The ICANN staff has been busily trying to find a place for us to meet in Istanbul, and this is proving rather difficult. Currently, the only day when there is both a room available in which we can meet and when the translation service is available is Friday, September 5, which is the last day of the IGF. The ICANN staff are still investigating possibilities for September 6, but there are public holidays in Turkey this week, which means it may take a few more days before we have any more information about room availability for September 6. (On Sept 1 there is room availability but the translation service is not available — I do not think we can meet without translation, but if you disagree, please say so.) At this point I think we have three options: 1. Decide that we will not meet in Istanbul. With this option, people who need to urgently make travel arrangements for the IGF can do so immediately. The ICANN staff is still checking on room availability in Los Angeles around the ICANN 51 meeting time, so we could aim to schedule our next face-to-face meeting around ICANN 51 by the end of this week or early next week (and perhaps schedule a couple of conference calls between now and then as well). We could also try to put together an informal “get to know each other” gathering in Istanbul even if we don’t meet formally. 2. Decide that we will meet on September 5. Some ICG participants will certainly have conflicts at various points during the day on September 5, but we could meet anyway, or perhaps meet for part of the day. There is a plenary session about IANA on the IGF schedule from 9:30 to 11:00 that day; we could plan to meet from 11:30 to 18:00, for example. I have also reached out to a contact involved with the IGF organizing to see if that IANA session could be moved to a different day so that the ICG could meet for the full day, and she is checking on that. Note: The room that is available to us on September 5 is near the IGF venue (it’s at the Grand Hyatt), but not at the IGF venue, so people transferring back and forth between the two venues will need a little bit of time to do that. 3. Wait until we get more information about September 6 to decide. Hopefully by the end of this week we will know more about room availability on September 6, so we could wait for that information before deciding. What are your thoughts about how to proceed? Do people have drop-dead dates by which they absolutely must book their travel? Thanks, Alissa