Just a couple of clarifications here: On point 2, ICANN doesn't hire the sound and A/V people for ICANN meetings - these people are actually chosen and retained by the host committees for each meeting and so the level of skill which these technicians have is entirely dependent upon the choices the host committee makes. The LA meeting is different in that ICANN is contracting for all of the services for the meeting, since it has extraordinarily been held in the USA instead of in Asia as originally planned. This is allowing us to make arrangements for the meeting on a 'clean sheet of paper' basis in many ways, whereas in the normal course of events the relationships between what ICANN provides and what the host committees provides is a structured one that is the same for each meeting (the RFP for meeting hosts can be found on icann.org if anyone is interested in this subject.) It is also worth noting that the growth in meetings and the requirements for interpretation, remote participation, and the like have changed dramatically over the last few meetings - especially for the at-large community, as the number of people attending ICANN meetings has dramatically increased - and our needs have grown correspondingly. The meetings staff are working to change the way things work to accomodate all these needs and they are very aware of the needs in this area. On 11 Sep 2007, at 01:40, Thompson, Darlene wrote:

Hi all,

As mentioned on the telephone conf. today, we had a Secretariat's conference this evening and I was to make a couple of enquiries:

1. Question: Why doesn't the region get to select its own people coming to LA rather than ICANN dictating to them? Answer: Its actually only one person per region coming to LA. Apparently some of the regions don't have a chair or don't have a secretariat. If the region doesn't have a Secretariat, the Chair goes. If the region has both, the Secretariat goes. So, its only one person per region, mainly Secretariats, and that is how they were chosen.

2. Concern: We need to make remote participation MUCH better. Answer: This is one of Nick's pet peeves. Apparently, ICANN has been in the habit of hiring the cheapest of the cheap for sound so, you get what you pay for. Nick has been promised that, this year, they are paying for someone competent. He has been bringing this up to the "higher ups" on a frequent basis.

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-- Regards, Nick Ashton-Hart Director, At-Large ICANN Tel: +33 (450) 40 46 88 USA Tel: +1 (202) 657-5460 Fax: +41 (22) 595 85 44 mobile: +41 (79) 595 54 68 email: nick.ashton-hart@icann.org Win IM: ashtonhart@hotmail.com / AIM/iSight: nashtonhart@mac.com / Skype: nashtonhart Online Bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtonhart