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2026-01-26 At-Large Fireside Chat #1: Participating in ICANN Working Groups

2026-01-26 At-Large Fireside Chat #1: Participating in ICANN Working Groups

Date: Monday, 26 January 2026                              

Time: 19:00 - 20:00 UTC (For the time in various time zones click here)

Register in advance for this meeting: https://icann.zoom.us/meeting/register/qwwikNmAQu-47gMfUGOluQ

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Interpretation: ES & FR - Simultaneous 

AFRALO  Adebunmi Akinbo, Aziz Hilali, Raïhanath Gbadamassi

APRALO  Justine Chew, Aftab Siddiqui, Satish Babu

EURALO  Natálie Terčová, Emilia Zalewska-Czajczyńska, Pari Esfandiari

LACRALO Claire Craig, Eunice Alejandra Perez Coello, Hannah Frank

NARALO Jonathan Zuck, Judith Hellerstein, Kathleen Scoggin

Liaisons: Matthias Hudobnik (SSAC), Laura Margolis (ccNSO), Joanna Kulesza (GAC), Justine Chew (GNSO)

Participants: 

EN, ES & FR: Abdul Manaf Sulemana, Abdullah Qamar, Adebunmi Akinbo, Ana Teresa Rodriguez, Avri Doria, Bukola Oronti, Charbel Chbeir, Cheryl Langdon-Orr, Claire Craig, Dedlyne Cloiseau, Eunce Alejandra Perez Coello, Hadia Elminiawi, Joly MacFie, Justine Chew, Lance Hinds, Laura Margolis, Lito Ibarra, Mawuko Kpatah, Riyadh Zehrah, Ross Moutele, Samwel Kariuki, Sandra Rodriguez Dominguez, Sebastien Bachollet, Valentine Melkudl

Apologies:   none

Staff: Heidi Ullrich, Gisella Gruber, Silvia Vivanco, Siranush Vardanyan, Michelle DeSmyter

Observer: 

ES Interpreters: Claudia & Marina

FR Interpreters: Aurelie & Chloe

Call management: Michelle DeSmyter

Recording: EN, ES, FR

Zoom Chat: EN

Zoom Recording: EN

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You are invited to participate in the first of two At-Large Fireside Chats on Monday, 26 January 2026 at 19:00 UTC, where Eunice Alejandra Pérez Coello will chat with Cheryl Langdon-Orr and Hadia Elminiawi about their experiences participating in various ICANN working groups. The second fireside chat is scheduled for Thursday, 29 January 2026 at 12:00 UTC.

If you have ever wondered what it means to participate in an ICANN working group, or have questions about how to do so, either directly or indirectly, then this fireside chat is for you!

Our panelists are seasoned At-Large community members who have participated in cross-community working groups, community coordination groups, Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) Policy Development Process (PDP) working groups, review teams or implementation review teams over recent years. Among others, they will address:-

  • Differences between working groups initiated by different chartering groups; 

  • Various working group processes, mechanisms or tools to encourage discussion and consensus-building for generating working group recommendations; 

  • How to engage the At-Large community for input into working group deliberations;

  • Expected time commitments as an At-Large/ALAC representative or individual participant; and

  • Your questions.

These chats form part of the FY2026 At-Large Capacity Development Initiatives, and they build up to the newly adopted ALAC Rules of Procedure Adjunct Document – Metrics and Remedial Actions for Appointees, 16 Dec 2025.

Recommended pre-activity self-learning resources

AGENDA 

  1. Staff introduction - Staff (2 mins)

  2. Welcome and introduction - Eunice Alejandra Pérez Coello (3 min) 

  3. Panelist sharings (20 mins) 

    1. Cheryl Langdon-Orr (10 mins) 

      1. Third Accountability and Transparency Review Team (ATRT3)

      2. GNSO Subsequent Procedures Policy Development Process (SubPro PDP) Working Group

      3. IANA Transition Cross Community Working Group / Work Stream 2 ICANN Accountability Community Coordination Group (WS2 CCG)

    2. Hadia Elminiawi (10 mins)

      1. GNSO Expedited Policy Development Process (EPDP) on Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration Data – Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 2A

      2. GNSO Internationalized Domain Names Expedited Policy Development Process (IDNs EPDP) Working Group

  4. Q&A / Discussion (25 mins)

  5. Poll - Staff (8 mins)

  6. Wrap up - Eunice Alejandra Pérez Coello (2 mins)

 Overview of Poll Results

Prepared by Justine

Number of respondents: 18 (72% of attendees)

Demographics of respondents:

  • All 5 RALOs represented, along with several RALO leaders

  • 2 respondents are not yet members of any RALO

  • 3 (17%) have been in ICANN community for < 1 year

  • 3 (17%) have been in ICANN community for 1-3 years

  • 1 (6%) have been in ICANN community for 3-5 years

  • 11 (61%) have been in ICANN community for at least 5 years

  • 16 of 18 found activity useful or very useful; 2 found activity sufficiently useful

Suggestions for future activities:

  1. Handling public comments

  2. More examples of PDP experiences and how PDPs run

  3. IPv6 deployment