( e.g. IETF is mainly in the northern countries, no problems about getting visas for people to travbel to the USA,
Hmmn. People who are even modestly familiar with the IETF's meeting planning know that they're quite aware of US visa problems. That's why they're likely to be meeting in Canada a lot more than they used to. Sure, the IETF and ICANN are not identical, but their meeting issues are more similar than different. Having been to two years' worth of ICANN meetings on ICANN's dime, I can confirm that there's clearly a vast amount of extra expense due to so many last minute arrangements. R's, John PS:
What I would like to do is to find out of ALAC believes this is a worthy issue, given that IMO the public is being served worse by the status quo than other constituencies.
Yes, definitely. If I ever go to another ICANN meeting, I'll be paying my own way, so cost matters.