[council] Re: [council] Chairs roundtable

["Wolf-Ulrich.Knoben@xxxxxxxxxxx" <Wolf-Ulrich.Knoben@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks StÄ?phane, it Sounds a Bit like other SO's not being satisfied
with the work and time amount ICANN is committing to new gTLDs??.
Regards Wolf-Ulrich

-----Original Message-----
Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2011 02:42:53 +0100
Subject: [council] Chairs roundtable
From: Stéphane Van Gelder <stephane.vangelder@xxxxxxxxx>
To: Council GNSO <council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>


Councillors,

Just a short summary of the informal meeting of SO and AC chairs that
happened today. It was a 2-hour informal discussion, in the room were:
Rod Beckstrom, David Olive, Akram Atallah, Olivier Crepin Leblond (ALAC
Chair), Heather Dryden (GAC Chair), Patrick Falstrom (SSAC Chair), Matt
Larson (RSSAC Vice Chair), Lesley Cowley (new ccNSO Chair), Chris
Disspain (outgoing ccNSO Chair).

We started off discussing the DOC's NOI on the IANA function and
associated contract. Main points of the discussion were:
- Although the GAC will probably not submit a response, a handful of
national govts may.
- This is the 1st time the DOC has put out an NOI on the IANA function.
- There's an option for a 6-month extension of the current contract and
expectations in the room were that the DOC would probably exercise this
option.

We then discussed technical issues around the root, and the probability
of seeing the root forked by one or several countries. There was a
feeling in the room that one important aspect is perception, i.e. if
people are happy enough with the current model, then the temptation to
adopt another one lessens.

The last area of discussion we went to is current workload and
prioritization within ICANN. Main points of the discussion were:
- Is the current workload caused by new gTLDs and will it lessen once
the program starts?
- There is a need to better define the roles within the organisation
that is ICANN. Who is supposed to do what? What is the Board's role?
What is the role of each SO and AC? There needs to be a clearly defined
roadmap and flowchart so that people know what they're supposed to do.
- Training might help, so that staff and those volunteers that work hard
on the SO and ACs might be able to put their meaning across in a more
concise way, write shorter reports and emails, etc.

As a conclusion, there was a general feeling that a meeting like this is
useful for the various leaders of the SOs and ACs to get to know each
other better and to understand the differences between each group more.

I hope this short summary is useful for you.

Thanks,

Stéphane