BC Outreach Strategic Plan

BC FY18 Outreach Strategy for 2018

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The Commercial and Business Users' Constituency [a.k.a., the ICANN GNSO Business Constituency (BC)] FY18 Outreach Strategy is based on fulfilling the BC’s mission [1] as described in the BC’s newly updated and approved Charter.  The BC’s Outreach goals support the engagement of business users in gTLD policy development and in ICANN’s overall governance. Further, it also supports the ongoing enhancement of multi-stakeholder engagement in relevant activities to ensure ICANN’s continued success as the coordinator of the unique indicators of the Internet as provided for in ICANN’s bylaws. The BC Outreach Strategy aligns with ICANN strategic objectives one [2] and four [3].

OBJECTIVES OF THE BC OUTREACH STRATEGY FOR 2018

The BC’s Outreach strategy objectives for FY18 are to:

1. Create awareness about the BC: how it works internally among its members, the value of joining the BC, and why and how business users support ICANN’s core mission and activities.
2. Continue focusing on low BC membership regions, and sub regions, and attracting new industry sector representatives to engage with the BC.
3. Grow the BC membership base and help to onboard new members for engagement in BC activities, thereby enriching the Constituency’s long-term policy development efforts while simultaneously addressing challenges related to volunteer overload in work activities.
4. Enhance understanding within the business user community, broadly, about ICANN’s relevance to the security, stability, and resiliency of the global Internet and why that is relevant to business.
5. To advance awareness generally about the bottom-up multi-stakeholder model of ICANN by increasing input from a broad cross section of business users--especially from new industry sectors and by supporting engagement of the BC in events and activities where ICANN’s topics, and business views are relevant.
6. Continue and enhance involvement with ICANN’s business focused and broader outreach activities, as relevant to the BC mission [e.g. collaboration with ICANN’s Global Stakeholder Engagement team; regional Vice President’s regarding regional strategies, etc].

FUNDING SCOPE

The BC has a broad Outreach Strategy that includes using part of its own membership funds, and other special funds [some of which are supported by ICANN funding] that are dedicated to growing BC visibility and engagement in selected events where business executives and others from the business user communities participate. The broad BC Outreach strategy is described in this document, with a specific segment focused on the use of ICANN’s Community Regional Outreach Program (CROP) funds. 

OUTREACH ACTIVITIES

The BC Outreach activities will:

• Present information about ICANN and the BC at ICT related events, particularly in low membership regions where business entities that may qualify to join the BC participate. 
• Hold special events to inform the broader business user community about ICANN and the BC.
• Provide travel support to potential qualified member applicants to participate and engage in selected, relevant activities of the BC.
• Provide financial support for BC members with experience and expertise in the BC and in ICANN to attend outreach and recruitment events on behalf of the BC, specifically to do BC membership recruitment, using Community Regional Outreach Programme (CROP) or other BC-approved funding.
• Provide mentorship and informal support to business representatives attending ICANN or BC meetings for the first time.
• Draw on ICANN FY18 CROP travel support for five (5) travelers in total, to be overseen by the BC Outreach committee as per CROP guidelines and in keeping with the BC’s regional and other focus priorities.
• Continue and enhance the reporting of all BC funded travelers attending Outreach events, including the consideration of a template developed by the Outreach Committee with support of the Secretariat and to be piloted during 2018.

COMMUNITY REGIONAL OUTREACH PROGRAM (CROP) – THE BC’S USE OF CROP FUNDS

CROP funds will support travelers to events that are primarily focused on companies—both large and small—that fit the definition of a Business User. The BC presence and participation at events will be reinforced by materials and presentations developed within the BC’s Outreach Committee and the designated CROP BC traveler. Such materials will be shared via the full BC list, as part of the Meeting Outcome Report required from all funded BC outreach events.

CROP will primarily support the engagement in or associated with events where business users can be easily reached, rather than creating unique events, in order to avoid additional costs, other than those that CROP covers. The Outreach Committee will evaluate funding requests from BC members to attend an event, and specifically evaluate the effectiveness of the use of CROP funds to augment BC participation, with any additional expenditures outside the CROP budget to receive final approval from the BC Excomm.  Such expenditures may include printing of brochures or fact sheets for use, which will not be covered by CROP.

Priority for funding will be given to BC attendees who have a speaking role at an approved event, where the speaker has the ability to directly promote the work of the BC (versus speaking on another topic).

As an exception, CROP funding could be used to support participation and the active engagement of one BC member who could not otherwise attend an ICANN meeting or another major ICANN-related event where a BC Outreach event is organized.  In these cases, the member’s engagement must augment the legitimacy of the BC’s role and effectiveness of BC outreach within that region. This would be an exception, and would be assessed on a case-by-case basis, looking at the needs of the BC and the parameters of the CROP program.  Use of CROP would require a specially designated role for the funded BC member in BC outreach activities, noting that CROP guidelines must be adhered to. Any additional supporting funding from the BC for the Outreach activities will follow the usual Outreach Committee and Excomm approval processes.

The development of specific activities and events that utilize the BC’s presence and membership within at least three (3) developing country regions will be a priority for CROP 2018 for the BC.  Approval of travel to these events is based on proposals submitted at least 2 months prior to the event, as CROP deadlines require six weeks prior to an event, at minimum. The 2 month requirement provides the BC Outreach committee time to review a travel request and arrive at a decision. While exceptions may occur, every effort by those proposing a CROP supported event will be asked to justify any late submissions to the Outreach Committee.

ACTIVITIES SUPPORTING THE OVERALL BC OUTREACH STRATEGY

• Update a two page “mini brief” on an annual basis describing the BC, its role at ICANN, and the benefits of membership, to be used at various events. The Fact Sheet for FY17 is available on the BC website, and will be updated annually. All BC members are encouraged to use the Fact Sheet in any relevant events that they attend. All BC newsletters and fact sheets can be found at http://www.bizconst.org/newsletter.
• Translate BC materials into other languages where possible and appropriate, given the event and translation services available from ICANN.
• Distribute the Fact Sheet at regional/national IGFs via the contacts of members of the BC Outreach Committee; at the WSIS Forum in Geneva mid-year; at the IGF2017 in Geneva; and any other ICT and Business events relevant to business.
• Explore whether existing BC members who are actively engaged in the ICC-BASIS coordinated reception at the IGF might agree to support distributing copies of the BC Fact Sheet during the sponsored event.
• Support outreach at the ICANN Newcomers booth, including participation of former Fellows, or part of the ICANN Mentoring Pilot, and by other BC volunteers on an ad hoc basis. A new approach will be piloted for 2018, with a goal of each BC volunteer is to serve for two (2) hours per day at the Newcomers desk (during 2017, this expectation was exceeded and approximately three (3) hours per day of support occurred). The new approach will seek to recruit up to 1 BC member per day plus the Mentoring Pilot participants.
• Improve the look and feel of the BC website, http://www.bizconst.org/, with continual updates. In FY18 a special focus will be on the use of photos that show the BC in action (e.g., BC members engaging with the Government Advisory Committee (GAC) or public speaking opportunities, including BC members speaking at the Public Forum; and speaking at any funded BC Outreach event).
•  Explore feasibility of targeted outreach to registered attendees at ICANN meetings from the private sector who are not already members of the BC, through organizing occasional specialized events at ICANN meetings with a goal of holding or joining ICANN’s Business Outreach Activities with a goal of  at least 1-2 such events each year. 
• Establish partners/mentors for new business user attendees. Identify a pool from current members [goal: to identify at least 3-7 BC members] who are willing to be matched with a newcomer:
• Identify specific BC activities at an ICANN meeting as suggestions for newcomers to be involved in.
• Provide a special Meet the BC “card” for the ICANN Newcomers booth. The card will instruct anyone interested in scheduling a one-on-one meeting with BC members during an ICANN meeting to send an email to the BC Secretariat, who will contact the volunteers to “match-make” on site.
• Invite relevant newcomers to the BC open sessions.
• Once new possible business candidates are identified, provide an individual invitation to the “Commercial Stakeholder Group (CSG) breakfast” and any other social events organized by the CSG with ICANN, including the Board/CSG session, with the BC providing a coach/mentor for that event to be a session “buddy”, providing introductions informally, and helping to answer any questions the newcomer might have.
• Enhance BC materials including Newsletters, Fact Sheets, etc.:
• Add a testimonial page that highlights individual BC members [rotating across members] for page eight (8) of the Newsletter, with mini statements about why their business joined the BC/why ICANN matters.
• Enhance the “Meet the BC” document with continual updates and distribute to GAC and ICANN Board members at least annually.
• Develop a “heat map” of BC members distribution around the world.
• Develop and distribute mini brief – FAQ on the BC – project for 2018 as time permits.  
• Examine how to further advance benefit of Fellowship and NextGen programs to the BC:
• Work with ICANN to increase recruitment from private sector into these programs, including members from small businesses.

• Regularize a Blog for Outreach that has stories from BC members from different regions
  • Focus on CROP participants and augment with other BC members for the BC Website.  The goal would be 3  stories per year. 
  • Standards and approval of stories would require some oversight, so that the message is not marketing one’s business interests, but is focused on why joining the BC is of value to achieving BC policy goals that affect business users.
  • These blogs would increase the BC’s visibility to a larger audience. 

GENERAL OUTREACH ACTIVITIES DURING ICANN PUBLIC MEETINGS

• Coordinate with ICANN on any event they are doing to increase the visibility of the BC and make face to face contact with attending private sector members, while recognizing that the attendance of local businesses can be very challenging, due to their own business priorities that compete with a multi-day ICANN meeting.
• Make sure all private sector attendees at ICANN meetings-who are eligible for BC membership-know about BC supported events. Examples include the CSG hosted cross-constituency breakfast events held during ICANN Public Meetings, or other social events that the BC contributes to organizing.
• Establish a standard invitation to be sent to the local business associations in the relevant country/region, at least  three (3) months before an ICANN meeting, when contacts are nominated by BC members, and then followed up with a more detailed invitation, when the ICANN agenda is available, and social events are identified. [Engage with the ICANN Engagement Team and regional V.P. regarding any relevant business groups they are engaging with].
• For ICANN meetings, where possible, include two senior business leaders from the region/with regional affiliation as part of BC Engagement. For example, identification of North African and MENA business executives is underway for ICANN60 and are funded through ICANN’s Special Budget Request process.

GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK

BC Outreach strategy is developed and administered by the BC Outreach Committee with the support of the BC Executive Committee and ICANN staff.

The Outreach Committee meets virtually two to three times between each ICANN Meeting, and strives to meet face-to-face during ICANN meetings with the BC membership in attendance. In addition, updates are provided to the full BC membership via the virtual BC working calls.

Events and travel support requests are considered and recommendations made by the Outreach Committee. Reports of all activities are provided to the full BC membership.

The outreach committee should notify the BC Executive Committee of any planned expenditures, whether from BC or ICANN funding sources, at least one week prior to the disbursement date.   These planned expenditures are deemed as approved unless the ExComm raises questions or objections within one week of notification. 

EXPECTED OUTCOMES OF OUTREACH EFFORTS

Through our outreach efforts, the BC expects to:

• Reach an in-person audience of some qualified one hundred (100) potential members through attending and speaking at various events and conferences. The total reach for awareness is approximately five hundred (500) individuals, but many of these contacts will not meet membership criteria, yet, benefit from awareness about why ICANN matters to the business user community.  The BC’s focus is quality, versus quantity, as experience has shown that associations and industry groups can more consistently maintain attendance and contribute to policy development than individual small companies from developing countries.
• Attract eight (8) new members by the end of FY18. The BC recruited 9 new members in FY17. However, the BC also lost a few members, thus the Outreach Committee and other BC members will be encouraged to engage in member retention and the re-recruitment of former members. 
• Distribute 750 BC newsletters, BC business cards, and target of 1,000 factsheets with a goal of 25 percent being external to ICANN meetings.
• Invite all Association members of the BC to post a story about the BC’s focus on a particular policy area that their members care about in their newsletters or official publications. The topics should focus on those areas where there is strong consensus within the BC. Such story could be drafted and piloted in the BC Newsletter for ICANN61, and then provided to any BC association members who might be willing to publish it, with a personal introduction, in their association newsletters.
• Attract more than one thousand (1,000) webpage views through social media enhanced engagement – to be developed further, including encouraging all BC member to like the BC Facebook page and to send at least three (3) tweets a year about their engagement with the BC activities.
• Improve the ICANN Board’s understanding of the BC, specifically in regard to the BC’s views and perspectives, and the engagement of Business Users at ICANN. This will make engagement with the ICANN Board more useful to BC members.
• For proposed activities that may not lead directly to new members (items described as supporting the multistakeholder model and/or ICANN more broadly),  objectives include:  
•  
• Visible and senior speaking role at an event for BC designated delegate/s
• Number of people that can be reached via the speaking session
• Rate of growth of BC Facebook page likes
• Rate of growth of Twitter followership 

BC Outreach Strategy Matrix

[1] The mission of the Business Constituency is to ensure that ICANN policy positions are consistent with the development of an Internet that:

• Is committed to a multi-stakeholder, bottom-up, consensus-driven model of engagement;
• Is technically stable, secure, and interoperable;
• Promotes user confidence in online communications and business interactions; and
• Offers choice in the supply of registry, registrar, and domain name-related services and such services are offered in a reasonable and pro-competitive manner for the benefit of the business community and users.

[2] Evolve and further globalize ICANN

[3] Promote ICANN’s role and multistakeholder approach