Gisella Gruber: I’d like to welcome everyone on today’s APRALO Beijing Event Organizing Committee on Tuesday, 8th January at 0400 UTC. On today’s call we have Pavan Budhrani, Holly Raiche, Maureen Hilyard, Cheryl Langdon-Orr, Rinalia Abdul-Rahim and Hong Xue. Apologies measured from Jack Qiu. From staff we have Heidi Ulrich, Sylvia Vivanco and myself, Gisella Gruber. And if I could please just remind everyone to state their names when speaking for transcript purposes.
Also, if you are on the Adigo phone bridge as well as on the Adobe Connect, could you please mute your computer microphones and speakers in order to avoid interference? Thank you. Over to you, Holly.
Holly Raiche: Thank you, Gisella. We’ve done the roll call and the next thing on the agenda is the status update on the (inaudible) invitations. Now that has been sent out today. People should read it if they haven’t already. And a reminder, the list that went out is in addition to the normal people who will be funded. We’ve got quite a roll-up. Hong, I’ve got a question for you and that is—Kathy Peng will be joining us. I’m just looking at—we’ve got (inaudible), we’ve got Sully, we’ve got from Taiwan, Amir, we’ve got Tei Pi, we’ve got Paula Hunter, we’ve got—look, I won’t read them all. We’ve got quite a roll-up. But what it says to me is, when we’re talking about Outreach, there are going to be a lot of people from APRALO there so we should have quite a roll-up in terms of the main event, the Showcase event. And we’ve got some local people from China to do an Outreach so in fact it’s looking very good at the moment. Now, Pavan, is the list that went out today, that’s the latest that you have. Is that right?
Pavan Budhrani: Yes, that’s the one. So I’ve been working with ICANN staff, Heidi and Matt, and we’ve been reaching out to the people and I think most of them have replied and we’re—from that aspect, we’re good to go, yes.
Holly Raiche: Okay. Is there anybody we haven’t got that we were still looking for?
Pavan Budhrani: I think Matt—I think there’s one or two which have yet to reply but I guess, now, it would be too late. So we might as well stick with what we have.
Holly Raiche: Okay. Okay. And Hong, you just raised your hand. Hong, go ahead.
Hong Xue: Oh hi, Holly. I do have a question. Do you have any feedback or response from the At-Large in China?
Holly Raiche: In terms of—
Hong Xue: I’m sorry, that is another local At-Large structure, (inaudible).
Pavan Budhrani: Let me just check the list. Maybe I can start to help you on that one but let me just check the list. Hold on a second.
Hong Xue: Holly, I’ve responded to Heidi. Our At-Large structure is a local one based in Beijing. We do not ask for any travel support or accommodation support so we save some cost. Maybe could be used for the showcase or other Outreach activities.
Holly Raiche: That’s certainly possible. Although I guess my question, Hong, is that China is not what you’d call a small country and travel may be expensive. But I’ll leave that with you and Heidi and Hong.
Hong Xue: This is exactly my concern. For my At-Large structure, the council members are primarily based in Beijing. The only difficulty is they cannot go to the meeting early morning. But for At-Large China, there are council members in other part of the city so I want to know whether they ask for this, or they’ve changed their liaison so they’ve lost a contact.
Holly Raiche: Well, can we not sort this now, Hong, but could you email to me or Pavan and Heidi?
Hong Xue: I’ve emailed to Heidi already.
Holly Raiche: Okay then, can we leave it with Pavan and Heidi to follow up with any local people who should be invited who are not seeking travel support? Obviously we want them there. Certainly with Outreach, Hong, we’re going to be looking forward to a number of people attending so maybe part of that is not so much the members who are attending outside China but maybe this is part of the Outreach discussion, is it?
Hong Xue: Yes.
Holly Raiche: Am I right?
Hong Xue: Yes. Outreach.
Holly Raiche: Okay. Well then, if not, we’ll leave that as part of when we talk to Outreach we can actually deal with that issue. Now okay, we’ve got the status update, Pavan, and there are just a couple of follow-ups. So in terms of requesting an ICANN meeting invitation, what you’re saying, Hong, is that you would like separately from this, meeting invitations to go out to Chinese Outreach people, is that right? So that’s a separate list. So when looking at the agenda, it’s under 2B which is ICANN meeting invitations and that is to go out not only to APRALO people but ALS members in China. Is that right? I’ve lost it.
Pavan, could I ask you to liaise with Hong and Hong is also in the chat room? Put the name of Kathy Peng who was supposed to join us but hasn’t, who is apparently one of Hong’s suggestions for Outreach.
Pavan Budhrani: Sure thing. I’ll follow up with her.
Holly Raiche: That would be good. Thank you very much. Now we’re up to item 2B which is the local hotel update. And could I add from that, at some point, could we talk about travel arrangements to make sure people are on track? So maybe can we change item B to where are people up to in terms of their requesting flights and accommodation and we need all of that to get the visas. So Heidi and/or Gisella and Sylvia, where are we up to with the local hotel update and any other travel arrangements?
Sylvia Vivanco: Yes, this is Sylvia. Gisella, are you on?
Holly Raiche: Okay.
Gisella Gruber: Yes, Gisella here.
Sylvia Vivanco: Yes, Gisella, can you give me an update on the search you are doing this afternoon on the hotel arrangements, please?
Gisella Gruber: Yes, Gisella here. Holly, we’ve done a search on hotels close by to the main venue within a reasonable nightly rate and, what I’ve done is, we’re liaising with the meetings team who are currently in Beijing to see if they have any other hotels in mind and then we will take it from there with regards to looking at availability and best accommodations in the area and as close to the venue as possible. We are also looking to see if the fellows can be in the same hotel.
Holly Raiche: That will be good. Now Gisella, just from memory, to get a visa at least certainly with the inclination that we got from the travel arrangements, from the travel constituency, we have to have our proof of both flight and accommodation to get visas.
Gisella Gruber: Yes, that’s right.
Holly Raiche: So it’s becoming—we can’t—I think there’s got to be a three-month space between applying for visa and getting visa but that time’s running out. So we’re going to need probably confirmation reasonably soon of hotels. Is that okay?
Gisella Gruber: We’ll move—Holly, Gisella here—we’ll move forward as quick as possible on the hotel front. I believe that nothing has been finalized yet.
Holly Raiche: Okay. And has anybody else on the call got any questions about what we have to do in terms of getting visas because getting visas for China is going to be, I think, probably not problematic? It’s certainly going to be time consuming. Hopefully, it’s not going to be difficult but it’s certainly going to be time consuming. Now Cheryl, I’m assuming you’ve already applied for the flights and so forth. Have you heard anything?
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: There’s plenty of previous visas in my passport for China. I don’t foresee any problems and I have the luxury of asking AEGA to at least temporarily book me accommodation so my visa is being processed with non-ICANN accommodation details. So I won’t be caught in problems so that’s a luxury not everyone else has, of course.
Holly Raiche: Has anybody else—Maureen, have you applied and Rinalia, have you applied?
Maureen Hilyard: Maureen here, Holly. (Inaudible) inquiries. They haven’t actually been very helpful at the moment but I’m pursuing it. I’ll get back if I have any problems.
Rinalia Abdul-Rahim: Hi Holly, this is Rinalia.
Holly Raiche: Hi Rinalia.
Rinalia Abdul-Rahim: Hi, I have not applied because I have to change my passport so, once that’s done, I’ll try and then I’ll give you feedback on how easy it is or how hard it is.
Holly Raiche: Thank you. Okay. I’m thinking then one of the agenda items, one of the first agenda items has to be next time that we follow up. Pavan, have you followed up with the people that we’ve approached so that they’ve heard from travel?
Pavan Budhrani: Oh yes, I was—I have the list now so I’ll start as soon as possible to follow up with them and ask them for their passport and visa and stuff so we can see where there might be any difficulty and reach out as soon as possible.
Holly Raiche: That’s good because I just—when reading that stuff it became reasonably clear to me that it’s not going to be—it’s going to be time consuming to get a visa so I’d like to get—before we start making other plans, I’d like to make sure we actually have some people there.
Pavan Budhrani: Sure. Yes, I’ll work with ICANN staff and make sure they’re in the loop when I’m reaching out again.
Holly Raiche: That’s good. Thank you, Pavan, that’s good. Okay, so we’ve got the local hotel but we’ve also got—and for the next meeting we might just make that instead of local hotel update, let’s make that a travel update to see—to make sure people are not having too much difficulty.
Okay, now committee update. I think, well, let’s start with Edmon—is Edmon on the call yet?
Pavan Budhrani: I don’t think so.
Holly Raiche: Oh no.
Pavan Budhrani: Yes.
Holly Raiche: Sponsorship and promotion.
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: Pavan, Skype him. Bring him in.
Holly Raiche: Yes please. Yes please. Cheryl, in the meantime, do you have anything—any thoughts?
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: Thanks. Cheryl, for the record. I’m not overly concerned. Things like the unique identifiers such as (inaudible) et cetera that would be sponsor opportunities, there’s plenty of time to organize those and it’s quite likely, for example, that DotAsia itself might be interested in doing that. That’s one of the things I need to talk to Edmon about and one of the reasons I asked Pavan to let him know that he and I will be talking in the next few days.
I’m also not overly concerned in terms of approaching some of the more likely suspects that I do want to Google et cetera, but I do want to talk to Edmon first because I don’t need to trip over things that he and (inaudible) and others might be already doing. So until we tete-a-tete I’m not going to commit to anything but I’m certainly not losing any sleep over it either.
Holly Raiche: No. No. Is there a tie-in between what we want money for and promotions? I think what I’m asking is are there the sort—do we actually want money for other than, you know, your (inaudible) or your t-shirts or whatever? Do we want money for, for example, a dinner? Would we want money for something like an event that ties in with—go ahead.
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: Holly, thanks for the question. Cheryl here. I actually doubt that one would be fitting in a regional dinner in the schedule. If you are then that’s a whole new ball game. Certainly the ability to cater for finger food and a couple of drinks shouldn’t be outside of the already provided for funds in the budget but if it, for some reason, does become bigger than Ben Hur, that’s the sort of thing where the odd CCTLD operator and some of our well-known friends in the GTLD space would be tapped. I actually am still struggling to find why we would need any significant funds for what’s being planned today anyway. But if I see different plans coming across the email lists, I might change my mind. But right now the 7K that’s in the kitty should be more than adequate.
Holly Raiche: Thank you, Cheryl, and I should start saying Holly for the record. I think perhaps what we might do is, if we get down to some of the other things, it may become apparent that there would be an event or something that could be sponsored that might be a little bit bigger. For example, Capacity Building or Showcase or something. But let’s go through what people are planning then may be come back. I think you’re right. At this stage we—the best we would do—I think NARALO got some money in for their own dinner in Toronto but I don’t think there was anything else other than T-shirts, hats, that kind of thing. Edmon’s coming in, I think. I just saw him.
Edmon Chung: To join the call.
Holly Raiche: Yes, Edmon.
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: Yeah.
Holly Raiche: Edmon, we were just talking about going through the agenda and we were looking at the status on committee stuff and Cheryl is trying to get a hold of you to look at promotions, opportunities and sponsorships. I think we’ve decided at this stage that we will, at the moment, see what kinds of things need to be sponsored before looking for any kind of big money. At the moment what NARALO did was just a dinner and, you know, T-shirts and hats and that’s a small amount of money. And I don’t see anybody’s hand up. Okay. Is your hand up?
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: I was trying. I don’t know why it’s not going up, but anyway—Cheryl here. Holly, if we’re going to organize the dinner, then we need to have already decided that we’re going to do it and I’d also suggest we need to look very carefully as to where the hell we’re going to try and fit it in. If for some reason there’s an overwhelming need to do so, we need to know about it fairly soon and we need to look at scheduling. As it is, the Showcase scheduling will offer us a time for socialization as well but, if there’s dinner plans, then this committee needs to decide on it very early on. Or certainly no later than in the next week or so because that would take not so much planning in terms of finding a venue and doing it, but it would take considerable planning to ensure that the very full agenda that most of the people who that are at these meetings have, aren’t clashing with things. I mean, I’m not sure, literally, where you’d fit it in. Perhaps Heidi could make a suggestion but I’d be interested to know where on earth you’d possibly do it other than that Thursday.
Holly Raiche: Cheryl, I think—I’m sure you’re right and I’m just saying, I think what NARALO did was it was a rather informal drinks and whatever. I think it was a Monday or Tuesday; I’ve forgotten. And I think you’re right. It’s very hard to fit in. We can, as a committee, decide if we want to do it but let’s actually get down to the Showcase and reception and that may actually fill the need we’ve got for a get-together. So Edmon and Maureen and Pavan, the three of you, if between you, you can talk about the Showcase and reception and I know, Maureen, you had some questions on that so perhaps we can go to that agenda item now. And Maureen, I’ll let you start but your colleagues are there.
Maureen Hilyard: You know, we’ve been having little conversations between our little group and, Edmon, I’m so pleased he’s with us today was just awaiting some response on that anyway. And I think, Hong, if we could have some contact details for Kathy it would be really great to be able to, sort of, like communicate directly with someone.
I think, for me, the information is mainly logistical and I’m really pleased that we’re actually tied down to a time now. That is really good. And I think it’s really just, if Edmon has got any updated information, that would be really great. Thank you.
Edmon Chung: If I could—
Holly Raiche: Hong, you raised your hand. Edmon, go ahead, and then Hong.
Edmon Chung: Okay. Thank you and so in terms of the, I guess, the concept that we started in Toronto is for the APRALO Showcase to be with the, sort of, welcome reception for ICANN. And I have since explored it with (inaudible) who’s hosting and also ICANN. There is a proposal for, okay, I’ll switch my hat to DotAsia. A proposal was sent to Dot Asia to support—to sponsor the reception and to make the Showcase possible.
We are going through that process. I did, just before the holidays, the meeting team on the ICANN meeting team has presented the proposal and we’re discussing through it. I’ve sent back some of my thoughts to them, waiting for them to respond further. I intend to chase them this week as, I guess, there was a holiday previously. And also, I have connected with them and they are visiting the—one of the things out there, visiting the site this week. I understand that the ICANN meeting team will be visiting Beijing later this week and then we would discuss further in terms of the actual logistics of making that happen.
So in general, I think we can—I don’t want to say 100% sure, but I think it is good to assume that we can move in that direction and start to think about how to bring it together. So the broad strokes idea is that we would—it would sort of be the same as the welcome reception. We’ll have everyone from ICANN—well, we’d invite everyone from ICANN to be there and, instead of longer, sort of, features that usually accompany the Showcase, the broad strokes idea is perhaps to have, sort of, stations or I would say, not really booths, but maybe some signage and tables dotted around the venue for each and one for each ALS so that they can showcase some of the work. There would be, of course, a highlight in the speech portion, session during the event but it would just highlight who was there and maybe spotlight on each of them. And then it would flow into more of a free flow, sort of, a situation where people can congregate around the tables and each ALS can showcase their work.
So that’s a broad strokes idea right now but I think, with the time and with the, sort of, proposal that is making the reception happen in place, I think we can move to actually solidify what could happen in the table and also how we could highlight it during spotlighting and—
Holly Raiche: Thank you, Edmon. Hong has her hand up and then I’ll make a comment. Hong, you have your hand up?
Hong Xue: Thank you. Edmon has partially answered my question. That is who is going to support—possibly support the reception at Showcase. Well, apart from the kind consideration from DotAsia, is it possible to be put into the APRALO budget because ICANN does currently support our general assembly. I guess, apart from the travel support, the Showcase should have been put into the overall budget. Of course, we don’t think about that possibility of I know (inaudible).
What I preferably want to talk about another thing. I know my name is not listed in this group but I receive emails from Maureen and she asked me to do a couple of things. So I think I’d better respond. And yes, I know we can, of course, learn from the Toronto, North America, RALO Showcase but this is not a first APRALO Showcase. We had one in Singapore and, to my little experience, there were primarily three things to think about for the Showcase.
One is logistics requirements. This is basic things such as the venue, the room, the size, the facilities. Do we need PowerPoint? Do we need a projector?
The second one is the setting. Will there be a physical exhibition board? Will it be provided by each At-Large structure? Are we going to distribute hats or pins or t-shirts at the site?
The third thing that’s the most important one is the content and I understand the concern from Maureen. She asked me to check whether there will censorship requirements from the local—well, I can assure you the local hosts—the two or three local hosts have no interest in censoring any content. The only concern is from the authority. And so, if I can say it in this way, any content shown in Chinese, I guess we do need to have a second thought that it’s appropriate. But, if it’s in English and it’s primarily about At-Large, I don’t think it’s very much a concern for us. So for the Chinese part, of course, I should work with Edmon and Pavan to make sure that they’re readable to the local people and not offensive to the authorities.
And this is this three part. For the logistics part, last time, primarily, we did it this way. That is we’ve identified all the requirements on the room, on the setting, on the facility and submitted to the ICANN staff and ICANN staff will forward these requirements in the package of meeting requirements and send it to local host. The local host cannot receive the requirements from each constituency otherwise it will be too busy handling the—but of course, I have the local contact. This is a convenience. I can do that as well to make everyone happy. So this is my feedback. Back to you, Holly. Thank you.
Holly Raiche: Thank you, Hong. First a response to Edmon. I have actually attended one of the ICANN meetings where they did just that and, in fact, it was very successful. People—local ALS’s had devised what it is that they were showcasing and they brought whatever with them. So I think, as a follow-on from what you’re saying, Edmon, the word should go out to ALS that these are the expectations that these are the facilities that will be available. We expect the following and go from that broad-brushed description to say, you’ve got the list of people, what we want from each of you is something along the lines of X, whatever, so that in a large hall, there will be something from each of the ALS’s in the APRALO region. Does that, Cheryl, am I right in saying that’s happened before? I just remember it happening before. I remember—
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: Holly, Cheryl here for the record, in response to that question, yes, it has happened before. We certainly did approach that in our last Showcase as a mechanism and, of course, we can go all the way back to the Mexico activities on all of this as well which involved even a larger exercise but one that I think we would probably be seeing very close to Maureen’s model at the moment— Maureen’s working model at the moment. But what we also did and I think this is a fallback position that we should probably be prepared for is simply create some bog-standard template stuff for everyone anyway. And so this is what’s going up and if you’ve got anything else, show it, give it or send it. I’m all for putting up a draft and saying, Dear ALS, make any edits or changes or additional contributions mainly because then you’ve got control of it and you know you’ve got it and so then I’m sure you remember that that’s what we had to do in the end for some ALS’s anyway.
Edmon Chung: Yes, agreed.
Holly Raiche: Okay, Maureen and Pavan and Edmon, does that help you in terms of progressing things? We’ll probably need a more detailed information sheet about this is what’s being planned to go out to all the ALS’s and say we expect you to showcase your chapter in the following way and make some suggestions. And I think the idea of some kind of template or suggestions would be useful.
And to answer your question, Cheryl, about dinner, I just had a look at the Beijing events overview. Clearly whatever is going to happen, it’s going to be Monday night because we’re all appearing at the Adobe Connect room and it’s down there for Monday night. So there’s going to be—
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: Our Showcase is the only opportunity and that would be after 9 o’clock. So, you know, I’d give up on the dinner concept and assume some extra socializing after the reception.
Holly Raiche: I think the truth is, people will want some kind of nibbles and something but Edmon has already told us where some of the money is coming from and, look, I’m sure there’s probably other opportunities.
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: Yes, let’s see how the dust—Holly, Cheryl here—let’s see how the dust settles with what’s happening in Beijing at the moment and the discussion’s Dan is having.
Holly Raiche: Okay.
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: And then I think we’ll know more.
Holly Raiche: Now next, Maureen, do you need some help with Capacity Building?
Maureen Hilyard: Holly, it’s Maureen here. Just to add one point onto the Showcase thing. Before we send a template out, I know that Pavan’s putting the list together and I’d really like to see that, but I’d really also like to be able to talk to the ALS’s first, too, just to introduce them to what those expectations are. I really don’t like the, sort of, just the, like, I may be new to ICANN and then I sort of say, “You’re going to have to do this.” I’d really like to have done up a little Google group or something and have a little chat with them and tell them what our plans are and, you know, and then we’ll, from that, lead into letting them know how we’re going.
But just getting back to those requirements that I listed with Hong that Hong listed—they are, sort of, like, pretty important to us which is really one of the reasons why I’d like to touch base with Kathy as soon as possible. Because it’s something that I would actually like to be able to tell the ALS’s that they are, you know, when I sort of, like, invite them, to participate in a way that Edmon has actually outlined which really sounds good to me. And yes, so I mean, that’s how I’d like it to go anyway.
Holly Raiche: Okay. Just a thought. If we have anything left over from Mexico because you were right, it was Mexico where that happened. If—it may be an idea that we can revisit some of that to say well, this is the way it happened in Mexico. If this gives you any ideas. If the people would like to see the various things that people did, it may be very useful to get people’s brains around what happens and then what we’re thinking about. I think, Edmon, you were at Mexico and that would mean that some sense of this is what we’re planning, and maybe just show people what we did. It just might help in your little Google meetings. Okay.
Now we haven’t got—
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: Holly.
Holly Raiche: Go ahead.
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: Yes, sorry, I’m just trying to confirm because we have been in communication with the meetings team in Beijing currently so I can I go ahead and say that right now the timing is likely to be 1900-2100 on Monday evening? Again, Maureen, this is different from what you were saying but I think the evening is better. Firstly it’s more of the tradition that people expect the At-Large or the RALO Showcase to be. And, I think, that for something similar to what—like what you’re planning with the booths or the stations for cultural and ALS activities, that I think an evening event is much better than immediately after the welcome reception because there are often meetings right after that and there’s often a press conference so we’re not going to get any Board members et cetera. So can we go ahead and plan for Monday evening?
Maureen Hilyard: Maureen here. That’s fine. I’ve taken that on board that it’s Monday evening. Like getting that in that timeframe is fine for me. I think, too, that we can definitely fit in all sorts of things that Edmon has mentioned in that timeframe.
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: Thank you. And just one final question on the Showcase, do you expect that there’s going to be some sort of music or dancing as we’ve had at past showcases or is this much more of a just booth or station where people can show their activities?
Maureen Hilyard: Maureen here. I’m certainly looking at it, well, from the discussions that I’ve had with people who I know are going already, they’re quite keen—I guess are very keen to, sort of, like to showcase what is actually happening in the Pacific. But I’m sure that it will be similarly for others. I think it’s important that everybody has an opportunity to showcase. Like within the different, depending on the logistics and how people can be situated, I think we can spread the groups around and there will be quite a lot we’ll be able to showcase.
Holly Raiche: Okay, so what I’m hearing is basically more of just ALS, no music or dancing for that event. Except maybe by radio or stereo or something like that.
Maureen Hilyard: Well, we have had, I think, before, haven’t we, had something? I don’t know.
Cheryl Langdon-Orr Sorry, can you say that again? It was impossible to hear.
Maureen Hilyard: Sure.
Holly Raiche: Hong had her hand raised, I think.
Hong Xue: Yes, that’s right. It just strikes me—I want to know if there will be some attended translation available at the Showcase. I know it will be very hard because it’s a reception.
Heidi This is Heidi calling. No the interpretation, if you would like it, and I would expect that we’re going to need interpretation if there’s going to be discussions or if you expect any kind of speeches, et cetera, to get things going, we can do that. That will, of course, affect where the Showcase is going to be. It will need to be in a meeting room that will allow for interpretation. So that was a major issue that we need to decide.
Maureen Hilyard: Okay, well could we leave it up to, I suppose, Hong and Edmon, Maureen and Pavan to say if you need translation, then that has to be built into the venue and to what will work or what won’t work. And could I just, before we move on to the others, could I ask has anybody actually phoned Fadi Chehade? Has anybody invited any of the Board to our Showcase and reception? And shouldn’t we?
Heidi: Maureen, this is Heidi again.
Gisella Gruber: Gisella here.
Holly Raiche: Go ahead, Gisella.
Gisella Gruber: (Inaudible) Heidi.
Heidi: In the past people have normally been in touch with Board support and we will be contacting Fadi’s team once you confirm that you would like him and in what aspect you would like him to speak, et cetera. And Steve Crawford the same. You just need to let us know what you’re thinking and then we’ll go ahead and do the invitations.
Holly Raiche: Thank you. May I leave that up to the Showcase reception team to stay in touch with Heidi and Gisella and Sylvia so that we have got a representation of the Board there please? That’s what I would think you would want, at least, to say a few words, wouldn’t you? Anyway, could I leave that in your capable hands?
I’ve got a question and it’s Rinalia I’m looking at going down to the Multi-Stakeholder Policy Roundtable, where do you see that fitting in the event overview? Is that going to be part of Tuesday’s (inaudible)?
Rinalia Abdul-Rahim: This is Rinalia and I think I need Heidi to advise me. I actually think that it’s probably a good thing to have on Monday sometime after the welcome ceremony and opening session because it sets the tone for the region, ICANN being in the region and that’s actually very high level follow-through from the start of the whole ICANN meeting. Heidi, any thoughts on this?
Heidi: This is Heidi; could you just repeat what the event was? I didn’t quite hear the beginning of the sentence?
Rinalia Abdul-Rahim: It’s the Multi-Stakeholder Policy Roundtable.
Heidi: Oh yes. Sorry. Yes, I thought we had discussed that. A good time would be Monday afternoon.
Rinalia Abdul-Rahim: Can you insert that in the Event Overview so that it’s recorded?
Heidi: Yes, this is Heidi. I’m sorry, I should have included that. So how long would that be? Would that be a two-hour event?
Rinalia Abdul-Rahim: That’s reasonable. Two hours is good.
Holly Raiche: And can you explain, those people who are on the committee or the sub-committee for that, could you let us know a little bit about what you’re thinking about? Who would you be inviting to speak?
Rinalia Abdul-Rahim: Rinalia and Jack will be getting—
Unidentified Participant: Holly, you want me to go?
Unidentified Participant: I started to have some thoughts, Rinalia (inaudible) yes, we’ve started work on that, Heidi. We’ll get back to you.
Rinalia Abdul-Rahim: Basically, just for Heidi’s, visualization. It’s basically in a room with a bunch of people and it will focus on a particular topic. Maybe one or two or just one. And there will be some people who are considered as leading the discussion. And a message needs to be sent out APRALO basically asking for proposals about the topic for this event and also for who the lead discussionist would be. I just drafted them a message and I’m going to post it on the Wiki. And if everyone agrees with that, that can be sent out. Also, I’m still waiting for a response from the ICANN Vice President in the Asia Pacific region who has yet to respond to the message that I sent despite Sally Cofferton’s assurance that he would get back to us. I’m rather concerned about that but I would say that we should not wait for him. We should go ahead and plan our event and then, if they decide that they want to link it with ours, then that’s fine and good. Otherwise, we proceed as planned. Thank you.
Holly Raiche: Thank you Rinalia. We’ve got about ten more minutes and we’ve talked about the Showcase. We haven’t talked about general assembly which is on our proposed schedule for Wednesday. From memory, the general assembly is more an integral part of the whole APRALO-ALAC day and that tends to be not so much—that tends to be just an ALAC discussion. I’ve had a look at what NARALO did and that looks more like a, kind of, ALAC-NARALO AGM. It looks, from past experience and from NARALO and from others, it doesn’t look to be the kind of event that the Multi Stakeholder Policy Roundtable is. So I’m going to borrow a lot of the material that Garth developed and I can get back to you, to Sylvia and Heidi and Gisella on what will be the general assembly. But that doesn’t look to be the kind of different event that we’re talking about for Monday.
The only other committee that we need to think about is, Maureen, do you need some help on Capacity Building? And do you want to work with either Kathy or Jack or Edmon on that? And where are we going to fit that event anyway? Is that going to be part of the ALAC (inaudible) or is it going to be separate? We haven’t got that in our schedule yet.
Maureen Hilyard: Right, Maureen here. Yes, I was a little bit concerned about that. (Inaudible) track series of meetings. What is that? Is that anything to do with Capacity Building? Is that the capacity building session?
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: I can’t put my hand up. I would have thought Capacity Building was an integral part of the weaving between the fellowship and the newcomers track. There’s very little other than APRALO-specific material. It had probably better belong in a small briefing session somehow associated with the general assembly that isn’t covered by those same things which I thought was the motivation for us to use those outside funded well established, well-resourced and well-practiced existing capacity building mechanism. So Maureen, the long answer there is, hell yes.
Holly Raiche: May I had here one thing that I talked about with Heidi and Sylvia was to get somebody like Dev to simply go through and say this is how our part of the website is used and make that part of the Capacity Building. Now whether that’s the newcomer’s track or something that we do, but to familiarize the people who aren’t familiar or who need a bit of refreshing. How we actually use Wikis and how we use the tools we use which may be very helpful either as a refresher course or for moving. That was my suggestion and Cheryl has her hand up again. Cheryl?
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: Thank you. Yes, I think those little vignettes would be very useful. They again probably could fit in with some sort of half hour-type session, maybe forty minute-type session. But you might also want to check what is already available. I mean the technology task force has, I would assume, a whole bunch of materials it would like to do show and tell on. It may be that Olivier would be asking for some sort of briefing for the wider ALAC and At-Large and our lot would be integral in that. I just want to keep away from duplication and make us the most lean and efficient that we possibly can be.
Holly Raiche: Thank you, Cheryl. Maureen, you have your hand up. Maureen?
Maureen Hilyard: Yes. Maureen here again. I agree with Cheryl because what I was actually looking at was working in with both the fellowship, working with Janice and the fellowship track and looking at who’s running the newcomer’s track. Does anybody know? Heidi? Sorry, Heidi, I was saying who was running the newcomer’s track? Is that Alain or is that someone else___?
Heidi: Yes, sorry, no. So just an update. So Feliz has left ICANN and in her place Janice Lang will be taking over both the newcomers—well, she’s doing the fellows. She has been for now, I think, five or six years very successfully and she will be taking over the newcomers. What has yet to be determined is whether she will be assisted by someone who is really focused on the fellows while at ICANN meetings. So that’s yet to be determined.
Maureen Hilyard: Thank you, Heidi, it’s Maureen here again. That means I can actually touch base with Janice and probably work with her. Just one thing, I really would like some help here. I have been trying to get hold of Sala and she’s not responding. So I’m just, like, a little bit out on a limb here. When I do—when I was sort of like asking if I could actually have contact with the ALS’s as they come on board or now that Pavan’s got a list, and I thought that we might be able to do it like an email group but a Wiki, as Cheryl suggested, is a good idea because then everybody gets to see what everybody else is saying as well. And in that sort of format. So perhaps that’s one of the first things we do with the ALS’s and it’s trying to get them involved before they actually get to Beijing. I think so that they can actually, like, talk to each other and almost become sort of, like, friends before they all meet together as a team in Beijing. But there’s quite a few things that we’d like some feedback like, for example, I mean even looking at, you know, like finding out what they know about ICANN and what’s on top for them so I know exactly what to actually talk to Janice about with regards to involving them in the fellows meetings as well as the newcomers tracks and yes, but if someone would like to put up their hand and join me in this, I would be very grateful. Thank you.
Holly Raiche: Just a thought, Maureen, before we have to end this call. Dev may be very helpful in terms of what materials are available but we may not know about. What materials are available, how to use them. There may be, as Cheryl suggested, some thoughts that Olivier would have as well but, in terms of a refresher course for some of us and tying in with the newcomers, it may be that there’s a lot already and that you, perhaps working with either Dev or Olivier, whoever is doing the newcomers, will deal with that Capacity Building stuff. Just a thought.
Now we’re just about out of time. There are a couple of things.
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: I think—
Holly Raiche: You’ve lost me. The rooster’s taken over.
Maureen Hilyard: Maureen here. Having been a fellow I think—and I’ve worked a lot with Janice. I feel really comfortable about talking to her about the whole including the Capacity Building, yes. Not a problem.
Holly Raiche: Good. Thank you. Now, we’re almost out of time. Gisella, could you send or are people comfortable with another meeting and my problem, let’s see—ordinarily it would be two weeks. I will actually be tied up Wednesday, Thursday, Friday so if it’s within two weeks it would really have to be the 21st or 22nd if people are comfortable with that. And Gisella, if you could just send out a little doodle on that. Next time—we haven’t talked about In Reach and the other thing that, Heidi, maybe we need to look at and Hong might need to look at is what materials do we need and the other question is what kind of translation do we need outside of what is normally available? So we can look at that. And Heidi’s got her hand up. Heidi? Go ahead.
Heidi: Yes, if Hong has any comments then I recede my place to her otherwise I can just give you an update and there are some action items. And I have been in touch with communications requesting that the two existing beginner sides of At-Large and ICANN how to participate in At-Large and how to participate in ICANN be translated into simplified Chinese and I’m also going to begin working with Lynn in Communications on a beginners guide to ALAC policies. Hopefully ready by Beijing and that would be translated into Chinese as well. Also Sylvia is working again with Christina Rodriguez on the Chinese version, simplified Chinese version of the APRALO brochure.
Holly Raiche: Okay. We’ve come to the end of our time but I think we’ve covered most of the items on the agenda. Is there anything else we need to discuss this time noting that there’s a lot for work to be done in the next two weeks? And I’ll probably just send around a little email to remind people. So does anybody have anything that we need to say now and, if not, then we will talk again in two weeks and update each other? I don’t see anybody’s hand. Well I can thank everybody for their time and we will be talking very time. And hopefully we will be communicating on the Wiki as well. So thank you everybody and happy new year.
Maureen Hilyard: Good luck, Cheryl.
Cheryl Langdon-Orr: Thank you. Thanks Holly. Thanks everybody.
Hong Xue: Thank you. Bye bye.
