This is a long message, but please take the time to read it. This is my seventh year as the ALAC Liaison to the GNSO. It has always been a challenge, and has at times been exciting, frustrating, productive, discouraging and often satisfying. And I have learnt far more on so many levels than I could even start to recount here. I take some pride at having initiated two PDPs on behalf of the ALAC, and seen them through to create new ICANN policy. One, domain tasting, was so successful at killing a distasteful practice that most people no longer even remember what it was. The other on post-expiration registrant rights was successful in that the resultant policy gives registrants some rights to renew gTLD accidentally expired domains where they previously had no rights at all, but the results were not quite at the level that we had hoped for, to some extent due to the limited involvement of At-Large throughout the process. I, along with Cheryl when her busy schedule has allowed, have been regular participants in quite a number of GNSO activities, both policy and administrative. Others such as Evan and Carlton have made their voices heard as well, and more recently we have seen a few others start to participate. This note is prompted by a number of issues. First, it hopefully will come as no surprise that I do not intend to hold the role of ALAC Liaison to the GNSO for Life. It is therefore increasingly important to have more people knowledgeable about the GNSO and active in its activities, so that when a new Liaison is required, the ALAC will have good options for my replacement. Second, for several years, the GNSO spent far more time than perhaps it should have on its re-organization and reformulation of all of its procedures and methodologies. These changes were mandated by the Board and the GNSO had little choice but to carry out the re-org, but that has now largely been completed. What was a slow trickle of policy work when the focus was on administration is now becoming a flood. There are currently several PDPs active and more coming down the pipe (I am participating in three of them, and I am a vice-chair of one). In addition, the GNSO is under increasing pressure to develop policy through other means, and neither the community nor the Board is comfortable with policy development taking years. The net effect is that the work going on at any time is growing, and there is pressure to get the work done faster. If At-Large is to be able to influence these efforts, it MUST get involved from the very start. And it will take a lot more than one or two people. Issuing comments and advice at the end of the process is simply not going to allow us to properly influence policy outcomes. Lastly, the overall character of many discussions in ICANN is changing. When I started, the "public interest" was a phrase that showed up in an obscure way in the ICANN Bylaws and was rarely mentioned. Users who did not register domain names were generally not considered to be a factor in decisions. With increased ALAC visibility and the Affirmation of Commitment, that has changed. A lot! As the one part of ICANN to have the interest of the billions of Internet users as its core mission, ALAC and At-Large have an opportunity to help drive ICANN in a direction that indeed serves the public interest. But we can only do that if we are actively and intensely involved in activities outside of our little corner of ICANN. We need to be out there, participating and helping to formulate the policies that we believe WILL benefit the public interest and Internet users. And we need to have the credibility so that when we do engage, people listen. I will soon put together a list of ongoing GNSO activities as well as those that may be starting soon. For a few ongoing activities, it is probably too late for new people to get involved. For others, getting involved now will be an interesting learning experience. And as new projects start up, there will be lots of new opportunities. I am prepared to work with anyone who has a true interest in becoming active in GNSO policy activities. Some of these topics are complex and will take work to understand and eventually to contribute. Others will be far easier. But in all cases, helping to formulate GOOD policy will be both satisfying and productive. Alan (also being sent to the At-Large list)