http://blog.icann.org/2013/02/exploring-more-effective-forms-of-engagement-g... Exploring More Effective Forms of Engagement - GNSO Non Contract Parties Gather in Los Angeles by David Olive on February 11, 2013 January was a busy month for ICANN community engagement. Building on the successes of the DNS Industry CEO roundtable event and the Europe regional Registry/Registrar meeting, the Non-Contracted community of the GNSO held its first intersessional meeting in Los Angeles as well. This two-day gathering convened 43 non-contract community leaders from the GNSO as well as other community members participating remotely. The group represented a healthy mix of ICANN veterans and several new participants from both the Commercial Stakeholder Group, including the Business, Intellectual Property and Internet Service Provider constituencies, and the Non-Commercial Stakeholder Group, including the Non-Commercial Users and Not-for-Profit Operational Concerns constituencies. One of the purposes of the meeting was to create the opportunity-outside of the pressures and schedule strains of an ICANN Public Meeting-for community leaders to discuss longer-range substantial community issues, build relationships, and collaborate with each other, as well as senior ICANN staff, on strategic and operational issues that impact the GNSO NCPH community. Throughout the course of the meeting, the participants interacted with President and CEO Fadi Chehadé (who provided an overview of the strategic challenges and opportunities facing ICANN) as well as Sally Costerton and Tarek Kamel (who updated the community on engagement efforts across the ICANN ecosystem) and Xavier Calvez, CFO (who provided an overview of the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget and SO/AC request processes). Christine Willett briefed the participants on the status of the new gTLD program while Margie Milam discussed the latest RAA Negotiations and WHOIS efforts. The senior staff greatly enjoyed hosting the community at ICANN Los Angeles because of the access it provided for engagement and discussion. As a result of the various working sessions, the staff is now evaluating community requests for support and prioritizing solutions to meet these needs. As always, the recordings and transcripts of the sessions are available on the community Wiki page as resources. See - https://community.icann.org/display/ncph/Transcripts and https://community.icann.org/display/ncph/MP3+Recordings. Without a doubt, the intersessional meeting of the GNSO NCPH community set an important precedent for engagement. We appreciate the goodwill and creative contributions made by several planning volunteers (including Marilyn Cade, Robin Gross, Michael Adams, Alain Berranger, Bill Drake, Tony Holmes, Steve Metalitz, Klaus Stoll and Marc Trachtenberg) to make this gathering a productive experience for all. We are grateful for the thoughtful contributions and active participation of the community throughout the two days. Above all else, the event provided a dynamic and intimate setting for open exchange and interaction on various topics and collaborative efforts between the community and staff, advancing ICANN's unique bottom-up, consensus-drive multi-stakeholder model. Staff will be preparing a thorough report on the resource impacts and utility of the meeting. We welcome any community comments and ideas about the Los Angeles meeting in particular and more generally on the value of these types of meetings outside the normal ICANN Public Meeting rotation. Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org<mailto:gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org> http://gnso.icann.org