[At-Large] Public Board Meeting - the Update for Prague

Tue May 8 22:54:34 UTC 2012

Both Steve Crocker [Chairman] and Bruce Tonkin [Board Member] gave some
explanatory comments elsewhere.

Some issues you fingered were addressed. On balance, all appeared
reasonable.   See under.

-Carlton
-----------------------------------------
Hi All,

I hope the below provides some useful context for the recent improvements
to ICANN meetings that will commence in Prague.

(1) In the past, the Board has typically worked with staff until midnight,
and in some cases 2am, on the Thursday before the Friday Board meeting to
prepare resolutions for voting.    This is after a busy week listening to
feedback from the community, and the end result
is often Board resolutions that are poorly crafted and create problems in
future.

(2) For Prague, the intent is that the Board will focus on listening to the
community, and then in a Board/community session on Thursday give the
community some idea of what future resolutions will be voted on in or
actions taken in response to that feedback.  A board meeting will then be
held shortly after Prague to approve any necessary resolutions.

(3) An example of this approach was on the topic of Conflicts of interest
in Dakar in October 2011.   The Board listened to the community during the
week, and then in the public session on conflicts Board members gave some
feedback to the community on specific measures that would be taken with
respect to new gTLDs. After careful review by the legal team, and review by
Board members, the Board held a meeting on 8 Dec 2011 - where a resolution
was passed on managing conflicts for new gTLDs, along with other
resolutions that resulted from the discussions in Dakar.

(4)  The Board has also been working to ensure that most resolutions at the
Board level are relatively routine.   This means that bodies like the ccNSO
have already reached consensus on a topic or staff have managed a public
comment process on a topic - and there are no
controversies associated with the matter.    For such routine resolutions -
we either have a short teleconference or we take advantage of face-to-face
time at a Board workshop to pass these resolutions. For example, at the
Board workshop just concluded in
Amsterdam we had a short Board meeting to pass mostly consent resolutions.
It is likely that in Prague we will pass resolutions on routine matters in
the Board workshop on the weekend of 23/24 June - if there are matters
submitted by staff for approval - and can report
on them during the public meetings.

If there are controversies on a matter, the general approach would be to
seek to return the matter to the relevant body or bodies to reach a stronger
consensus. Thus you will see fewer matters that are not on the consent
agenda at Board meetings.

(5) Where there is a major policy vote, or where there are differing views
on a major policy, the Board will continue to schedule such discussions for
the public Board meetings. Past examples of such matters include the launch
of the IDN Fast Track, .xxx decision and
the approval of the new gTLD program in Singapore in June 2011.

(6) With respect to transparency, the Board has been publishing rationales
for each of its decisions - including those on the consent agenda.  There
are also detailed minutes of meetings, where contributions from Board
members made during a Board meeting are captured.

For example, from the minutes of the meeting on 8 Dec 2011
(http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/minutes-08dec11-en.htm)
there is a detailed record of the discussion on conflicts as well as on
batching.

(7) We are still refining improvements and certainly welcome feedback from
the community.

(8) It's likely that the Board/community session will be held just before
the Public Forum on Thursday. Therefore it is unlikely to interfere
with ccNSO WG sessions that often take place whilst the public forum is
going on.
------------------------------------
>From: Bruce Tonkin <Bruce.Tonkin at melbourneit.com.au>
>To: Council GNSO <council at gnso.icann.org>
>Subject: [council] Regarding improvements in Board processes
>Date: Sun, 6 May 2012 18:05:40 +0000
>
>Hello All,
>
>I have been reading the various comments about
>the announcement on 30 April 2012 that there
>will not be a public board meeting on Friday 29 June in Prague.
>
>I thought I would set out various improvements
>being made in Board processes to set this in context.
>
>(1) In the past, the Board has typically worked
>with staff until midnight, and in some cases
>2am, on the Thursday before the public session
>to prepare resolutions for voting.    This is
>after a busy week listening to feedback from the
>community, and the end result is often Board
>resolutions that are poorly crafted and create problems in future.
>
>(2) For Prague, the intent is that the Board
>will focus on listening to the community, and
>then give the community some idea of what future
>resolutions will be voted on in response to
>feedback.  A board meeting will then be held
>shortly after Prague to approve those resolutions.
>
>(3) An example of this approach was on the topic
>of Conflicts of interest in Dakar in October
>2011.   The Board listened to the community
>during the week, and then in the public session
>on conflicts Board members gave some feedback to
>the community on specific measures that would be
>taken with respect to new gTLDs.   After careful
>review by the legal team, and review by Board
>members, the Board held a meeting on 8 Dec 2011
>- where a resolution was passed on managing
>conflicts for new gTLDs, along with other
>resolutions that resulted from the discussions in Dakar.
>
>(4)  The Board has also been working to ensure
>that most resolutions at the Board level are
>relatively routine.   This means that bodies
>like the GNSO have already reached consensus on
>a topic (e.g the recent work on the transfers
>policy), or staff have managed a public comment
>process on a topic - and there are no
>controversies associated with the matter.    For
>such routine resolutions - we either have a
>short teleconference or we take advantage of
>face-to-face time at a Board workshop to pass
>these resolutions.  For example, at the Board
>workshop just concluded in Amsterdam we had a
>short Board meeting to pass mostly consent
>resolutions.    It is likely that in Prague we
>will pass resolutions on routine matters in the
>Board workshop on the weekend of 23/24 June - if
>there are matters submitted by staff for
>approval - and can report on them during the
>public meetings.   If there are controversies on
>a matter, the general approach would be to seek
>to return the matter to the relevant body or
>bodies to reach a stronger consensus.    Thus
>you will see fewer matters that are not on the
>consent agenda at Board meetings.
>
>(5) Where there is a major policy vote, or where
>there are differing views on a major policy, the
>Board will continue to schedule such discussions
>for the public meetings.   Past examples of such
>matters include the .xxx decision and the
>approval of the new gTLD program in Singapore in June 2011.
>
>(6) With respect to transparency. the Board has
>been publishing rationales for each of its
>decisions - including those on the consent
>agenda.  There are also detailed minutes of
>meetings, where contributions from Board members
>made during a Board meeting are captured.
>For example, from the minutes of the meeting on
>8 Dec 2011
>(http://www.icann.org/en/groups/board/documents/minutes-08dec11-en.htm)
>there is a detailed record of the discussion on
>conflicts as well as on batching.
>
>(7) We are still refining improvements and
>certainly welcome feedback from the community.
>
>Feel free to get in touch with me if you have
>any questions or concerns, and certainly feel
>free to provide feedback to the Board in the Board/GNSO meeting in Prague.
>
>Also be aware that I continue to read emails on
>this list, and I pass on examples of emails that
>raise concerns about Board processes to the
>Board list to keep the Board aware as well.
>
>Regards,
>Bruce Tonkin

==============================
Carlton A Samuels
Mobile: 876-818-1799
*Strategy, Planning, Governance, Assessment & Turnaround*
=============================