WG Members, Earlier in our review of prior WG efforts, we discussed the use of an outreach mechanism to Supporting Organizations (SO) and Advisory Committees (AC) that is a requirement under the PDP Guidelines. This outreach is meant for the SOs/ACs to provide additional input to the policy process at its early stages, noting that Public Comments to Initial and Final Reports are also an additional channel for input. As a result of our discussions, Tony Onorato was assigned by Jonathan an action item to dive deeper into the SO/AC input part of the process. In the further discussions, two issues were identified as possible short-comings. First, it was noted that the outreach was only limited to the SOs & ACs. In many cases, SO/AC input was limited because of the following: 1. The issue being deliberated was not of specific interest to a relative group and thus did not provide input. 2. A particular SO/AC did not have the appropriate expertise to provide input to a given issue and thus did not provide input. 3. Competing resources on other policy topics did not allow a particular group to provide input and thus prioritization was directed to more pressing issues being deliberated. The second issue identified was that all input received only contained qualitative information relative to the issue being discussed. A template is used to solicit the SO/AC input that almost always contains the WGs Charter questions to be addressed by the WG and is structured in a way that responses only allow for qualitative input. It was noted that the input was still of value, but it lacked a method to quantify the input for highlighting like issues as expressed by multiple groups. As a result, two recommendations are proposed as it relates to the early input process: 1. When initiating an outreach event for early input into the policy process, Working Groups should consider expanding the scope of the audience beyond SOs/ACs where additional expertise could provide value in the capture of information to better inform the issues being discussed. 2. When initiating an outreach event for early input into the policy process, Working Groups should construct a component of the request for input instrument that is structured in a way for quantitative input, such as a survey, that compliments the WG's Charter questions and information being sought after. Please note, that these are only preliminary recommendations for possible entry in to the WG's Initial Report. These are only drafts and the language of the recommendation shall be amended based on the WG's input. At this stage, it is not clear how such recommendations can be addressed by the GNSO. For example, will such recommendations require consideration by the GNSO's Structural Committee on Improvements, or if simply the Council can direct staff to initiate updates to the template work products. If a recommendation requires updates to the GNSO PDP Guidelines, there is a set procedure that requires updates to launch a Public Comment process before said updates can be applied, even upon approval by the GNSO Council. We will briefly discuss these on our call today, and circle back to these in more detail when the WG reviews other work products like the Issue Report, Charter and Final Report. The intent here is to stimulate discussion on the mailing list until that time. Thank you. B Berry A. Cobb Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers 720.839.5735 mail@berrycobb.com @berrycobb