UA - Communications Sub-committee Members: Hello everyone. Thank you for being part of this effort. In order for us to present a meaningful approach to the Communication issue at ICANN's Singapore meeting, I would like to have a conference call to create at least a framework for a public discussion (if not a more definitive approach). Melissa Bassignani will be sending a Doodle Poll to you all, asking your availability on Friday for a 75-minute meeting. Coming out of the meeting in Washington, I see two tasks (that will form our meeting agenda: 1) Determine messaging, i.e., developing content 2) Describing a distribution model, i.e., communications channels, public relations efforts, and potentially budget To start us thinking - during our call, I propose we discuss and prioritize messaging strategies and which ones might be most effective. They might focus on: 1) ASCII issues primarily in order to keep the messaging simple and required investment low. 2) Reputation of companies and application writers that hold themselves out to be technically competent 3) IDN issues as UA is a global issue with global impact 4) The relatively low cost of repair 5) This has to be dome sooner or later anyway: do it once, do it right and never do it again 6) Firms are turning away customers 7) Developing awareness of the new TLD program overall Regarding a distribution model, I see four channels but I am more out of my depth here and will rely on you all: 1) Social media, using the domain name industry and ICANN community to multiply messages through their own networks. 2) News stories: using news contacts within different global organizations and using (again) the ICANN community to make placements. 3) Individual corporate contacts: using high-level contact between global organizations to get proper management attention on the issue 4) Formal public relations efforts: hiring the correct firms to publicize the message to the right quarters Please comment on and contribute to these lists (or make other comments) prior to the meeting. These ideas are meant to be discussion starters. For the public session in ICANN's Singapore meeting, I think we want to present these options and perhaps prioritize the choices accompanied by our reasoning. Thanks in advance for trying to attend. (Apologies to Edmund - the meeting will be at an unfortunate time in Hong Kong.) Regards, Kurt _____________________________________ Kurt Pritz Executive Director, Domain Name Association kpritz@thedna.org +1-310-400-4184 Skype: kjpritz