Dear RALO Chairs and the At-Large Community

I need your help in promoting the Youtube streaming pilot, during ICANN 70.

At the behest of the ALAC, ICANN has increased the number of sessions, during ICANN 70, that will be streamed to Youtube as well as available via Zoom. There are a couple of key benefits to watching these high interest sessions via Youtube. First, there’s no need to register for the ICANN meeting. A person can simply go to the YouTube link and start watching the session. Second, if there are a number of participants with their cameras on, Youtube delivers the session as a single video feed rather than the bandwidth hungry separate channels, used by Zoom. This makes it easier for those with less bandwidth to watch the presentations. Accordingly, it might even be beneficial for some folks to dial into the Zoom meeting, so they can more easily ask questions, but watch the session on Youtube.

Turnout for the Youtube pilot during ICANN 69 was quite low because it still required registration and we did not learn about which sessions would be simulcast until very late. This time is different. We have both the sessions and the public links to propagate out to the broader community! The following are the sessions that will be made available for public streaming.

23 March: Plenary Session: Governmental Regulatory Developments and Community Discussion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CMyHagyO0Y

25 March: Plenary Session: Registry Voluntary Commitments: Getting it Right

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul7SCjQGE6E

25 March: ICANN Public Forum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFQysAgPOA0

25 March: ICANN Public Board Meeting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQn-LLHj_uY

The two plenaries, in particular, are of great interest to a broad range of people, interested in Internet Governance, even if they have not been closely tracking ICANN Policy development. The first plenary, on Regulatory Developments, speaks to the tension between a single internet for everyone and one which is splintered, due to national regulation. The second plenary, on Registry Voluntary Commitments, will focus on how new gTLDs will better keep their promises to the community, regarding who can register a domain name, including in heavily regulated areas.

Please make a point to evangelize these sessions and the accompanying YouTube links throughout your communications channels. The IGF USA had 1,500 people participate via Youtube in 2020 so we know the interest is there. If we are unsuccessful in promoting YouTube as an alternative method to participate, it is likely that ICANN will not continue these efforts. Let’s make a point to exploit this hard won resource for the individual internet user community.

Thank you.

Maureen, Jonathan and Joanna