Re: AW: [council] Meeting Protocol for Brussels and beyond...

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

IMO, it's very important we take the English language barrier problem brought 
up by Olga very seriously.

It is a clear hindrance to people who are not as comfortable as native English 
speakers.

This has to be taken into account by meeting leaders so that these people are 
allowed more time to express themselves. It all goes back to having the leaders 
manage the queue effectively, a point on which I think we are all agreed now.

Stéphane

Le 4 juin 2010 à 08:27, <KnobenW@xxxxxxxxxx> a écrit :

> Terry, acknowledged!
> The major problems to understand "English" during my almost 30 years 
> international career came up when UK originees took the floor.
> I'm still thinking about the reason :-)
> 
> Regards 
> Wolf-Ulrich
> 
>  
> 
> Von: Terry L Davis, P.E. [mailto:tdavis2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
> Gesendet: Freitag, 4. Juni 2010 07:44
> An: 'Olga Cavalli'; 'Adrian Kinderis'
> Cc: Knoben, Wolf-Ulrich; stephane.vangelder@xxxxxxxxx; 
> william.drake@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Betreff: RE: [council] Meeting Protocol for Brussels and beyond...
> 
> Olga
>  
> Well stated.
>  
> On the “open mic”, we will need then to assure that our Council questions are 
> not allowed to consume the full time.  I suspect that the Chair will have to 
> limit our discussion times some to insure that public questions are allowed 
> time.  In other public forums I have worked (i.e. Land Use Commission and 
> several others) we provided a table with a signup list for the public to 
> speak and a timer to insure that they did not go on too long.  (We were 
> trying avoid the 7PM to 3AM meetings and eventually we just had to close the 
> meetings at 11:30PM anyway so we could get some sleep on Commission nights.)
>  
> And as to English as a 2nd language, I’m from the southern part of the US 
> originally where we tend to speak more softly and slowly and with different 
> accents.  I was in my mid-20’s on my first trip abroad for AID to the middle 
> east.  I thought I spoke “English” but I never understood a single word the 
> Heathrow customs officer said to me; the woman behind me very patiently 
> repeated everything he said to me so I could understand what he was asking 
> me.  So I understand at least somewhat that issue.
>  
> Take care
> Terry
>  
> From: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
> Behalf Of Olga Cavalli
> Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 8:33 AM
> To: Adrian Kinderis
> Cc: KnobenW@xxxxxxxxxx; stephane.vangelder@xxxxxxxxx; 
> william.drake@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [council] Meeting Protocol for Brussels and beyond...
>  
> Hi Adrian,
> thanks for asking my opinion.
> I will make some comments on this regard from a personal perspective as a 
> Noncom Appointee to the GNSO, and based on my experience in ICANN meetings 
> and in other international and regional fora.
> 
> - I am in favor of open meetings, I think there is great value in 
> multiparticipation and I support that. I also think that time and space 
> should be well managed to allow GNSO council members to use efficiently the 
> time of the meeting as well.
> 
> - About seats: I would find useful having name tags, and also for avoiding 
> confusion main seats should be for GNSO Council Members.
> 
> - About questions and open mic, I suggest that the chair mention some time 
> and order management rules at the beginning of the meeting. For example 
> questions from other participants who are not GNSO council members could be 
> done after the councillors have already spoken. Also it could be useful to 
> say how much time each speaker has as a maximum, diversity in who speaks on 
> the open mic also should be encouraged. If someone has already spoken then 
> the floor should be given to some one else in the queue.
> 
> - About LANGUAGE: some of us and many of the general public participants have 
> English as a second language. We all know that it is the working language of 
> the GNSO and we accept this.
> But sometimes native speakers using colloquial or local expressions, or 
> speaking very quicly, makes it difficult or even impossible for us to 
> understand what is being said.
> So I would suggest that our chair could also mention this and ask for those 
> who will speak to do it in a clear an neutral language, if possible.
> 
> Thanks and regards
> Olga
> 
> 2010/6/3 Adrian Kinderis <adrian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Wolf,
>  
> That must have worked well at a conference with 20% the usual participation 
> level and no new DAG to bang on about…
>  
> I think it will be very different in Brussels. Hence my original email.
>  
> I would love to hear from our Chair and Vice chair on this (not you 
> Stephane!).
>  
> Adrian Kinderis
> 
>  
> From: KnobenW@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:KnobenW@xxxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 9:45 PM
> To: stephane.vangelder@xxxxxxxxx; william.drake@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> Cc: Adrian Kinderis; council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: AW: [council] Meeting Protocol for Brussels and beyond...
>  
> Stéphane,
> I personally felt comfortable the way you were managing the weekend sessions 
> in Nairobi which means: councillors taking seats at the table and speaking 
> first to the various topics. Time for open discussion was still available and 
> seemed having been taken into schedule account. I would welcome to keep it 
> this way.
>  
>  
> Regards 
> Wolf-Ulrich
> 
>  
>  
> Von: owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Im 
> Auftrag von Stéphane Van Gelder
> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 2. Juni 2010 08:37
> An: William Drake
> Cc: Adrian Kinderis; council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Council
> Betreff: Re: [council] Meeting Protocol for Brussels and beyond...
> 
> Bill's summary is spot on as far as I can remember. In Nairobi, Adrian had 
> pointed out the need to ensure Councillors get priority at our weekend 
> sessions. As acting Chair at that meeting, I tried to do just that. My 
> impression was that by allowing Councillors to speak first and then opening 
> it to other members of the community, we were able to ensure that these 
> sessions were productive for Councillors while still remaining open and 
> useful for the larger community as well.
>  
> Stéphane
> 
> Le 2 juin 2010 à 08:20, William Drake a écrit :
>  
> 
> Hi Adrian,
>  
> On Jun 2, 2010, at 2:24 AM, Adrian Kinderis wrote:
>  
> 
> I would like to suggest that there be no questions from the floor during 
> these sessions.
>  
> When we last had this conversation didn't we decide against draconian
>     measures that would preclude community participation (and were hence 
> poorly
>     received by some) and for some intermediate steps like only Councilors at
>     the table, chair gives preference to Councilor comments and right sizes 
> the
>     time for others, etc? If people think this has not worked sufficiently,
>     wouldn't it be possible to simply have an offline conversation with the 
> most
>     relevant parties saying please respect the following ground rules, and to
>     reiterate these at the outset of meetings?
>  
>  
> On Jun 2, 2010, at 2:51 AM, Adrian Kinderis wrote:
>  
> 
> I'll shout an extra round at the bar on Saturday night to make up for it :)
>  
> Hmm...didn't I hear something like this a few meetings ago, didn't 
> materialize... :-)
>  
> BTW, on the matter of after hour amusement, perhaps I'll pass along something 
> I pointed out to NCSG, might be of interest to some here:
>  
> 
> On Sun, May 30, 2010 at 1:33 PM, William Drake
> <william.drake@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> Hi
>  
> Just an FYI for people who will be attending ICANN Brussels, as with Paris 
> two summers ago, this meeting overlaps with the annual Fete de la Musique 
> held across France, Belgium, Switzerland, etc.  Just had a look at the 
> program 
> http://2010.fetedelamusique.be/recherches?tid=&tid_1=All&city=Bruxelles and 
> inter alia Saturday night 19th Toots and the Maytals is playing in the park 
> near the conference site.
>  
> Bill
>  
>