Dear EPDP Team, I hope you all had a well-deserved break following ICANN71. Thank you again for participating in the outreach session - hopefully it will result in submissions containing new and practical suggestions to help advance the EPDP Team's deliberations as we move into the next phase of our work. As discussed during our last meeting, the leadership team has worked with Melissa Allgood, a certified mediator and member of ICANN's policy team, to further plan for mediated conversations that we hope will prepare the ground for a constructive review of comments and deliberations on the path to a Final Report. I have copied Melissa on this email. As a next step, the gnso-secs team will be reaching out to each group represented on the team to schedule an optional 1:1 with Melissa. As indicated previously, these will be informal (not recorded) conversations that will allow each group to speak freely about possible concerns as well as possible opportunities for compromise and improvements. We know the EPDP process continues to challenge us all, but we hope that this approach will help us look ahead and find common ground, where possible. Following this first round of conversations, Melissa will make suggestions to leadership and the team on whether further conversations, either individually or in limited group settings, may be helpful. As part of the scheduling of the meeting, you will also have an opportunity to indicate whether or not you would like leadership and/or staff support for this effort, i.e., to be present on the call - it is really up to you to decide. We know that this is something new, and may or may not work, but we hope we can rely on everyone's goodwill to at least give it a shot. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Leadership, Staff and/or Melissa. Best regards, Keith