Marilyn, Can you help me, and others who may be equally confused, with an example of what we are talking about? Public comment periods have usually come about as a result of things that arise during the course of the year. What topics would we know in advance and thus need to use this new template? Sorry, I'm a little dense on this one. Thanks, RA Ronald N. Andruff President RNA Partners, Inc. 220 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10001 + 1 212 481 2820 ext. 11 _____ From: owner-bc-gnso@icann.org [mailto:owner-bc-gnso@icann.org] On Behalf Of Marilyn Cade Sent: Monday, December 12, 2011 5:54 PM To: bc - GNSO list Subject: [bc-gnso] FW: [soac-discussion] Upcoming Public Comments - 2012 ICANN is introducing a more formalized approach to developing public comments for the public meetings. We have a deadline of Jan 21 to provide input, and a template is provided for submission by the Chair of the Constituencies/SOs. I'd like to use a nomination process from the members, supported by suggestions from the officers/councilors, to put together a BC reviewed submission. This will help us tremendously in our preparation for upcoming ICANN meetings and allow us to return to gathering member input prior to the actual meeting. Ad hoc items may be added, but in general, this is an improvement which I hope we can maximize contributing to. Bene, would you put together a reminder schedule, and also the CSG can brainstorm some ideas and distribute to the members early in January, for your advice and improvements. In the meantime, we will add this process to our preparation process for all public meetings, and our Secretariat will start a timely reminder process for us so that our BC prep calls include this topic in a timely manner for all face to face meetings. Marilyn Cade BC Chair _____ Following the process (attached) that is now in place since June 2011 (based on the implementation of ATRT recommendation 21), ICANN is instituting a more formal approach for time for me to ask for input for the 2012 Upcoming Public Comments list to be published at: http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/upcoming-en.htm Following the process, after receiving input, ICANN will publish the list for 2012 by February and make another call for updates after March meeting in Costa Rica.