[NCUC-EC] Durban, South Africa Supported Travel

[William Drake]

Hi

On May 17, 2013, at 2:28 AM, Edward Morris <edward.morris at ALUMNI.USC.EDU> wrote:

> Let me try to be a bit more useful here...
> 
> 
> 1. Tapani is a no brainer. Based upon his work and commitment he had a greater call on travel support last time than all but Bill. He's earned it.
> 
> I wouldn't feel comfortable were I to be in Durban whilst our active African EC member was participating by telephone. I don't think that would be right and, of greater importance, I don't think that would be in the interest of the NCUC. I criticized our movie for talking about diversity and not showing it. Same idea.
> 
> In both cases I also expect our web site will be up, running, functional, and thus a focus of the NCUC meeting.

This is interesting to know, I've not heard anything, seen any traffic on the e-team list.  Some information sharing would be nice.

> I also know and expect Wilson will become a bit of a social butterfly in Durban  and will be feeding me new African EC members throughout the week.
> 
> Bill, Wilson and Tapani should receive the three ICANN supported travel slots.

Thanks for being so unself-interested (nonself-interested  self disinterested?  language escapes me..).  But we're also doing an outreach event and I'd like you to be there if at all possible.  Plus you already demonstrated in Beijing your willingness to work like a dog during meetings, which could be a useful asset...

> 
> 2. Should we use NCUC money to bring an additional member to Durban? If so, who?
> 
> In terms of who,  I likely have as strong a case as anybody. I have the functional EC role. I'm currently in communication with Fadi and Sally on a few matters that could be up for closure in Durban. Aspects of the recon could be ongoing, I've just joined the new policy / implementation WG and it would be good to make some headway there and I'd love to borrow some brains and spend some nights locked away in the hotel producing a first rate first draft of a revised Bylaws. I'm also available for Summer Schools, outreach, receptions etc. :)
> 
> Flight costs: Helsinki $2046, Geneva $1475, Manchester $1703, Kampala $805. A cheap hotel would run about $330. We'd also have to figure out how or whether to split the per diem etc.

$330 for a week?  Obviously not the conference hotel….

> 
> Is it worth raiding the NCUC budget for a little over $1300 to have another body on the ground? 
> 
> I vote no.

I vote yes.

I'm looking at the info Milton shared on the bank account as of end 2012.  So last year the EC spent $10,602 on travel support.  I have no idea who got that, on what basis (wish we had records—but I guess focusing on such stuff would be boring to some).  Anyway, there was $57k end of year.  All we've spent on so far this year I believe is the virtual server and whatever we're paying Robin for fund raising around the Beijing panel—I think the deal at the outset was "same as Toronto" which Id' thought was $5k, but the account info say $10k for "Organizer fees".  Milton could you don your ST cap and inform?  And of course, whatever she raised I presume MM has deposited, so probably we're better than $57k now.

So we're not broke, thanks to the kind support of CGI.br, .PIR, and Afilias.  We'll presumably have to spend a couple grand (NN) on the reception with APC and the summer school, assuming that happens.  But I think there's budget headroom and significant precedent to dip in for a spot of travel support for you…

Why don't you research flights and hotels (the conf. hotel with ICANN discount & hotels nearby) a bit and come back with a figure so the EC can take a formal decision?

Milton is here for GigaNet and I think we're having dinner tonight, will try to remember to discuss.
> 
> If this meeting were in Prague and Bill or myself could get there for $100 then, yes, do it. If the meeting were in London this summer rather than next I'd propose having the NCUC fund Bill, myself and Tapani and bring in three additional bodies. London is the home of cheap European flights and I'm the king of London budget hotels.

The latter is useful information :-)
> 
> Durban is a classic case of you can't get there from here. Few direct flights, monopoly air fares...it's just too expensive. We can get more bang for our buck in the future. I'm happy to use some of our funds to increase the number of NCUC members at ICANN meetings. I think that is a good use of our money.
> 
> Durban is simply not a good value. We should wait for a venue that is.
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> 
> 3. Longer term...
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> I want to give hope to non EC members who work hard that they too will be able to attend a meeting regardless of financial ability to pay. It's good policy, it's smart policy, it's the right thing to do. 

I agree it's desirable, why I raised it.  But person must be serious and engaged, or at least engageable.
> 
> It's also very difficult to do with our limited resources. Our Constituency receives three travel slots. Two of those slots, absent a self funder, need to go to members of the EC. The Chair needs to run the Constituency meeting and we need someone to step in for the chair if he or she becomes ill, gets arrested, locks his valuables in a hotel safe that won't open (it's been known to happen)  or whatever - we can not take a chance of having no one present to run Constituency Day. The remaining slot, more often than not, will and should go to one of the remaining EC members.
> 
> I'm proposing that the NCUC, NPOC and NCSG agree to join forces and open one slot per meeting for someone not on an EC or otherwise eligible for a funded position. Formalize it, create a set of rules, three member selection committee: every meeting every NCSG member will have an opportunity to apply for a funded slot. That still leaves each SO/Constituency with a full travel allotment 2/3 of the time and allows us to expose more of our members to the ICANN Meeting experience than ever before.

Interesting idea.  Course it could be unfortunate if one of the three's time rolls around and they really need or want all three etc.  But let's explore it after other dust settles, maybe in Durban?

BD
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> Comments welcome...
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> Ed
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**********************************************************
William J. Drake
International Fellow & Lecturer
  Media Change & Innovation Division, IPMZ
  University of Zurich, Switzerland
Chair, Noncommercial Users Constituency, 
  ICANN, www.ncuc.org
william.drake at uzh.ch  
www.williamdrake.org
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