Re: [council] Proposed Agenda Item - Elimination of Friday Public Board Meetings

[Stéphane Van Gelder <stephane.vangelder@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks Wolf and Wolfgang for your comments.

If there is more decision on this, could I urge others to chime in so that we 
can ascertain whether a full agenda item is needed on this, or whether the 
discussion can be had on the list.

Thanks,

Stéphane Van Gelder
Directeur Général / General manager
INDOM Group NBT France
----------------
Head of Domain Operations
Group NBT

Le 3 mai 2012 à 11:38, <KnobenW@xxxxxxxxxx> <KnobenW@xxxxxxxxxx> a écrit :

> My personal view on this is mixed.
>  
> Saving of time and money is always preferable - but not at the expense of 
> transparency when the board is taking decisions at public meetings. SO/AC/BC 
> reporting could be removed by providing them in written form only.
> But it makes a difference
> - to hold "a one-hour session following the Public Forum on Thursday 
> afternoon..... and outline what they have heard during the week from their 
> meetings with AC/SOs and their constituent parts and identify those matters 
> they expect to be dealing with...", to decide upon during non-public board 
> sessions and at the following ICANN Public Meeting to "report to the 
> community on what they have dealt with since Prague"
> or
> - to discuss and take decisions publicly
>  
> I'm curious to know whether this board decision was based on the survey 
> ("Improving Global Engagement") ICANN started in March where they solicited 
> community input on improving e.g. effectiveness. For me the Public Meetings - 
> with all their facets - are per se the highlights of global engagement.
> 
> Best regards 
> Wolf-Ulrich
> 
>  
> 
> Von: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Im 
> Auftrag von Stéphane Van Gelder
> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 2. Mai 2012 22:52
> An: Margie Milam
> Cc: council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Council
> Betreff: Re: [council] Proposed Agenda Item - Elimination of Friday Public 
> Board Meetings
> 
> Thanks Margie, much appreciated.
> 
> In the meantime, let me add some more context for the benefit of the Council.
> 
> In CR, Steve asked me what I would think of the idea of shortening the ICANN 
> meeting week by doing away with the Friday. This was floated to me as just an 
> idea. I was given no indication that it would be implemented one day, let 
> alone in Prague. And I was given no details on its possible implementation.
> 
> When Steve discussed this with me, I did not get the sense that he meant to 
> do a public consultation on this decision. This was a private conversation 
> and not one where it was at any time made clear to me that I should break 
> Steve's confidence and discuss this publicly. That is why I did not discuss 
> this here.
> 
> This week's announcement has, as Jeff says, generated some negative comments. 
> Those that I have seen are that this decision was taken without any 
> consultation and that doing away with the Friday Board meeting is detrimental 
> to transparency.
> 
> My own personal view is otherwise. I believe that cutting the Friday out of 
> the ICANN week is a step in the right direction towards reducing costs and 
> time challenges for meeting participants, including the Board. Over the past 
> year, I have seen the Board work hard to improve its transparency. We now 
> have detailed rationale on votes at every meeting and explanations of the 
> issues being considered. So I am comfortable with giving the Board a little 
> of the benefit of the doubt in trying out new ideas such as this one.
> 
> Stéphane
> 
> 
> 
> Le 2 mai 2012 à 22:10, Margie Milam a écrit :
> 
>> Hi Stéphane,
>> I’ll follow up internally to provide the requested information.
>> Best regards,
>> Margie
>> From: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
>> Behalf Of Stéphane Van Gelder
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2012 2:08 PM
>> To: council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Council
>> Subject: Re: [council] Proposed Agenda Item - Elimination of Friday Public 
>> Board Meetings
>> Is someone from Staff able to provide the requested information, whether it 
>> be on the list or during the next Council meeting?
>> Stéphane
>> Le 2 mai 2012 à 20:38, Neuman, Jeff a écrit :
>> 
>> 
>> All,
>> Given the announcement yesterday of the elimination of the public Board 
>> meetings at ICANN, I would like to put this on the Council agenda as a 
>> discussion item.  I would like it if someone from ICANN that is familiar 
>> with the rationale behind this decision could give us an explanation of how 
>> and why that decision was made. 
>> Also, if the ICANN Board can unilaterally declare that all of its meetings 
>> will be private, does this set a precedent for its Supporting Organizations 
>> to do the same thing?  I have not reviewed the bylaws with respect to the 
>> Council in a little bit, but does the Council have the discretion to declare 
>> that it will no longer hold a public GNSO Council meeting at ICANN?
>> 
>> I think there has been enough disapproval expressed within the community in 
>> the last day or so that at least merits a discussion of this decision at the 
>> Council level.
>> 
>> Thanks.
>> Jeffrey J. Neuman 
>> Neustar, Inc. / Vice President, Business Affairs
>> 21575 Ridgetop Circle, Sterling, VA 20166
>> Office: +1.571.434.5772  Mobile: +1.202.549.5079  Fax: +1.703.738.7965 / 
>> jeff.neuman@xxxxxxxxxxx  / www.neustar.biz
>