Olivier, I think you are absolutely right about the importance of a F2F meeting to bridge the gap and have substantial progress. However, what I think is no longer sustainable is a model by which we have oceanic gatherings with thousands of people multiple times per year. I believe that we can still have focused meetings for WG or committees or other (I believe that this is already happening, incidentally). Of course I like the F2F meetings, and the social events that go with them, the opportunity to meet with old time friends, to play music together, and all that, but still think that we should take this opportunity, forced by events, to think whether we can change the model. There is also another consideration. The user community that we represent cannot afford to travel worldwide multiple times, while the people who are involved professionally in internet governance can massively show up. We know that, in spite of all the efforts that ICANN is doing to fund user participation, this is intensively opposed by other stakeholder groups, and I do not know how the matter will end up in the long run. We have a parallel example, mutatis mutandis, with the European response - or lack thereof - to the pandemic emergency. When money distribution is involved, there might be some windows dressing, but at the end of the day there solidarity will be lacking. And the truth is that ALAC does not have the financial resources that other stakeholder groups have, therefore will be at disadvantage whenever money allocation for activities will be involved. Cheers, Roberto On 11.04.2020, at 10:17, Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond <ocl@gih.com<mailto:ocl@gih.com>> wrote: Dear Wolfgang, whilst I'd like to think we can get by with only having two face to face meetings per year, I am not convinced as I am already seeing the limitations of such meetings. First, I believe that this is likely to negatively impact on our community. The ALAC and Regional Leaders are a Team that is supposed to work together towards a common goal. A vital component of a Team is for them to work well together and a synergy to come out of this collaboration. This is impossible by doing meetings online only. You need the essential human face to face element. You need people to be able to talk to each other during a break. You need bilaterals. Second, one thing which I have noticed over years of involvement at ICANN, when the going gets tough, these moments in particularly tough working groups where there is no consensus and we are a hair away from a trench war, having a face to face meeting with the corridor discussions, with other people around, with the possibility of speaking separately with the person or group of people that do not agree on a consensus, is a vital component part of finding the elusive consensus. For reasons of confidentiality I cannot explain specific examples, but I can think of dozens of times when, during a break, a deadlock has been resolved by opposing parties meeting quickly in a corner of the room and understanding what is the problem, off the record, to find a solution and not end up with a failure in the process. I have personally experienced this at many meetings, whether at ITU, United Nations, WIPO, WEF... and of course at ICANN. With less face to face meeting opportunities, I can foresee that some ICANN processes are going to be delayed. I can foresee that some ICANN processes might result in deadlock, because there is no opportunity to meet face to face and reach a deal. Now that everyone speaks on the record and nobody sees the facial expression, yet the white of the eye and body language of the other persons they are speaking with, participants end up speaking to a blank screen and rhetoric wins over reason. In a top-down system where one person makes the decision, this doesn't matter so much. But in a bottom-up system where everyone has to work towards a common goal, the human touch is a vital component, as we are not machines and never will be. Kindest regards, Olivier On 10/04/2020 11:21, Wolfgang Kleinwächter wrote: I did this proposed already after virtuel@Cancun67: Lets reform the ICANN Meeting Strategy: One Spring and one Fall ICANN Meeting F2F, and one virtual meeting in the summer. This would also save travel money and be good for the environment. :-))) wolfgang Kaili Kan <kankaili@gmail.com><mailto:kankaili@gmail.com> hat am 10. April 2020 um 02:32 geschrieben: If this works well, it may become the norm from now on. However, still feeling that nothing can replace F2F. Already missing everybody. : ( Kaili [https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif] On Fri, Apr 10, 2020 at 2:50 AM Ali Almeshal < dralialmeshal@gmail.com<mailto:dralialmeshal@gmail.com>> wrote: Right decision. Sent from my iPhone On Apr 9, 2020, at 9:30 PM, Maureen Hilyard < maureen.hilyard@gmail.com<mailto:maureen.hilyard@gmail.com>> wrote: https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2020-04-09-en _______________________________________________ At-Large mailing list At-Large@atlarge-lists.icann.org<mailto:At-Large@atlarge-lists.icann.org> https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/at-large At-Large Official Site: http://atlarge.icann.org<http://atlarge.icann.org/> _______________________________________________ By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy ( https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service ( https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). 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You can visit the Mailman link above to change your membership status or configuration, including unsubscribing, setting digest-style delivery or disabling delivery altogether (e.g., for a vacation), and so on. _______________________________________________ At-Large mailing list At-Large@atlarge-lists.icann.org<mailto:At-Large@atlarge-lists.icann.org> https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/at-large At-Large Official Site: http://atlarge.icann.org<http://atlarge.icann.org/> _______________________________________________ By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). You can visit the Mailman link above to change your membership status or configuration, including unsubscribing, setting digest-style delivery or disabling delivery altogether (e.g., for a vacation), and so on. _______________________________________________ At-Large mailing list At-Large@atlarge-lists.icann.org<mailto:At-Large@atlarge-lists.icann.org> https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/at-large At-Large Official Site: http://atlarge.icann.org<http://atlarge.icann.org/> _______________________________________________ By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). You can visit the Mailman link above to change your membership status or configuration, including unsubscribing, setting digest-style delivery or disabling delivery altogether (e.g., for a vacation), and so on. -- Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond, PhD http://www.gih.com/ocl.html _______________________________________________ At-Large mailing list At-Large@atlarge-lists.icann.org<mailto:At-Large@atlarge-lists.icann.org> https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/at-large At-Large Official Site: http://atlarge.icann.org _______________________________________________ By submitting your personal data, you consent to the processing of your personal data for purposes of subscribing to this mailing list accordance with the ICANN Privacy Policy (https://www.icann.org/privacy/policy) and the website Terms of Service (https://www.icann.org/privacy/tos). You can visit the Mailman link above to change your membership status or configuration, including unsubscribing, setting digest-style delivery or disabling delivery altogether (e.g., for a vacation), and so on.