[ALAC] ICANN meeting on Fridays/staff demands

Wed Mar 28 15:00:16 UTC 2012

Yes Olivier,

Our staff did a special effort to manage the situation in San José: More meetings with less meeting rooms. There were places where the service wasn't as perfect as in the other meetings, but it was because of this mess. I find our staff the most efficient and the most committed. 

---------------------------------------------------------------
Tijani BEN JEMAA
Executive Director
Mediterranean Federation of Internet Associations
Phone : + 216 70 825 231
Mobile : + 216 98 330 114
Fax     : + 216 70 825 231
---------------------------------------------------------------

-----Message d'origine-----
De : alac-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org [mailto:alac-bounces at atlarge-lists.icann.org] De la part de Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond
Envoyé : mercredi 28 mars 2012 15:13
À : alac at atlarge-lists.icann.org
Objet : Re: [ALAC] ICANN meeting on Fridays/staff demands

Dear Beau,

yes, with 33 sessions to run, there were times when staff had to run 2 sessions in parallel.
Furthermore, the topology of the place made it sometimes hard for staff to close one meeting in one place and run across to the other end of the campus for the next. The scheduling Team was definitely not attentive to this fact.
That said, considering all of the work our At-Large staff had to do, I think that they did a heck of a job and am more than impressed by the work they did. In fact, I was awed that they were in the main ALAC room daily at 6:50am and still there, still working at 6:30pm daily. And in the evenings too, preparing the next day, they were working away in the staff room whilst some of us were at the Music night or Gala. Top marks from me.

That said - I am definitely sensitive to not repeating this again.

Kind regards,

Olivier

On 28/03/2012 14:28, Beau Brendler wrote :
> Another aspect of this I forgot to mention was: I, too, have seen the at-large ICANN staff overburdened. Costa Rica seemed to be the worst, for whatever reason. The support was just not as smooth, and staff kept leaving meetings early or coming in late in order to run other meetings -- seemed like there were too many meetings run concurrently. The NA RALO meeting was particularly unfortunate in this regard. This is not a criticism of staff, but of the current arrangements as they are.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>> From: tijani.benjemaa at fmai.org
>> Sent: Mar 28, 2012 5:57 AM
>> To: 'Beau Brendler' <beaubrendler at earthlink.net>, 'Evan Leibovitch' 
>> <evan at telly.org>
>> Cc: 'ALAC Working List' <alac at atlarge-lists.icann.org>
>> Subject: RE: [ALAC] ICANN meeting on Fridays
>>
>> I disagree with Evan on the Board Theater. 
>>
>> If I follow your way of thinking, I would say everything can be done virtually, and there is no need for ICANN meetings.
>> I remember the room was full in San Francisco on Friday, in Nairobi too. 
>> It's true that in our At-Large community, only the ExCom members are funded to leave on Saturday, and most of our people can't attend the Friday session because they would be between the hotel and the Airport while the session is held. 
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>> Tijani BEN JEMAA
>> Executive Director
>> Mediterranean Federation of Internet Associations Phone : + 216 70 
>> 825 231 Mobile : + 216 98 330 114
>> Fax     : + 216 70 825 231
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Message d'origine-----
>> De : Beau Brendler [mailto:beaubrendler at earthlink.net]
>> Envoyé : mercredi 28 mars 2012 01:47
>> À : Evan Leibovitch; tijani.benjemaa at fmai.org Cc : ALAC Working List 
>> Objet : Re: [ALAC] ICANN meeting on Fridays
>>
>> I haven't been funded to attend Fridays for years -- even going back to when I was in ALAC. As a regional leader, I agree with Evan, I don't care about board theatre, but I do think the extra time would be valuable. The one time I attended an ALAC ex com meeting (was in San Francisco and my homebound flight didn't leave until late) I thought the experience was worthwhile.
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Evan Leibovitch <evan at telly.org>
>>> Sent: Mar 27, 2012 3:46 PM
>>> To: tijani.benjemaa at fmai.org
>>> Cc: ALAC Working List <alac at atlarge-lists.icann.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [ALAC] ICANN meeting on Fridays
>>>
>>> I disagree with removing Friday, but for far different reasons than Tijani.
>>>
>>> I may be well known for having zero interest in what I call the 
>>> miserable "Board Theatre" that takes place Fridays. In Costa Rica I 
>>> attended out of support for Olivier, who presented the ALAC report 
>>> to a generally empty room early in the morning. I personally have 
>>> little interest in events that are, by design, non-interactive, with 
>>> the Board taking final votes (and
>>> speeches) on matters already decided previously. Real conflict 
>>> rarely happens in the open meetings. The reports (and comments 
>>> accompanying dissenting votes) could/should be done in the form of 
>>> pre-recorded slideshows or videos which could be easily seen by 
>>> anyone in the community at any time.
>>>
>>> Having said that, I see first hand the absolute panic that At-Large 
>>> staff has in advance of all meetings, cramming our various meetings 
>>> into every possible available space. So I would argue that we still 
>>> need the Friday -- but we need it for something more than Board 
>>> threatre, we need it to reduce pressure on the rest of the week.
>>>
>>> If I had my way I would have the Thursday At-Large "wrap up" meeting 
>>> take place Friday morning, freeing Thursday up for other things, 
>>> such as At-Large working groups which could use the time to write 
>>> proposals for ALAC consideration on Friday and/or the public forum. 
>>> These proposals could then be accepted or referred back to RALOs as necessary.
>>>
>>> The tradition of an open ALAC executive meeting Friday afternoons 
>>> works well and is worth preserving. And to those who want to blow 
>>> off Friday afternoon for tourism after an exhausting week (and don't 
>>> have to be at the ExCom meeting), you earned it. (Well, most of you 
>>> ;-) .)
>>>
>>> - Evan
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> ALAC mailing list
>>> ALAC at atlarge-lists.icann.org
>>> https://atlarge-lists.icann.org/mailman/listinfo/alac
>>>
>>> At-Large Online: http://www.atlarge.icann.org ALAC Working Wiki: 
>>> https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/At-Large+Advisory+Commit
>>> tee
>>> +(ALAC)
>>
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--
Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond, PhD
http://www.gih.com/ocl.html

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