Dear Councillors, Next Wednesday, 10 November, we will start our call for applications for travel funding to the San Francisco meeting. Before we post the call, I would like to make a slight update to our travel guidelines (see http://www.ccnso.icann.org/about/ccnso-travel-funding-04nov08.pdf), by adding one sentence, which obliges the applicant to obtain agreement from their employer for applying for travel funding. The reason for this is that we have had funded travellers in the past who informed us just days before the meeting started (or even after the start of the meeting), that their employer was not allowing them to go. Their funding was then wasted. The suggested addition to the text is marked below in bold and italics. Expression of Interest The Expressions of Interest shall be sent via email to a specially dedicated email address, reaching the Travel Fund Committee. It shall contain the name and contact details of the party as well as a short description of the contribution of their work to the ccNSO. In addition, you must obtain agreement from the individual that you directly report to at your place of employment, and copy him or her in your application email. I would be very grateful if you could let me know if you have any problems with this, or if you have any other suggestions on how to deal with this problem. If I don’t hear back from you by next Tuesday, 9th November, I will assume that you are fine with the amendment and will go ahead and change the guidelines accordingly. Thanks! Gabi