Hi Everyone: Thank you again for your time, effort and thought during the ICANN meeting. While others were visiting the various great sites that Barcelona has to offer, we were all not visiting the various great sites that Barcelona has to offer. Yesterday, I met with Nick Tomasso who heads the ICANN meetings team to develop some options for the next face-to-face meeting. At various times during the past week, many of you approached me with the following points: Our results are significantly better in a face-to-face format The proverbial clock is ticking We should strive to maintain the momentum we have, therefore We should hold our next meeting as soon as possible. With that in mind, Nick said he could support the following two options, a meeting In the first or second week in December In the second or third week of January [Meetings less than 90 days away require Göran’s approval, but Nick believes he can obtain this. Nick is checking on venues with which he is familiar in Brussels now, although the meeting location is not certain.] I am of two minds on this but do have an opinion and would appreciate your feedback over the next few days so that I can get back to Nick the first of next week. 1) The January meeting is more or less timed for us to take into account the first round of public comment. 2) Te December meeting allows us to keep working after the initial report is issued (or to wrap up the initial report in the worse case). I think the December meeting is the better option for us. We are not going to stand down after the initial report is issued. There is a lot of work to be done. It is better, I think, to meet and consider unsettled issues, rather than meet to discuss the effect of public comment. If we are serious about finishing on time, I don’t think we can stop. So despite the inconvenience (and it will be very inconvenient for me), I think we should meet sooner rather than later. Of course, this all depends on the ICANN meetings team pulling this off, which is no small feat, Let me know your thoughts, I will write to Nick on Tuesday. Best regards, Kurt