[NCUC-DISCUSS] Intercessional

[Stephanie Perrin]

I agree with Ed, while it sounds exotic, Reykjavik out of season (i.e. 
not June or July) is a good choice and has great travel connections.  
Clearly whoever is unfamiliar with Iceland needs a webinar....and the 
bonus is, if a volcano blows we get to stay for a while:-)

Safe and different.

Stephanie


On 2016-10-21 22:11, Edward Morris wrote:
> Hi everybody,
> A bit of history: since the NCPH intercessional meeting was started 
> four years ago every meeting has been held in the United States. The 
> CSG contingent is largely US based. We are far more diverse. That’s 
> why I support any and all efforts to have the next such meeting hosted 
> outside the boundaries of the USA.
> I understand a bit why the meeting is unlikely to happen in Asia or 
> South America or Africa. I would support holding a meeting in any of 
> those regions. Unfortunately the budget for the intercessional meeting 
> is not large and because of the CSG’s largely American composition 
> bringing attendees to most, if not all, of those regions is not within 
> the budget. Zika is also an issue for some, whether a rational concern 
> or not.
> I should note that rotating the meeting between ICANN’s three hub 
> cities – Los Angeles, Singapore and Istanbul – makes a lot of sense to 
> me but then again I also supported putting ICANN Meetings themselves 
> on a similar rotation. Apparently doing the rotation for the 
> intercessional is also a no go.
> I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that at long last Reykjavik 
> appears to be getting serious consideration for a small group ICANN 
> meeting. I had argued for CCWG F2F meetings to be held there but 
> without success.  Reykjavik just makes sense.
> Thus, I was sad to see on the NCUC EC page that this wonderful city 
> was disparaged as “some city in Iceland (please forgive me I will 
> never ever be able to spell that city’s name).” I was happy to learn 
> that some in the noncommercial community do support Reykjavik. Just 
> apparently not within the NCUC EC leadership. Again, sad.
> One of the NCUC suggestions was that the intercessional meeting be 
> attached to a normal Meeting, at the beginning or end. I strongly 
> oppose that idea for the following reasons:
> 1. ICANN meetings are already too long.
> For those who are single, are students, academics, unemployed or 
> unattached it might be easy to pop off for 10 days to two weeks a few 
> times a year. For the rest of of us it is not. I would find it much 
> easier to get away for a three day and a five day meeting (two 
> meetings) than I would for a single eight day meeting. I suspect I am 
> not alone with this preference.
> 2. The front end of meetings are already used by other groups.
> The CCWG will be meeting prior to the next three Meetings. Many NCUC 
> members volunteer on the CCWG. Do we proceed to have an intercessional 
> without these volunteers? Or do we extend the meeting even longer?
> 3. People are tired after an ICANN Meeting.
> Do we want to meet for a few days at the end of an ICANN Meeting? 
> After a week of nonstop work I’m not sure it would be productive to 
> add another few days of work to the schedule. I doubt many would stick 
> around to participate. Those who do may have the battles of the 
> previous week on their mind. I know I would. I’m not sure I would be 
> up to being overly friendly to CSG members I’d just battled for 
> several days.
> 4. The whole idea of the intercessional meeting was to bring the NCPH 
> together /away /from the ICANN Meeting, where things could be a bit 
> more relaxed.
> This was a poor idea and I’m sorry to see the NCUC proposing it.
> I was happy to see the NCUC suggest Singapore as a possible meeting 
> site (see above). I’m sorry the budget seems not to allow for it.
> I understand from posts by our representatives to the planning meeting 
> that the cities that may have received traction are Washington, Boston 
> and Reykjavik. Two years ago the intercession was in DC. Do we need to 
> go back to the U.S. capital every two years? Remember that thing 
> called the transition? Or do we go to Boston: my birthplace, but only 
> a whole 7 hours drive away from Washington in the same country? One 
> country, one internet?
> Why Reykjavik, or as it was called in a post on the NCUC EC message 
> board, “some city in Iceland”? Because it just makes sense.
> 1. Ease of travel
> The large of majority of intercessional attendees come from either 
> Europe or the east coast of the United States. Here are some nonstop 
> travel times to Reykjavik:
> Berlin:   3 hours 45 minutes
> Boston: 5 hours 5 minutes
> London: 3 hours 10 minutes
> New York: 5 hours 25 minutes
> Paris: 3 hours 30 minutes
> Shared pain. Yes, Reykjavik is in Europe but it is fairly close to 
> North America. Of great importance when travelling in winter there are 
> nonstop flights to Reykjavik from a surprising number of North 
> American cities, east and west coasts,  and European cities, north and 
> south 
> (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keflav%C3%ADk_International_Airport ). 
> I had weather related connection problems while transiting to two of 
> the three intercessions I was supposed to attend. Nonstop flights 
> lessen that possibility.
> Those coming from outside these two regions will need to change planes 
> to get to Iceland, the same as many have to do no matter where we may 
> hold the meeting.
> 2. Cost
> The US Department of State per diem rate for Reykjavik is $318 a day 
> (includes all expenses, including accommodation. Compare that to Paris 
> ($497) or London ($468).
> 3. Infrastructure
> Iceland is a modern Nordic country. Things work and the meeting 
> infrastructure is fantastic: http://www.meetinreykjavik.is/planyourevent .
> 4. Weather
> It’s not the tropics, but in February Reykjavik’s average high 
> temperature of 39 degrees F is actually 2 degrees higher than Boston – 
> an apparent alternate choice.
> 5. Attractiveness
> We’re there to work and Iceland has excellent facilities for that. For 
> those who also like fine dining Icelandic seafood and lamb are world 
> famous. Pollution, traffic congestion: non existent. Sightseeing, 
> unique and tremendous. Nightlife: voted many times being amongst the 
> best on earth.
> The big thing though is work. This is a two day meeting. Reykjavik 
> offers the potential to bring the greatest number of attendees to a 
> central location with the least amount of travel wear and tear. Is it 
> perfect for anyone? No. Is it good for many? Yes.
> It certainly is worthy of consideration. And as a non US resident I 
> would have serious reservations travelling once again to the USA for 
> the intercessional meeting. Is it too much to ask that it be held 
> outside of the USA once every four or five years? I will also note 
> that the NCUC has more members based in Europe than in any other 
> region (http://www.ncuc.org/about/members/ ). How about making the CSG 
> folks have to travel to the region we have the most members for once?
> Having said all of this I would also opine that I don’t really see the 
> value in even having the intercessional meeting. It seems to largely 
> exist to allow the CSG members to lobby staff. No wonder they want to 
> keep having it in the country with the most ICANN staff. Perhaps 
> instead of debating where we should be having the meeting we should be 
> debating whether to have it at all.
> If we are going to have it, though, and there are some good reasons to 
> do so,  let’s really consider the options, without disparaging one of 
> the most remarkable cities and societies in the world. Reykjavik, the 
> capital of the country with the oldest Parliament in the world (the 
> Althing, founded 930), is not all that hard to spell. It’s also very 
> easy to get to, has tremendous facilities, reasonable costs, and a 
> wonderful democratic tradition. All reasons why the intercessional 
> should be held there. At least once.
> Reykjavik: it just makes sense.
> Ed
> - It makes sense particularly for the NCUC. I note that the NCUC 
> currently has no members in Iceland. As a technologically advanced 
> country with high education levels and high levels of English 
> competence, a country that has led the world in privacy and online 
> free speech initiatives, this is surprising. This should be prime NCUC 
> membership territory. If we take the intercessional to Reykjavik, do 
> some outreach, it just very well may become one of our more prolific 
> countries in terms of membership. Demographically and ideologically it 
> should be.  Given Iceland’s unequaled democratic tradition it’s also a 
> place we may be able to learn from ourselves as we transition ICANN 
> into it’s exciting new era.
> More information:
> Let’s Meet In The Middle: https://vimeo.com/77711285
>
>
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