[At-Large] ICANN meeting timings

[Evan Leibovitch]

Kieren McCarthy wrote:
> There's been a lot of discussion about the timing of ICANN meetings.
>   
Specifically, the timing of the PLANNING of the meetings.

> There's nothing that can be done about Delhi or Paris or the Africa meeting
> this year, but I think it is worth pointing out that the meeting dates are
> given out two years in advance.
>   
Dates and continents, yes, but zero beyond that. Many other conference
organizers already have the city and specific venue done that long (two
years) in advance.

> As such, if people could apply the same degree of focus to the future dates
> as they have on the meeting in four weeks' time it could potentially save a
> lot of trouble.
>   
Please elaborate. I fully agree in helping to fix that which can be
fixed, rather than obsess with things that are too far gone. (Having
said that, not having the hotel chosen for Paris or the city chosen for
Africa at this time does seem to indicate that severe problems continue.)

> But here they are. If people see major problems or conflicts do flag them as soon as possible.
>   
I don' think conflicts were the identified problem, and most people
already know about what scant information exists on the meetings web
page. The problems that are identified are not conflicts, so much as a
venue selection process that adds far too much uncertainly, politics and
elitism to the method of choosing sites.

> 2009 ICANN Meeting Schedule
>
> 1-6 March 2009 	Latin America
>   
Arguably the cutoff date for city bids on this should have closed some
time ago, allowing the meeting committee to have selected one by now --
or perhaps something else if none of the bids were deemed adequate. In
other words, prudent planning would have required that AT LEAST the city
for this meeting should have been selected by now. This would give the
committee ample time to find a suitable venue.

By the way, is there any valid reason why the list of bidding cities is
kept secret? It is unfair to deny the public awareness of the
candidates, let alone any say in the selection. In other city-bidding
processes, the short list is always public.

Why does the ICANN meetings page not indicate which cities are under
consideration?

> 21-26 June 2009 	Asia Pacific
>   
Bids for this one should be collecting by now, with the cutoff date
imminent.

Indeed, perhaps it would be a reasonable idea to have the selection
process for each meeting discussed publicly and firmly decided at its
fourth-previous meeting. For instance, at the Delhi meeting a decision
would be made for the venue of four meetings away (June 2009). At Paris
the city for Oct 2009 would be decided -- and so on.

(Why should the presentations of the various bids not be as public as
ALS applications? If they are public they're certainly well-hidden, and
not accessible from the meetings page.)

Yes, I can hear already the complaints of how difficult this is and how
many complex and delicate components are not being considered. If that
is the case then perhaps ICANN should reconsider why it has such a
needlessly complex, political and elitist process in place to begin
with. Perhaps the people who are actually attending the meetings --
especially those who are not subsidized -- should have some say; what a
concept!

- Evan