[npoc-voice] progress report about on going for the Buenos Aires ICANN meeting

[mlemineur@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Good morning,

As requested a few days ago, my progress report on ongoing discussions for
the Buenos Aires  ICANN meeting.

1/While in Beijing, the agreement with PIR was that their sponsorship 
would first focus on the Durban event and then the BA meeting;
2/ Early  post-Beijing,  while we were still  assessing the possibilities
of ISOC including us in their program, Paul through his emails several
times mentioned that, one option was to drop the Durban event (too
complicated and uncertain due to tight deadlines).  Still, the Durban
process went on since we decided to give it a try;
 3/ Some time ago, he mentioned to me that he was in contact with most of
the latam actors who will be involved in the BA meeting: LacTLD, ISOC
latam (Sebastian Bellagamba), LACNIC, etc. he knows them very well since
PIR is occasionally a sponsor in the region. These are the same regional
actors we all are familiar with;
4/ Paul introduced  me to Carolina Aguerre, in charge  at LACTLD (Latin
American and the Carribbeans Association for ccTLDs) and suggested we
started exploring possible ideas for a joint activity with them and all
other interested parties;
 5/ Carolina and I had a first skype call some weeks ago. I explained to
her that our topic was the same as in Durban as agreed with Paul and as
it is stated in our NPOC program. The role of civil society in the DNS
industry of course adapted to the regional scenario.  Of course, the
details/ focus is up to us. That we were open to explore possible format
for a joint activity with them and other regional actors:

-She stated that she was interested but had to get the agreement of her
board;
-She had met with  the ICANN team in charge of meeting logistics that has
just visited the meeting venue for the BA meeting and has already
mentioned to them that there will be need for room for a pre-event
activity;
-before discussing agenda items and event format, we wanted  to make sure
we ( all potential future co-organizers) would have the full support of
ICANN. She committed to speak about it to Rodrigo de la Parra, ICANN
regional VP for LATAM.  By support we agreed that it meant two things:
a/ in terms of providing logistics ( securing a meeting venue,
translation,  etc.)
b/ in terms of organizing an event that will be perceived by ICANN as
fitting in the regional strategy for LATAM;
- we discussed the idea of having representatives of all regional
stakeholders: governments, civil society,  registrars, registries, etc...
- we mentioned that each sector would focus the issue from its
perspective. I gave her the example of our session in Beijing on the
impact of the new gTLD on NGOs where we had a panel with a registry rep, a
lawyer, a rep from the private sector and from civil society;

This is where we are, Paul mentioned that we could meet in Durban so that
we seat F2F and assess options based on what we have discussed these days.
We are at a stage where the potential co-organizers, structure, potential
partners, ICANN support,  still have to be decided upon. Then, once
agreed, we can work on the details (agenda items, potential speakers, time
slot, etc)

Best,

Marie-laure