[Euro-board] Draft EURALO Outreach strategy

[Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond]

Hello all,

as promised, my first draft for the EURALO Outreach Strategy.
Please comment/suggest/amend/change!

Olivier

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Draft EURALO Outreach Strategy

Our aim remains to have at least one ALS present in every country that
EURALO covers. Our efforts therefore concentrate on countries in which
there are no EURALO ALSes. This year is also seeing a rise in individual
members. Often, organisations that could be potential ALSes are unsure
of the benefits of becoming an At-Large Structure. Often, a first step
that has been taken by organisation leaders, is to join as an individual
to gain better knowledge and understanding of EURALO prior to applying
on behalf of their organisations. The EURALO outreach program has been
indiscriminately promoting both applications as an individual and as an
organisation.

Building on the previous year outreach strategy, EURALO will pursue its
focus on:

  * the annual EuroDIG events to take place in 2017 in Tallinn, Estonia;
  * the annual ICANN Studienkreis meetings in Europe(for what we
    repeatedly asked ICANN support -- in vain); 
  * the European Summer School on Internet Governance (EuroSSIG) in
    Meissen/Germany where several members are involved;  
  * receiving feedback on ICANN-related matters from members
    participating in national IGF initiatives (Germany, Switzerland,
    France, UK and Ukraine); 
  * inviting and supporting up to 5 members or potential candidates to
    attend EuroDIG meetings via CROPP, although that number is likely to
    be reduced this year.

These Outreach opportunities are always used for identifying potential
new members (ALSes or individuals), discussions about EURALO and its
role and to attract new people. We go out of our way to speak to
potential candidates, distribute EURALO flyers and encourage them to
participate.

One major progress over past years is the regular consultations and
discussion with Jean-Jacques Sahel, VP Stakeholder Engagement for Europe
and based in Brussels as well as Michael Yakushev, VP Stakeholder
Engagement for Easter Europe and Russia. We have been able to coordinate
Outreach at several meetings thanks to their involvement.

With EuroDIG now running its own fellowship program, emphasis on
participation at EuroDIG for CROPP slots has decreased. The RALO
leadership is now identifying other potential events to participate in
using CROPP, starting with an event called "re:publica", the 2016
instance if which took plain in early summer in Berlin/Germany, became
the biggest conference and fair on Internet politics in Europe with over
7’000 participants -- see: https://re-publica.de/en/about-republica

The challenge in identifying suitable venues comes from the variety of
languages spoken in Europe. There are therefore few suitable
European-wide conference that could offer the same access to potential
ALSes as EuroDIG.

Collaboration with the local Regional Internet Registry has been until
now through the annual EuroDIG. Indeed, EURALO is a EuroDIG partner and
so is RIPE. This year, we plan on building on this first link and work
towards a bilateral agreement based on a MoU similar to those signed by
other RALOs with their Regional Internet Registry. It is worth noting
that the partnership with EuroDIG has opened a lot of doors for end user
input in Europe.

Perhaps most significantly in EURALO's strategy, EURALO has created a
task force on ALS Engagement focussing on our already existing ALSes.
With many ALSes not offering their full participation in EURALO
activities, this Task Force will study the reasons for this low
participation and methods to increase participation. Outreach does not
only take place by recruiting new At-Large Structures, but also by
recruiting more active members amongst the At-Large Structures - bearing
in mind an ALS has more than just one member.

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