[NCUC-DISCUSS] NCUC Regional Outreach Session at Buenos Aires meeting

[William Drake]

Hi

We have in the past have multiple conversational threads and some initiatives on outreach meetings with regional civil society people at ICANN meetings.  A quick recap of some relevant data points shared previously and then a proposal.

*Staff put money into the FY15 budget to do conferences based on the success of NCUC’s three Friday meetings in Singapore, Toronto, and Sa Francisco.  I had suggested as a bridge building exercise that we do something all together in the Noncontracted Parties House, and reps of the ISPC, IPC, and BC expressed initial support, as did staff. But as things evolved, it became clear that everyone was worried that Friday 19 in BA might already be loaded with other high priority activities, so interest sort of waned.

*I then looked into whether we could just do something on our own.  I got a room reserved for a couple hours Friday with all the usual accoutrements (tech support etc), and was going to see if we could shake loose some of the budget allocation for food and drink on the side.  But the other days on the SOACSGC chairs call, it was finally revealed after my repeated asking that indeed both the IGC and the CCWG will be holding all day meetings Friday.  Knowing that a lot of us will want to be in those, and that holding a Friday session involves a lot of extra logistical work---e.g. getting and paying for early arrival hotel rooms for enough NCUCers to make it viable---it became evident that this wasn’t the best option to pursue.

*So I spoke with Jean Jacques Sahel, the Euro VP for engagement who supported our little (and different) Saturday outreach events in London, LA, and Singapore.  He has agreed to secure a two hour late afternoon Saturday slot (probably 16-18:00) for NCUC to do its own event, which can be a more substantively focused session as well as reaching out to LAC CS types who are not involved in (and often not so enthused about) ICANN.  NPOC can do its own event as well, so we can each message and do what we want rather than have these somewhat uncomfortable events where outsiders get exposed to weird internal silo dynamics with competing narratives etc.  This would be followed by a joint reception for all CS, like 18-19:30, then people can head off to BA restos for evening festivities. 

ICANN meeting staff have not begun the process of making rooms available for reservations by staff, but JJ is confident he can get something since most meeting rooms will be unoccupied, and can provide the booze for the reception.  The only downside is that per usual, Councilors can’t all get up and walk out of the GNSO meeting, although if the schedule at that point is congenially inconsequential maybe one or two could slip out for at least a bit of the event. And they can join afterwards for the reception.

So: let’s assume that we will do something, and that this time it will be us organizing it, with staff just supporting.  Several people in the past have said here that “someone” should organize something.  I suggest the “someone” should involve them, and anyone else who’s willing and able.  Let’s form a Team that will a) define the substantive program, and b) do outreach to progressive LAC civil society people to get them to attend.  With regard to the latter, it would make sense to be in touch with Rodrigo de la Parra, who’s the Stakeholder Engagement Vice-President for LAC rodrigo.delaparra at icann.org <mailto:rodrigo.delaparra at icann.org>.  Thus far he has worked more with At Large's LACRALO but there’s no reason he can’t assist NCUC as well.  I assume he has a data base of LAC CS types to whom we could outreach.

Who would like to be part of this effort?

Best

Bill





> On Jan 18, 2015, at 1:24 PM, Marilia Maciel <mariliamaciel at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Completely agree and happy to help organising this with full force for Buenos Aires/Latin America. It is an excellent opportunity to work on some needed outreach in the region.
> Marília
> 
> On Fri, Jan 16, 2015 at 8:09 AM, "Kleinwächter, Wolfgang" <wolfgang.kleinwaechter at medienkomm.uni-halle.de <mailto:wolfgang.kleinwaechter at medienkomm.uni-halle.de>> wrote:
> Hi Bill,
> 
> this old idea is worth to recycle again and again. It SHOULD become a regular event (and would give NCUC the needed profile and reputation within the broader ICANN community as a constructive partner). I propose to do it always (if possible) in close cooperation with the local university or other academic institutions. Other partners could be the ccTLD in the country and the relevant ISOC chapter. This would be also a good step to promote the launch of national Multistakeholder Platforms, as recommended by NetMundial and supported by ICANN.
> 
> BA is a good point to start. Dublin (Trinity College?) is another opportunity.
> 
> wolfgang
> 
> 
> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: ncuc-discuss-bounces at lists.ncuc.org <mailto:ncuc-discuss-bounces at lists.ncuc.org> im Auftrag von William Drake
> Gesendet: Fr 16.01.2015 10:14
> An: KASWESHA
> Cc: NCUC-discuss
> Betreff: [NCUC-DISCUSS] Regional Outreach Sessions During ICANN Meetings
> 
> Hi
> 
> > On Jan 16, 2015, at 8:38 AM, KASWESHA <kaswesha at gmail.com <mailto:kaswesha at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> > I participated remotely though with problems of connectivity being on and off. I suggest that Bill and team try to organize feature meeting in African countries like Kenya so most people like myself and other may also fully physically participate.
> 
> It would be good to organize outreach events in every region in conjunction with regular ICANN meetings. The problems historically have been 1) finding a slot in the packed meeting schedules;  2) getting resources and a room for meeting with tech support and reception afterwards; and 3) getting help with the organization and mobilization of participants.  I organized meetings at the London and LA meetings that for varying local reasons were frankly not as good as the DC one, but we've learned from these on substance. There's logistical progress as well:  1) experience shows that late Saturday afternoons followed by a reception seems the best option in terms of availability of schedule slots and drawing attendees in advance of Constituency Day, although this may mean our Council members miss the first hour; and 2) I can get resources from the Global Stakeholder Engagement staff if there's sufficient advanced notice.  Moreover, we have now the new NCUC Travel Policy which can support the travel of two active members up to US $2,000, plus there's the ICANN Fellows program (more money and a full immersion program) if people apply early.
> 
> So the remaining challenge is 3) lining up relevant potential participants from the region and managing the invitation and engagement process.  If we wanted to make this a regular thing, we would need EC members and regular members with regional knowledge to coordinate and lead the way. I pretty much knew who to invite in DC, but would need local knowledge elsewhere. The rebooted Membership Affairs Team would seem the most appropriate vehicle for mobilizing collective efforts in this regard.  While we were thinking the MAT would focus more on "in-reach" to existing members than outreach to potential new members, there's no reason it couldn't try every 3-4 months to pull together a list of regional contacts as well, if people have the bandwidth.
> 
> It's probably too late to try to do something for Singapore, as rooms have been allocated, it's only three weeks away, and I'll be traveling in between. If there was a upsurge of member commitment to launch and manage it I could try to bug the staff for a room and resources, but it'd hard.  However, the MAT could begin to plan for Buenos Aires in June and beyond.  The next Africa meeting will be in Marrakech 6-11 March 2016. http://meetings.icann.org/calendar <http://meetings.icann.org/calendar> <http://meetings.icann.org/calendar <http://meetings.icann.org/calendar>>  I'll no longer be chair then, but I'll certainly be a member of the MAT.
> 
> Stuff to think about.
> 
> Bill
> 

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