Dear Nick: My comments are below, hoping you find a way to use your good offices to get it to Diane. Question 1: What is the goal of having the Board meet with a Supporting Organization, Constituency, or Advisory Committee during the ICANN meeting? ANSWER: I should think this was intended to provide the Board with direct connection to the SO's for an opportunity to develop a ground-level appreciation of the issues of moment in the SO and the several threads of opinions that might be present above and beyond what the dry (may we say stale?) reports to the Board and interactions with liaisons may communicate. Question 2: What is the best communication method between the Board and a Supporting Organization, Constituency or Advisory Committee during the ICANN meeting? ANSWER: Face-to-face in scheduled meetings, of course. Question 3: How much time is needed for effective communication with the Board? ANSWER: I should think anywhere from 1-1.5 hours. Question 4: Who of the Board should come to such meetings ­ the CEO & the Chair? A representative group of board members? All Board members? ANSWER: It depends. Always the CEO and almost always the Chair. However I differ slightly from the present practice on which Board members should attend. I think the nature of the SO's work or issues in play may demand the presence of other Board members judged to have particular knowledge and skillsets deemed helpful in carrying the discussions forward. Kind regards, Carlton Samuels The University of the West Indies On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 9:21 AM, At-Large Staff <staff@atlarge.icann.org>wrote:

Dear All:

In case this has slipped below the radar screen, we forward the below message from Diane Schroeder for you to consider.

To the Supporting Organisations and Advisory Committees:

...

The Board is interested in your views on the best ways for the Board and Supporting Organizations & Advisory Committees to interact at the ICANN international meetings. As the community grows and the issues become

more

...

complex, it has become a greater challenge to find a way to effectively and efficiently organise this interaction.

In particular, the Board would like to come to a shared understanding of what Constituency Day should be, with a view to trying out different ways of interaction during the Constituency Day at next ICANN international meeting in Sydney..

At present the Constituency Day is organised as follows: the Board is divided up and a number of members are assigned to various constituencies for different amounts of time depending on the constituency. The idea behind this approach was to give the Board members an opportunity to listen to some of the constituency business, not just rely on the question and answer time with the Board. To prepare for the visit by the Board members, each constituency is asked to provide a list of topics that they would like to discuss with the Board. Some constituencies are better at providing this than others. Board Members are assigned to constituencies other than the one with which they are most familiar. In addition, the CEO and the Chair visit all constituencies. At the end of the day, after all the visits, the Board comes together and exchanges the views they have heard from the various groups.

To assist in the discussion about the future of Constituency Day, the Board would like your thoughts on the following specific questions, by the end of April. 1. What is the goal of having the Board meet with a Supporting Organization, Constituency, or Advisory Committee during the ICANN meeting? 2. What is the best communication method between the Board and a Supporting Organization, Constituency or Advisory Committee during the ICANN meeting? 3. How much time is needed for effective communication with the Board? 4. Who of the Board should come to such meetings ­ the CEO & the Chair? A representative group of board members? All Board members?

Thank you for your help in this process.

Diane Schroeder -- Regards,

Nick Ashton-Hart, Matthias Langenegger, Heidi Ullrich, Marie-Hélène Bouchoms ICANN At-Large Staff email: staff@atlarge.icann.org

_______________________________________________ ALAC mailing list ALAC@atlarge-lists.icann.org

http://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac_atlarge-lists.icann.org

At-Large Online: http://www.atlarge.icann.org ALAC Working Wiki: http://st.icann.org/alac