At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) Report to the 34th International Meeting of ICANN, Mexico City

The ALAC, has been, with the exception of a few listed joint projects such as the joint AC/SO and E-Crimes session and mainstream ICANN Meeting events, devoted to our At-Large Summit.
The Summit began its face to face work on Saturday 28th February 2009 in the main venue, and indeed there was hundreds of hours committed to getting our community  properly prepared the summit, and in particularly recognize, here in my report the preparatory calls and extensive preparation that the 5 working groups (At-Large Engagement in ICANN; Future Structure and Governance of ICANN; New gTLDs incl. IDN gTLDs; Transparency and Accountability of ICANN; Security Issues within ICANN's Mandate) and it is the quite significant product of these efforts that has resulted in the Summit Declaration handed to the Board via the President & CEO at this morning's Summit Closing General Session, Wrap-Up, Outlook and Closing remarks. The Board should not that in the true spirit of engagement in a continuous improvement process this Declaration by the At-Large delegates representing their respective At-Large Structures (ALS's) the now further refined and expanded Declaration has been uploaded to our Summit (ATLAS) micro-site for the communities review and the Boards note. At-Large Summit ATLAS Micro Site Where you will also find the materials presented and referred to in this mornings' closing session and the expanded information from each of the working groups reporting which outline dozens of specific recommendations for consideration.
ALAC held it's normal monthly meeting for February here at the Summit on Tuesday evening and it was rewarding and enlivening to see how many of our Summit attendees (delegates + others) attended this event at the main venue for the Summit the Melia Hotel. I refer you to the copy of the ATLAS Meeting Guide and daily schedule (soft copy of which is also available from the site) to look at the extensive program which was run.
It was an unprecedented event for ICANN as well as our At-Large Community, as a first-ever gathering of the representatives of individual Internet users participating in ICANN, representing the Internet Users of their locality, joined the ICANN At-Large as certified At-Large Structures (ALS's) with now more than 112 certified, or about to be certified, established across the globe; 92 leaders from this language and culturally diversified group have come together to meet in dedicated sessions and General Assembly in conjunction with the 34 th ICANN Meeting.
At the end of this event, thanks to our ‘ICANN 101' and thematic sessions, each or our ALS's (more than just here in Mexico, as many will be attending remotely and following our work online via our collaborative tools) will have an equitable understanding of ICANN and our work within it, as an essential and important voice of Internet Users and Domain Name Registrants. Each of us however will have also experienced something else indeed something wonderful indeed! As the Summit Work Groups for policy development bring together the rich tapestry of personalities and views into a consensus built outcome, we will have also leaned to trust and appreciate each other, and will have built, I believe, a robust and effective, convivial network that can grow proficiently in both its global structure and productivity, and we will have of course made many valuable and enduring friends. A personal highlight for me was the evening of the ‘Fayre and Poster Session' where we were able to share experiences and look at displays of the important local activities so many of our ALS's undertake in their local environments. At this point I would like to specifically recognize, acknowledge and most sincerely thank our most generous sponsor for this excellent event .ASIA.
Of course now the work "from the edges in" must, and I trust will continue, but regardless the productivity of the events held here at this meeting has resulted in tangible outcomes that have already assisted the ALAC in doing a better job in its role as the ‘Primary voice of the Internet User' (as recommended in the ALAC Review).
Cheryl Langdon-Orr (ALAC Chair 2007-2009)
Thursday 5th March, 2009