Again, see inline comments below.  Its gettin' messy (visually, not politically) but I can't think of another way to do it!

From: Vittorio Bertola [mailto:vb@bertola.eu]
Sent: Fri 2/15/2008 9:21 AM
To: Thompson, Darlene
Cc: Nick Ashton-Hart; summit-wg@atlarge-lists.icann.org; At-Large Worldwide
Subject: Re: [At-Large] Resolution of the Board of Directors related to the proposed Summit

Thompson, Darlene ha scritto:
> The way I interpret this is:
> - the Board asks the staff to transform all these talks into a final
> proposal;
> - the Board commits the organization to examine the proposal, on the
> same level and with the same procedures as any other proposal submitted
> by any party for something to be funded by ICANN;
> - there is no commitment yet by the Board, or auspices that the proposal
> is approved, which is obvious since there is no proposal yet;
>
> D:  Odd assumption to make, Vittorio, since there is a formal proposal
> in their hands.

That's why I don't understand. If they already have a proposal, then why
are they asking staff to finalize a proposal for consideration? Is the
proposal that was submitted incomplete, or do they want changes, or what
else?
It is also true that anything submitted to the Board takes time for
preparation before it can be decided upon. I don't know when the
proposal was submitted, but perhaps there was just no time to examine
the proposal in Delhi and this is why this sort of "interim" resolution
was passed.

D:  Fairly accurate.  It was submitted to them about a month ago (or less, memory hazy on this one) but there is still a TON of work to be done for an undertaking of this size (funding criteria for travel, agenda, materials, etc.).  We were unable to give them a point-by-point document on all of the deliverables or how exactly we will achieve them.  So, we were looking for this type of "interim" resolution before we wasted hundreds of man hours giving them explicit details.  I mean, if they were going to blow the idea off before we even got started, then why waste the time, right?

> - in any case, since this project is referred to the 2008-2009 planning
> process, and since the 2008-2009 FY starts on July 1st, the Summit will
> definitely not happen in Paris. Or does the 2008-2009 process include
> activities in the first half of 2008?
>
> D:  Correct.  It definitely will not happen in Paris.  Even outside of
> the "funding" issue is also the fact that there is just not enough time
> to organize an effective Summit in that short a period of time.  We want
> to WOW them and come across with specific deliverables.

So are you aiming for the African meeting?

D:  Yes

> #2 - This figure is a "worst case scenario" and assumes 100% ALS
> participation.  This is NOT going to happen (although it would be
> awesome if it did) because:  1) there will always be scheduling
> conflicts; and 2) we are developing specific criteria that all ALSs will
> have to follow in order to be approved for the Summit.  This means that
> each ALS will have to do their homework on issues relevant to their
> areas and be prepared to discuss them.  No prep = no travel.  This is
> not a free ride.

This seems a very good idea and I encourage you to make it very clear in
the submission - according to my perception, there is a growing concern
that ICANN is not making good use of the money it puts on travel support
expenses, since in some cases there are people who would have something
to say and would need funding but don't fall into the present rules and
so don't get funded, and in others there are people who are being funded
but never make significant contributions. Connecting funding with actual
policy work is going to make a difference in how the proposal will be
evaluated.
 
D:  Yes, that is VERY clearly stated in the proposal.  Further, we also stated that if they don't show up to at least 50% of the meetings then they wouldn't be funded for future travel.  We want this process to be very transparent and results oriented for the very reasons that you state.  (I still think that 50% is a rather low mark and we may want to adjust that upwards - barring illness, travel glitches or other unforeseen occurences).

Ciao,
 
D:  Cheers!
--
vb.                   Vittorio Bertola - vb [a] bertola.eu   <--------
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