All, The upcoming ICANN Cairo meeting will experiment a new session format called Open Joint Sessions. Organized jointly by gNSO, ccNSO, GAC and ALAC, their purpose is to foster interaction between the different constituencies on some key issues on the Agenda. The sessions are open to all ICANN attendees and will take place in the main room, under the chairmanship of the respective Chairs of the four involved SOs and ACs. The sessions will be moderated to encourage structured interaction but devoted to contributions from the floor. There will be two sessions on Monday afternoon and one session on Thursday morning. Monday afternoon : Initial interaction * the first session, devoted to the expansion of the Domain Name Space, will address the two issues of new gTLDs and IDN ccTLDs, on the basis of the presentations by staff in the morning on the documents recently released (Draft <http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtld-comments-en.htm> Applicant Guidebook for new gTLDs and Draft <http://www.icann.org/en/topics/idn/fast-track/idn-cctld-implementation-pl an-23oct08-en.pdf> Implementation Plan for IDN ccTLD Fast Track) * the second session will be devoted to the Transition Action Plan, on the basis of the documents produced by the President's Strategic Committee (PSC) : the revised versions of the Transition <http://www.icann.org/en/jpa/iic/action-plan-revised.htm> Action Plan and Improving <http://www.icann.org/en/jpa/iic/improving-confidence-revised.htm> Institutional Confidence Although staff will be available to answer specific questions should the need arise, the purpose of these sessions is primarily to allow a direct, "trans-silo", interaction on key documents and major issues at stake between members of the Councils and Committees as well as all members of the community before they are discussed in the various constituency fora. It is hoped that the sessions will help identify the key points in the various documents that will most benefit from the opportunity of face-to-face interaction in Cairo and that they will trigger better understanding between the different constituencies on the potentially delicate issues. Thursday morning : reporting back A third session on Thursday morning will offer the opportunity to report back on discussions held during the week and to identify common issues of interest or concern within the Community and the way to address them moving forward. Cheers, Chris Disspain CEO - auDA Australia's Domain Name Administrator ceo@auda.org.au www.auda.org.au Important Notice - This email may contain information which is confidential and/or subject to legal privilege, and is intended for the use of the named addressee only. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not use, disclose or copy any part of this email. If you have received this email by mistake, please notify the sender and delete this message immediately. Please consider the environment before printing this email.