Thank you for this information, Marie. With all of the reports coming back from big business generally noting the same thing, i.e., disinterest in the greater activities of ICANN, I see this response as a barometer; and it seems to point to a lack of understanding of the importance of multi-stakeholder Internet-governance despite its significant impact on business. One could write it off to ICANN and the community doing such a fine job of managing the world's Internet resources, they don't feel the need to send any manpower, but rather I think it all comes down to "as long as the thing works and we can make money off it, we'll leave those wonks to their own devices". Pardon my facetiousness, but the critical importance of gathering more and more business voices to keep the discussion broad-based and uncaptured - as ICANN grows - is more than a notable challenge. So, too, is the need for more volunteers to show up and join in the development and protection of this rare, global multi-stakeholder model. .BRANDS not attending ICANN Beijing en masse demonstrates the yawning chasm between ICANN and the larger community it seeks to serve. Serious outreach is clearly now more critical than it has ever been in the past and therefore I urge all BC members who have relationships with .BRAND applicants to reach out and enroll them into reconsider coming. We let this important opportunity to engage business in the business of ICANN to slip through our fingers at our peril. Kind regards, RA Ronald N. Andruff <http://www.rnapartners.com> RNA Partners, Inc. _____ From: Marie Pattullo [mailto:marie.pattullo@aim.be] Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2013 10:43 AM To: 'Ron Andruff'; martinsutton@hsbc.com Cc: 'bc - GNSO list' Subject: RE: [bc-gnso] Proposal for meeting with .BRANDS All, I checked with AIM's members as to who is hoping to attend the meeting in Beijing, but so far I've drawn a blank. They tell me that they don't find it surprising that not many brands are attending, as they aren't running a domain name Registries so much as being busy concentrating on their core business. Businesses have already budgeted huge sums to apply for/protect domains - it's becoming harder to justify several long-haul trips a year to ICANN meetings. It's certainly not because they're uninterested Marie From: owner-bc-gnso@icann.org [mailto:owner-bc-gnso@icann.org] On Behalf Of Ron Andruff Sent: lundi 4 mars 2013 18:21 To: martinsutton@hsbc.com Cc: 'bc - GNSO list' Subject: RE: [bc-gnso] Proposal for meeting with .BRANDS Thank you for sharing this with the members, Martin. Two comments: (1) taking into consideration your comments about who from brands will be in attendance in BJ, it seems even more important to send invite letters to all brand TLD applicants to see if we can encourage more participation in ICANN rather than have their consultants act as middlemen. I have nothing against consultants doing their job, but it is clearly better to have the principals in the room rather than their filters if ICANN is going to expand its mindshare in the business sector; and (2) your RA submission to ICANN was enlightening to read as it brought new information to light that I had not considered. Getting this kind of input from the broader group of .BRAND applicants would be very valuable to the community. Can we look to you to evangelize the need of the rest of the business community to hear and learn more from our applicant brethren? Kind regards, RA Ronald N. Andruff RNA <http://www.rnapartners.com> Partners, Inc. _____ From: owner-bc-gnso@icann.org [mailto:owner-bc-gnso@icann.org] On Behalf Of martinsutton@hsbc.com Sent: Monday, March 04, 2013 11:40 AM To: Ron Andruff Cc: 'bc - GNSO list'; 'Elisa Cooper'; owner-bc-gnso@icann.org Subject: RE: [bc-gnso] Registry Conf Call & Proposal for meeting with .BRANDS Ron, For many of the .brand applicants, ICANN and the gTLD programme (still) represents an insignificant part of their overall business. Hence, many applicants will expect their consultants to cover the ICANN chores, rather than be present themselves. Nevertheless, I would hope that those applicants based closer to Beijing will be taking the opportunity to attend in April. As you know, I am an applicant for .hsbc and have been engaging with other .brand applicants to identify ways to ensure that our interests are represented within the ICANN structure going forward. I would be happy to facilitate a discussion with the BC on .brand perspectives with those that will be available in Beijing. In the meantime, the attached paper was submitted by this group to ICANN in response to the public comment period for the RA changes; Kind regards, Martin <http://directory.global.hsbc/cgi-whitepages/search-entry.pl?attribute_extra mail=mail&operator_extramail=sw&unused_searching=no&co=*&value_extramail=mar tinsutton@hsbc.com> Martin C SUTTON Group Risk Manager, Group Fraud Risk and Intelligence | HSBC HOLDINGS PLC HGHQ Group Security & Fraud Risk 8 Canada Square,Canary Wharf,London,E14 5HQ,United Kingdom ________________________________________________________________ Phone +44 (0)20 7991 8074 / 7991 8074 Mobile +44 (0) 7774556680 Email <mailto:martinsutton@hsbc.com> martinsutton@hsbc.com ________________________________________________________________ Protect our environment - please only print this if you have to! From: "Ron Andruff" <randruff@rnapartners.com> To: "'Elisa Cooper'" <Elisa.Cooper@markmonitor.com>, "'bc - GNSO list'" <bc-gnso@icann.org> Date: 04/03/2013 16:09 Subject: RE: [bc-gnso] Registry Conf Call & Proposal for meeting with .BRANDS Sent by: owner-bc-gnso@icann.org _____ Thanks for the prompt reply, Elisa. Considering that there are 637 brand TLD applications, one would think that all (or a majority of them) would be showing up at an ICANN meeting, so I am somewhat surprised that you are aware of only a few attending. Perhaps, as Chair, you could work with our Secretariat to send invitations out to all of them? That outreach could have a tangential benefit insomuch as the invitees may also be potential BC members. We have some six weeks or so before the meeting, why not go for it? Regarding the webinar suggestion, I am a strong believer of face-to-face meetings whenever possible so my first vote goes there. If we do go the webinar route, I would recommend a new title: A New Era for Business on the Internet: Informing and Educating about .BRANDs. Hope that this helps move this discussion forward. Kind regards, RA Ronald N. Andruff <http://www.rnapartners.com/> RNA Partners, Inc. _____ From: Elisa Cooper [ <mailto:Elisa.Cooper@markmonitor.com> mailto:Elisa.Cooper@markmonitor.com] Sent: Monday, March 04, 2013 10:27 AM To: Ron Andruff; 'bc - GNSO list' Subject: RE: [bc-gnso] Registry Conf Call & Proposal for meeting with .BRANDS Ron, I am on the call - but will only be able to attend the first 60 minutes. The call will be recorded and transcribed for those unable to attend. Regarding your separate comment - I would be in support of inviting .Brands to meet with us in Beijing. Of those that I personally know that are attending (which is just a few), I have already invited them to join our meeting scheduled on Constituency Day (Tuesday). That said, we might also consider reaching out to them and inviting them prior to Beijing, to a webinar entitled, "Understanding and Influencing ICANN". Thoughts? Best, Elisa Elisa Cooper Director of Product Marketing MarkMonitor 208 389-5779 PH From: owner-bc-gnso@icann.org [ <mailto:owner-bc-gnso@icann.org> mailto:owner-bc-gnso@icann.org] On Behalf Of Ron Andruff Sent: Monday, March 04, 2013 8:10 AM To: 'bc - GNSO list' Subject: [bc-gnso] Registry Conf Call & Proposal for meeting with .BRANDS Good morning all. Just sending a note to the list to inquire as to how many BC members will be on the Registry call that is starting now? Perhaps our Secretriat could pull together a list for everyone's benefit? Separately, in preparation for this call I was going through the filings and came to realize (again) that that there are 637 .BRANDS from the 1900. Many of them are brands we know and some are BC members. Others we don't know. Question for the Ex Com: Would it not make sense to invite the .BRANDS to come to meet the BC in Beijing? For my part, it would be extremely helpful to hear from them and to have an opportunity to learn more. Perhaps we could invite them for the CSG breakfast on Tuesday, if guests have not already been scheduled for that meeting slot. It seems to me that BC members would benefit greatly from meeting with businesses that are applying for top-level domains. My two cents. Kind regards, RA Ronald N. Andruff <http://www.rnapartners.com/> RNA Partners, Inc. ************************************************************ HSBC Holdings plc Registered Office: 8 Canada Square, London E14 5HQ, United Kingdom Registered in England number 617987 ************************************************************ ----------------------------------------- SAVE PAPER - THINK BEFORE YOU PRINT! This E-mail is confidential. It may also be legally privileged. If you are not the addressee you may not copy, forward, disclose or use any part of it. If you have received this message in error, please delete it and all copies from your system and notify the sender immediately by return E-mail. Internet communications cannot be guaranteed to be timely secure, error or virus-free. The sender does not accept liability for any errors or omissions.