Dear All, The Pre- Internet Governance Forum starts tomorrow. Remote participation is available over IPv6! :) To see the schedule for tomorrow's pre-IGF kindly visit: http://igf2013.or.id/preevent/ Snippets from Today *At Large* It was great to see alot of the ALSes at the IGF. There was a fantastic opportunity in meeting some of the chapter representatives and inviting them to apply to join the At Large. I invited both ISOC Japan and ISOC Kenya and they have verbally confirmed that they would apply to be an ALS. It was also great to see At Large representative to the Board, Sebastien Bachollet and other ALSes here bringing colour and diversity to the IGF. Natalia and I are here and we are expecting to see Olivier and Rinalia tomorrow. There are various ALS members who are facilitating/moderating/coordinating workshops at this year's IGF. Staff have organised the directory on the wiki so you can access and select which ones to attend. I would encourage the community to support each other by tweeting, remote attendance, blogging or attending in person and to spread ourselves across the different workshops. I would also encourage ALS members who are on site to use the opportunity when talking to organisations to consider joining the At Large community as an ALS. *Civil Society* I had wanted to attend the Best Bits meeting but could not find the hotel in which they were having the meeting and fatigue had set in from arriving a little past midnight. Norbert Bollow attended this meeting whilst I attended the ISOC sessions. Norbert will be attending the High Level Leaders meeting as an Observer and representing the Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus. Various civil society organisations also held their meetings. The IGC will host its meeting on Tuesday lunch time. Giganet starts tomorrow and promises to be exciting and for the full day. *Internet Society* Today, I attended a Workshop organised by the Chapters Division of ISOC for ISOC chapters which created the opportunity to meet other ISOC Chapter members and discuss various challenges, strengths and opportunities for growth and expansion for chapters. There was also substantial dialogue in terms of how Chapters can contribute to the dialogue on Internet Governance through meaningful participation and being relevant within their own local communities through engaging in strategic engagement on various levels - national, regional and global. There was also discussion on collaboration, enhanced cooperation and meaningful participation. The dialogue is expected to feed into the ISOC organised workshop during the IGF. |This was followed by drinks and dinner for attendees. *ICC Basis* ICC Basis also organised sessions for their constituents which is mainly private sector. *Government* The High Level Leaders meeting will start tomorrow and this is mainly for Government representatives, select Invitees and a handful of observers. Norbert Bollow will be officially attending as an Observer. * * *General Observations and Thoughts* Excitement is building up in Bali as civil society, private sector and public sector prepare to engage in the IGF which starts on Tuesday after tomorrow's Pre-IGF session. There was a call for policy questions to be addressed in this year's IGF. To see a condensed list of the policy questions that will be raised in the Workshops and various thematic sessions, visit: http://intgovforum.org/cms/Policy%20Questions%20to%20be%20addressed%20by%20t... Today and tomorrow will be more or less utilized by stakeholders for preparing for engagement in the discussions in this year's IGF. This time last year, stakeholders were apprehensive about the WCIT discussions and outcomes. This year, there is a different type of excitement and nervousness as stakeholders discuss diverse aspects of enhanced cooperation in the face of an ongoing debate on multilateralism v multistakeholderism and philosphical confrontation in the wake of increasing calls for autonomy. This promises to be a very interesting IGF and whilst decisions are not made in IGFs, it acts as a social, economic, political barometer that stakeholders use to chart their strategies and effective participation within the IGF and other foras. For those who are not physically in Bali, remote participation is equal to participating onsite and your views will be heard if you raise them and they become part of the Transcripts as is the norm. It is even more important that you participate and air your views during the workshop and even as you tweet in real time, you are also enabling a much more broader discussion on the issues that have yet to unfold. *Social Media* The twitter #IGF2013 is being used. For those who are not used to tropical climate, it is advisable to increase your water intake to avoid dehydration. Kind Regards, Sala