes alternating between 2 times works.  
Though in those cases, there are the hard core who attend all the meetings no 
matter what the time and then some who attended in one time slot or the other.  
After a while we just migrated to a time that seemed a compromise.  
'Unfortunately' the Eastern US and the Europeans are the best placed to avoid 
meeting that are either too early or too late.  Meaning though that they 
sometime hit during the dinner hour , which seems very critical to those with 
young children.

In another group we have spoke of rotating times, but the objection there was 
that the majority of people live in one concentration, and why risk losing the 
majority of a meeting just to be politically correct.  Not a view I agree with, 
but one that makes a kind of sense.  On the hand if majority rules, then some 
people are always meeting in the middle of the night, and that tends to 
discourage people in those regions from getting involved - perhaps it is not a 
matter of correctness but global outreach.  

Anyway I only say all this because it unwinds this way in almost every large 
group.  I suggest the chair and staff find the best compromise time(s) - one 
where people are not otherwise in meetings and stick to it.  And that the rest 
of us learn to live with it.

avri

* unfortunately the telecommunications from here don't work well for conference 
calls for some reason and I can't seem to talk.  Forcing me to participate 
purely by type-chatting.


On 6 Dec 2012, at 15:41, Thomas Rickert wrote:

> Dear David,
> thanks for your e-mail. Due to the global nature of our work and the places 
> where participants are located, we will not be able to find a time that is 
> pleasant for all participants. 
> 
> I guess the best we can do is to work on a rotation of starting times. We 
> will look into that.
> 
> Kind regards from 
> Thomas (who is in the same time zone as you are :-))
> 
> 
> Am 06.12.2012 um 12:33 schrieb "Roache-Turner, David" 
> <david.roacheturner@xxxxxxxx>:
> 
>> Dear all,
>>  
>> Current WG Meeting Time
>> Currently we are meeting on Wednesdays at an hour that is quite late and 
>> potentially quite difficult for some participants, as some of us also 
>> touched on in the meeting before last.  If it would be the case that 19:00 
>> UTC on Wednesday is the only time available for a majority of us on that 
>> day, I would like to propose that the WG consider moving our regular meeting 
>> to a different day, which would accommodate an earlier meeting time.  
>>  
>> Difficulties Due to Lateness for Those in Certain Time Zones
>> For those of us on CET (or approximate time zones), our current Wednesday 
>> time (19:00 – 21:00 UTC) means a regular weekly two hour (pro bono) working 
>> commitment, falling between and 8pm and 10pm at night.  While it is always a 
>> challenge to find the best balance in time for a group as geographically 
>> diverse as this one is, especially for those of us with families or other 
>> understandable evening commitments who are engaged in contributing our 
>> expertise to a group whose collective efforts may need to extend over a 
>> significant period of time, I think we need to try and find a day which 
>> would more reasonably accommodate an earlier time for those of us engaged in 
>> this process from in and around the European time-zones.
>>  
>> Proposal to Consider Shifting Meeting Day
>> If others agree, might I propose that we review the 2013 schedule, and 
>> suggest that the ICANN staff colleagues consider creating another Doodle 
>> poll to not only look at another time, but another day, that may accommodate 
>> such earlier schedule.  I understand that Mondays (or possibly Tuesdays) 
>> could perhaps offer up better options not only for members of this WG, but 
>> from a GNSO perspective, the schedule may also be less competitive with 
>> other WG activities.
>>  
>> Apologies In Advance for next Week’s meeting
>> For my own part, I also extend my apologies in advance for not being able to 
>> attend our next week’s meeting, at 19:00 UTC (8pm BET) on Wednesday on Dec 
>> 12, due to a prior and regrettably unavoidable commitment that evening.  
>>  
>> With best wishes,
>>  
>> David Roache-Turner    
>>  
>>  
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