We all have different approaches to how gain the most out of ICANN meetings. Obvious to those who were sponsored needed to dedicate their time to mHandatory attendance at the assigned committees or working groups. Please note that the delegates were asked to report their daily activities on the ICANN AT LARGE wiki site. This as in the Toronto event was ignored by the vast majority. Only a few of us took the time to report all the meetings we attended on a daily bases. It's important to share what meetings we attended and our observations. As a NOMCOM committee member this work took priority at the expense of sessions such as Wednesday at 1 30 " What do Journalists Think" and the same time slot NCUC Workshop . It's hard to be at three places at the same time. I offered my video equipment for the NCUC session but due to private interviews I couldn't leave the building. These videos are important for non attendees and a record Whenever possible I attended the ALAC meetings during any breaks or early start times to garner as much information as possile. Note: On Monday night the AFRALO showcase was a nice event with great entertainment including amazing dancers. Each of the speakers at the event was recorded but yet posted. These speeches are ideal for an AFRALO Facebook site. Since it was recorded live no translation of the content. Some of the speeches are in French, majority is in English . Glenn Glenn McKnight mcknight.glenn@gmail.com skype gmcknight twitter gmcknight . On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 5:53 PM, Thompson, Darlene <DThompson1@gov.nu.ca>wrote:
Keiren,
You make some interesting points, however, Dharma was not there as a reporter. She was there as a representative of At-Large from NARALO. That means that she had no choice but to spend large blocks of her time in At-Large meetings. At-Large paid for her to be there and that is the expectation. If you wish to send a special reporter to a meeting, then you would have to do that on your own dime.
However, many of your points about how to dissect what is important and what is not is very useful.
Thanks,
D
Darlene A. Thompson CAP Administrator N-CAP/Department of Education P.O. Box 1000, Station 910 Iqaluit, NU X0A 0H0 Phone: (867) 975-5631 Fax: (867) 975-5610 dthompson@gov.nu.ca ________________________________________ From: na-discuss-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org [ na-discuss-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org] on behalf of Kieren McCarthy [ kierenmccarthy@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 1:48 PM To: na-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org Subject: Re: [NA-Discuss] Reporting on Durban meeting
Dharma,
Having covered far more ICANN meetings than is healthy, here are some useful pointers for producing information:
* 90 percent of the conference is jaw-jaw. It feels important at the time but on reflection you will discover that the vast majority of the discussions had - the back-and-forth, the debates, the disputes, the little controversies, the forced apologies - is little more than theatre. All of it will be forgotten by the following week and none of it has any useful impact.
* The hard part is knowing when and where the important conversation is happening or will happen. Half the time you can discover this by following Twitter - a sudden flurry of people talking about a particular session. Usually you can catch it by talking to people at lunch or in the bar in the evening. Likewise, if you miss something, don't worry - if it is important, everyone will be talking about it. The more people you ask, the most you can pick out what is really important against what people are currently wound up about.
* Never spend too long in one room. Even if you are there as a specific representative, you will better serve everyone by spending time not in that room. People spend an inordinate amount of time in their rooms either discussing what other people in other rooms think, or building up a huge body of understanding among themselves that is then blown out the water when everyone else goes a different direction.
* Catch people during breaks and just ask them what is on their mind. They'll tell you, and you'll get a very quick sense of what is going on across the meeting.
* Don't take notes during the meeting. You will end up with books and books of material that will never see the light of day. Instead, look for patterns. Jot down issues that seem to either create disagreement or build an excited sense of movement. Then, when there is a break, separate yourself for 5-10 minutes and write up a summary of what you think just happened, with highlights and noting who said something that stuck in your mind. If, on reflection, nothing really stands out, then write "Nothing much" and leave it at that.
When you start to get to the end of the week, you then have a really short and simple guide to the week and all the time you would have wasted in meetings making notes will have freed you up to think about what is actually important. If you need specific quotes (and you rarely do tbh), then there is always the audio or the transcript. If you remember who spoke, search for their name in the transcript. If you really want to hear how they said it, go back and forth between the audio and transcript until you find the relevant part.
* Don't go straight from a meeting to a social occasion. This happens far too frequently at ICANN meetings, mostly because people wrongly believe that a solution will arrive if you just talk it out for a bit longer. When you hit that point where everyone is fatigued - and it's not hard to spot - then just leave and get some fresh air. Seriously. You will miss nothing. Then give yourself 30 mins in a quiet area (your hotel room is often the best bet) and write down your thoughts for that day. If you put it off - especially if you kid yourself that you'll write it up when you're on the plane, or when you're back home - then you'll find it is much harder and takes much longer.
* Keep it brief. It is very easy to get pulled into long conversations happening in front of you in real time - we are, after all, human beings and that is how we have communicated for millions of years. But it is unbelievably boring to read long versions of a conversation. We just don't care when we're not in the room. Accept that and write as briefly as possible. Everyone will thank you for it.
* Be light-hearted. There is a tendency for everyone to take themselves far too seriously during an ICANN meeting. It's an atmosphere that starts feeding off itself and by the end of the week everyone is either in a frenzy or completely exhausted. If you let yourself made the odd joke or quip, or you find the light-hearted part of the day and highlight it, it will make the information much less oppressive and far more palatable. Just remember: literally nothing has ever happened at an ICANN meeting that hasn't be undone if people think about it later and decide they don't like it.
Hope that's helpful. Good luck with the cold.
Kieren
On Mon, Jul 22, 2013 at 10:50 AM, Dharma Dailey <dharma.dailey@gmail.com
wrote:
Hi Kieren,
I haven't forgotten your suggestion before the meeting for communicating back to the NARALO about the meeting. I heartily agree that for those of us who can't regularly attend meetings, it's super helpful to get a birds eye view analysis from our reps on the ground. IMO, that's low hanging fruit on the engagement continuum. Before attending, I imagined that I might send communications on the fly, but the way the schedule is constructed doesn't lend itself to reflection and synthesis. For example, on Sunday we were in meetings for 13 + hours straight. So, I quickly abandoned the idea of trying to report on the fly. However, I did leave with 31 pages of typed notes which I will wheedle down to one woman's guess at what will be of most interest to you and the rest of NARALO. One consequence of the travel and conference schedule was that I came back with a wicked cold. So, it may take me a few days to report back.
Best Regards, Dharma Dailey
On Jul 22, 2013, at 12:15 PM, "Garth Bruen" <gbruen@knujon.com> wrote:
Kieren,
Thanks for the comment. Our elections are critical and getting them right is even more important.
As far as reporting goes I would like to draw your attention to this document: http://www.knujon.com/icann_compliance_2012.pdf which shows that ICANN's internal compliance function is essentially non-functional regardless of recently published data by ICANN. This was a follow up to a report sent directly to the CEO (
http://www.icann.org/en/news/correspondence/bruen-to-chehade-22apr13-en.pdf
) which has not been responded to.
ICANN is failing the public At-Large and won't discuss these core concerns, has been completely silent on them. I think you can help by raising your voice to ask about them as well from within our community.
There is a very long report log here:
https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/At-Large+Durban+Meeting+Reports+
Workspace which is being constantly updated by At-Large representatives, even remote ones. Working groups regularly give reports on our monthly calls. We'd love to have you come on and give your perspective, let me know.
So, it's not really a question of reporting from At-Large, it's more of a question of why we have to leave our families and travel thousands of miles just to be ignored by ICANN. It's really not that much fun. If the problems could be solved and questions answered, we wouldn't have to go at all.
-Garth
-----Original Message----- From: na-discuss-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org [mailto:na-discuss-bounces@atlarge-lists.icann.org] On Behalf Of Kieren McCarthy Sent: Sunday, July 21, 2013 11:09 PM To: na-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org Subject: Re: [NA-Discuss] VOTE RESULTS: 2013 NARALO Secretary Selection
I wish as much time, energy and effort had gone into informing us about the meeting you were paid as our representatives to attend last week in Durban as has been out into bickering about voting procedures.
Kieren
[from mobile device]
On Jul 21, 2013, at 7:19 PM, Alan Greenberg <alan.greenberg@mcgill.ca> wrote:
Tom,
I presume that by "incumbent" you mean people in office such as the ALAC members or ALAC Chair (usually it is used referring to the person who is in office but is in a contested election).
I guess our experiences are different. Certainly someone who is part of a current organization is familiar with the others who may be in a contested election. But KNOW is definitely not the same as TRUST and not infrequently KNOW is synonymous with wanting someone new. (And I am not implying anything about the people in the current election).
Alan
At 21/07/2013 02:34 PM, toml@communisphere.com wrote:
Alan,
What I am trying to say is that incumbents will better know and trust a known player. Amopholy (sp?), might describe the human response that Option 4 draws upon. There are both good and bad associated with this. Random is life.
Best,
T9m Lowenhaupt
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