Reading the "invitation" I am not clear as to whether this is a "proposed" meeting or in fact will occur.  Also, who is invited?  We are an ALS applicant, we have not yet been approved as an ALS.  Are we invited?  Under the same terms as those already approved?  do we have standing in the meeting?

The deadline of April 15 for RSVP is closing fast.

To reiterate, for the record, I favor a face-to-face meeting for RALO formation, separate and distinct from the regular ICANN meetings.  At the other meetings attention is diverted to those other entities/persons and away fron RALO and our "togetherness".  (So to speak)

Here is the text of the invite that was sent as attachment earlier:

Dear Colleagues: 

The ICANN At-Large Staff, Regional Liaison for North America, and the Chair of the At-Large Advisory Committee would like to invite the North American ALS Community to a two-day meeting with the following proposed main agenda items:  

  1. The formation of the Regional At-Large Organisation for North America – with a focus on the Memorandum of Understanding with ICANN, and the regional Operating Principles – the objective being the completion of both texts
  2. The subjects of current concern to the community in the context of the wider debates in ICANN about the relationship between registrants and registrars, WHOIS privacy issues, the new GTLD process, and the External review of the At-Large Advisory Committee and community which is getting underway
 

Consumer Reports WebWatch (www.consumerwebwatch.org ), an ALS candidate, has kindly offered to host the meeting on May 3 and 4 at the Consumers Union offices in Yonkers, New York. Remote participation facilities will be made available for those unable to come in person. 

At this time, could each ALS send an email to travel-staff@atlarge-lists.icann.org informing us:

  1. Can you come in person on that date – or will you appoint an alternate to come for your ALS??
  2. If your ALS cannot attend in person, will you be able to attend remotely?
  3. If you or your alternate is attending in person, let us know which city your trip would start and end at.
 

As is usual, ICANN will provide travel support to cover the travel, hotel, and subsistence costs of one person per ALS, or candidate ALS, to attend the meeting.  Further details will follow but you can assume that the arrival date would be 2 May evening and departure 5 May morning. 

This meeting is not meant to replace the planned meeting of the North American ALS community in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the end of June; it is meant to supplement that meeting, allowing the San Juan sessions to focus more on policy instead of RALO formation.  

Please send your information to: travel-staff@atlarge-lists.icann.org  

DEADLINE FOR RESPONDING: 15th APRIL 2007. In order to keep airfare costs down, if we do not hear from you before this date you will need to attend telephonically rather than in person, so please – get your RSVP in today! 

After we receive your RSVP, you will be directed to the ICANN Travel Agent to book your ticket directly through them.



On 4/10/07, Wendy Seltzer <wendy@seltzer.com> wrote:
Yes, that's why I suggest RALO-formation meetings be concurrent with ICANN meetings.

Nice to have our powerlessness spelled out a bit further, though.

--Wendy
-----Original Message-----

From:   jam@jacquelinemorris.com
Subj:  RE: [NA-Discuss] NARALO Formation Meeting
Date:  Tue Apr 10, 2007 1:37 pm
Size:  3K
To:  Wendy Seltzer < wendy@seltzer.com>
cc:  "'Luc Faubert'" <LFaubert@conceptum.ca>,   na-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org

Hello Wendy

I ran this again past the ICANN VP in charge of the AtLArge budget.

In theory and in practicality, ICANN has indicated that funds have
been allocated specifically to RALO formation work. This isn't a NA
budget, or an EU, LAC, AF or AP budget. A possible scenario is that if
the NA region doesn't want to have this meeting, or form a  RALO, the
funds budgeted for this year for RALO formation may be used for
attendees to the LAC GA in San Juan, or more AP ALS reps to the
November ICANN meeting for the AP official MoU signing, and not
necessarily on other ALAC items we might want that are not
RALO-connected.

Remember that ALAC has no discretionary funds - it's ICANN's At Large
Director and VP that have control of the AtLarge budget.  We can and
do suggest activities that we would like funded, but ICANN Staff
determines exactly how those funds are expended. We are more than
halfway though the current fiscal year already.

So funding is NOT a valid reason for objection, according to the
people who hold the purse strings.

Jacqueline

Quoting Wendy Seltzer <wendy@seltzer.com>:

> While that may be true in thepry, the practical reality is that
> ICANN allocates finite funds to at-large activities.  The more we
> spend in one place, the less we have available for other things the
> group might find more valuable.
>
> --Wendy
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From:  "Jacqueline A. Morris" <jam@jacquelinemorris.com >
> Subj:  RE: [NA-Discuss] NARALO Formation Meeting
> Date:  Tue Apr 10, 2007 11:29 am
> Size:  3K
> To:  "'Wendy Seltzer'" <wendy@seltzer.com >,   "'Luc Faubert'"
> <LFaubert@conceptum.ca>,   <na-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org >
>
> Hi Wendy
> The meeting in NY will not affect funding for San Juan. Funding has been
> allocated to bring ALSes from the region to the ICANN meeting in the region.
> Funding was also allocated for at least one f2f in advance of the ICANN
> meeting at which the RALO was to be signed, for each region. Funding for
> these meetings is not only from the AtLarge budget at ICANN, but other ICANN
> budget line items as well.
>
> So - to be clear,  funding is NOT a valid reason to say no to the meeting.
>
> Jacqueline
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wendy Seltzer [mailto:wendy@seltzer.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 10, 2007 10:35 AM
> To: Luc Faubert; na-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org
> Subject: Re: [NA-Discuss] NARALO Formation Meeting
>
> Neither the full ALAC nor its North American members have approved this
> meeting.  It was sprung on us all by staff.
>
> I am arguing against this one for the same reasons I argued against
> Vancouver: the group will ultimately have to work online and should use its
> limited budget to attend as many full-ICANN meetings as possible.  We can
> draft documents as we have been, on the wiki and lists, but we can't talk to
> Board and other Constituency members over drinks and in hallways online.
>
> --Wendy
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> From:  "Luc Faubert" <LFaubert@conceptum.ca>
> Subj:  RE: [NA-Discuss] NARALO Formation Meeting
> Date:  Tue Apr 10, 2007 10:29 am
> Size:  3K
> To:  "Wendy Seltzer" <wendy@seltzer.com>,
> < na-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org>
>
> If we are to stick to our initial plan of signing the NARALO-ICANN MOU in
> San Juan in June, it is imperative that we agree on our MOU and Operating
> principles before then. In this light, I think that -- as I argued when we
> were discussing the possibility of meeting in Vancouver last February -- a
> face to face meeting could be helpful to advance our discussions and I am


--- message truncated ---



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Draft MoU with ICANN:
http://www.icannwiki.org/NA_RALO_MOU

Draft Operating Principles:
http://www.icannwiki.org/NA_RALO_OP



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