Fyi below from the Council Chair, in response to the attached email string begun by me, and subsequent discussion of Council this morning. I have had these very strong feelings for a long time now, and various less formal efforts to remedy the situation have not been effective. The Council appears nearly unanimous in support of the concept that Councilors should be given every opportunity to speak at Council meetings, and any public comment periods within the weekend meetings will be structured more as they are in the large public Council meetings held on Wednesday of the ICANN meetings. This is an effort to make Council more efficient, and to allow Councilors to do their jobs without constant interruptions from non-representative individuals. Of course, there are many other opportunities for such individuals to voice their comments and questions through the GNSO's bottom-up, open and transparent policy development practices, including the BC's internal practices. Mike Rodenbaugh RODENBAUGH LAW 548 Market Street San Francisco, CA 94104 (415) 738-8087 http://rodenbaugh.com -----Original Message----- From: owner-council@gnso.icann.org [mailto:owner-council@gnso.icann.org] On Behalf Of Avri Doria Sent: Saturday, October 24, 2009 5:37 PM To: Council GNSO Subject: [council] Confirmation of new practice at face to face open council meetings Hi. After this mornings meeting I wanted to confirm several actions that I took away from the meeting: 1. the seats at the table for open council meetings will be reserved for council members, liaisons and relevant staff. Chair, vice-chair (s) and staff will request that others take the observers seats. For future meetings name placards will be requested to those to be seated at the table. 2. the observers will be requested to queue at the microphones, and the chair will be responsible for giving them the floor at appropriate points, though precedence for speaking will be given to those around the table. 3. any further changes to the practices at open meetings will be discussed by the new council at its discretion. Please let me know if I have misinterpreted the will of that meeting. a.