It's not just developing countries that have this problem. I've twice tried to engage U.S.-based organizations to plan and host a meeting. With one organization, a U.S. university, we went through the planning stages, but it was the significant financial outlay, against an uncertain ability to recover costs from sponsors, that precluded a bid. The university was willing to donate free conference space, power, and wifi, but the other obligations were too much. -- Bret On Dec 28, 2007, at 7:56 PM, Ross Rader wrote:
On 28-Dec-07, at 3:56 PM, Evan Leibovitch wrote:
one could gather that ICANN's meeting committee and staff see themselveslike the Olympics, sitting back and expecting the cities of the world to compete vigorously to be hosts.
I have long had a problem with this model. You've exactly nailed most of the problems with ICANN's current practice of engaging local sponsors. My biggest issue, which you've not completely surfaced, lies with the investment that the local sponsor must make in order to pull the event off. There is something seriously wrong when a predominantly rich, powerful, etc. group of "volunteers" (code word for paid advocates in most cases) require local organizations in third world countries to underwrite the organizing costs of meetings held in their region. I do not know exactly how much of an investment the local sponsor must make, but for most regions we go to, all of this money could be better spent on bettering the local internet.
-r
_______________________________________________ ALAC mailing list ALAC@atlarge-lists.icann.org http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac_atlarge-lists.icann.org
At-Large Official Site: http://www.alac.icann.org ALAC Independent: http://www.icannalac.org