Jose Arce: Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for joining us on this conference call. This is an additional conference call based on previous events. Thank you very much. We are a very short time away from our next ICAAN meeting and there’s plenty of regional issues to [inaudible]. I was speaking and there was an issue with the system, so I will cut a long story short. To get started: welcome everybody, thank you for joining us, thank you to the English speakers, thank you to the staff members for your efforts.
This is an additional call that was scheduled on the basis of previous events that prevented us from dealing with topics of interest. We are very close to the ICAAN meeting. Thank you Dev. The next item on the agenda is ideas and discussions for possible events in Costa Rica. As you know, we have at least 2 events. One of them is our showcase item number five, and also we are trying to have a general meeting or general assembly in Costa Rica. I don’t know if anyone has any ideas to contribute regarding these events in Costa Rica?
José Ovidio Salgueiro: There must be only 4 or 5 people connected in this conference call. Definitely when we speak about attending Costa Rica, surely everybody will connect and will complain that they don’t have the funds for the travel.
Jose Arce: Thank you, José Ovidio. Fatima was asking for the floor, Fatima now holds the floor.
Fatima Cambronero: Thank you, Jose. I sent an email to ICANN recently, posing a question to everybody. Unfortunately there are very few of us today…
Jose Arce: Fatima, sorry for interrupting you. Remember we have interpreters on the call.
Fatima Cambronero: Sorry, I will slow down. Everybody asked whether it made sense to show the ALS’s of the region? The regional ALS’s want to show what they are doing but there’s not going to be a general meeting or general assembly, there are going to be very few regional representatives or delegates of each ALS in Costa Rica so I think it makes more sense to have training sessions in the morning as AFRALO did. We know that in the region we need training, so it would be important for us to have a general meeting or general assembly with training sessions on a daily basis for all the LACRALO delegates. And I think we should discuss this. Thank you.
Jose Arce: Thank you, Fatima. So in a nutshell, if we have new funds available we should exchange the showcase for a general meeting or summit and a training program for the ALS’s, am I correct?
Fatima Cambronero: Yes.
Jose Arce: Thank you, Fatima. Does anyone want to contribute any other ideas on this topic?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Good afternoon everyone. Just to agree with Fatima, I think that the capacity building events that the AFRALO were able to achieve in the Senegal meeting were very important, and I think extremely important for us in LACRALO to be able to try to have in Costa Rica. So I would push more strongly for that and ask ICANN for support to try and get these capacity training sessions, because even though we are 37 ALS’s, there are only a very small handful of us that actually do participate in the monthly calls and in the ICANN policy discussions.
So we need to improve this. I think definitely we should ask ICANN for support in order to have most of our ALS’s, if not all of our ALS’s, in Costa Rica to have the capacity building training. The face-to-face general assembly, yes that’s important, but if we are able to get the capacity training we will get the general assembly by default. Thank you.
Jose Arce: Thank you Dev. I truly agree with you. Natalia Enciso is asking to be dialed in, she wrote on the Adobe Connect.
Natalia Enciso: I truly agree with Fatima and Dev. Also, I believe that ICANN’s support is something we have already. I remember several weeks ago there was a meeting and I mentioned that the Latin American region needs a general meeting in Costa Rica and everybody clapped in approval and agreed. So I think we are on the right track. We only need to work a little bit more so that this becomes a reality.
Jose Arce: Fatima is asking for the floor.
Fatima Cambronero: Thank you, Jose. Regarding what Dev and I were saying, I asked Dev and all the participants whether we can have a formal statement of this need and send that statement to ALAC members and ICANN? That is a question.
Jose Arce: Thank you Fatima, I will answer partially and then give the floor to Dev. We are formalizing this. I think that our next item on the agenda refers to what you mentioned. I don’t know if Dev you want to make a contribution at this point? You have the floor.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thank you, Jose. Actually you said what I was just about to say, that this is what we want to be discussing – a discussion of the text of the regional request to send to ICANN to ask for financial support to have the ALS’s attend Costa Rica.
Jose Arce: Dev would you like to move on to the next item on the agenda please.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thanks Jose. Myself and Jose are both with ICANN At-Large staff, and we have got a rough estimate of the costs. Essentially for an ALS representative to attend, arriving Saturday and attending Sunday to Friday and leaving on Friday, it’s roughly US$3,000. I don’t know if anybody from At-Large staff wishes to add any updates. I know Marco was the one working on this. Ok, not hearing anything from At-Large staff, so it seems that that’s the figure. So if we do the math, we are looking at about 29 ALS’s because about 5 ALS’s already get financial support to attend; for example, myself, Jose, Carlton and so forth, as well as the two ALAC representatives, Natalia and Sergio.
So we estimate that leaves around US$90,000 that we need for travel support for 30 representatives to attend. Now the thing is I suppose we should ask ICANN for the full amount, and then if not, then we could try to see if we can get sponsorship for that amount from other sponsors. But I think we should ask ICANN for that amount. I also would like to be sure that the reasons why we want to have it is that we want to organize a series of events, and I think we have agreement of what we want. We want to have the capacity training exercises, because that’s urgently needed for us, for the showcase and for the general assembly.
And we should also try to have any convincing arguments to say why LACRALO should have these events. I’ve already mentioned the key need of it, I don’t know if anybody else has any other need that I can insert into a document that we can send to ICANN very soon. Any additional arguments why LACRALO should have events in Costa Rica and should have the support to have all ALS’s there? I open the floor to anyone.
Jose Arce: Thank you Dev. I think that the most compelling argument is that the region needs this injection, so to speak, so as to incorporate more people in ICANN policy discussions. At least if we look at the history of the region we see that we need this boost, and who can be better than ICANN to give us that boost, that drive. So I think that ICANN will do their very best so that this training session for ALS’s and their members becomes a reality because this is paramount. And I repeat, if we have to sacrifice the showcase so that we can have the ALS training program, I support that idea. Does anybody have any other arguments to contribute so that we can incorporate that into the document we will be sending to ICANN?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thank you Jose. I just wanted to say that we will be discussing the cost of the showcase later on in the agenda. However I would anticipate that the cost of the showcase will not exceed US$3,000, unless we really design something spectacular. So I don’t think there’s much cost that could be recovered if we decide not to have the showcase and put that money towards travel support. That’s just an observation.
Jose Arce: Thank you Dev. US$3,000 equals a representative that can be trained, so I think that this is a sacrifice worth making. Natalia Enciso is asking for the floor.
Natalia Enciso: I want to ask about what Dev said about representatives that will not have financial support. He mentioned some ALS representatives, and I want to know why? The question is for Dev.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: To answer Natalia, what I was saying is that we have 37 ALS structures in LACRALO, however several ALS representatives already have travel support – the two regional officers and, in our case, three ALAC representatives from LACRALO. From ALAC we have Sergio and Natalia, and we have Jose Arce and myself, and Carlton Samuels who is an ALS representative is also attending, so that’s five there. I’m thinking also that there are other ALS representatives that are already participating in ICANN and also get travel support; for example, Alejandro Pessanti, he is on the Stability and Security review team, and I think that Omar Kominski is also on the Who Is review team.
These are the 7 that I count, I don’t know if there are any more. So that’s why I say that we have to look at getting the remainder of the ALS representatives to Costa Rica. I hope that answers the question.
Natalia Enciso: That was not the question. The question was why these four representatives are not given or cannot receive support to attend the meeting?
Jose Arce: Let me see if I can shed some light on Natalia’s question. What Natalia means is that some people Dev mentioned, Alejandro or other people that are working in some groups, perhaps because of their activities cannot attend the training sessions or general meeting. There should be somebody devoted to that, so that ICANN outreach becomes a reality. Is that what you mean Natalia?
Natalia Enciso: Yes.
Jose Arce: I don’t know if Dev wants to answer that question?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I understand now what you are saying Natalia. What I can say is that typically it is the ALS representatives that attend and are authorized to participate in our assemblies, who are the ones that would get support. If we were to try to increase this to say that basically have all 37, there are two things that are going to happen. One, the cost of financial support increases, and we are pushing ICANN to get some financial support when officially there is no money available to fund it. So I don’t want to have high costs, I want to have a minimum cost.
Jose Arce: Thank you Dev. Fatima is asking for the floor and she has the floor now.
Fatima Cambronero: Thank you, Jose. Actually, I interpret what Natalia is saying in a different way, because in our ALS, Jose is a member of the ALS but is the president of LACRALO and he’s not going to participate as a LACRALO delegate but as the chair of LACRALO and I am the other delegate. So if Jose is there, I’m going to be there as well. And I’m sure this must happen in other ALS’s in other countries. This is what is not clear, if as a LACRALO officer, if you are performing your duty you will not be able to perform your role as a delegate of the ALS.
On the other hand, Dev said that the cost of the showcase is roughly US$3,000. Jose said that we could use that money for one delegate’s travel support. Not for the cost of the showcase in itself, because who is going to showcase what the ALS’s are doing if there are not going to be any ALS’s present? So it makes no sense to have a showcase because we are not showcasing the region or the region’s activities. Thank you.
Juan Manuel Roha: I wanted to add something to what Fatima was saying regarding the showcase. I think it makes more sense even to leave the showcase and focus on Fatima’s proposal to focus on training so that we have a wider participation. I think it’s important to have the general meeting and the training sessions. That’s more important than the showcase in this case. Thank you.
Jose Arce: Thank you, Juan Manuel. Dev, have you got any questions regarding what Fatima said, or can we move forward in our agenda?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I think Sebastien wanted to speak, so I will defer to Sebastien and then I will say something.
Sebastien Bachollet: Good afternoon. I think that these discussions are already important, and it’s really important to do the math as quickly as possible, because from my own point of view, not as a board member but personally, I believe that it’s important that ALAC should receive help to fund the money within ICANN’s budget. So you have to do that as quickly as possible. One of the reasons is that on the next meeting on December 8, all the documents for discussion must be ready by the end of November.
So that if you want to pose any questions you need to take into account that this will go to the board finance committee. So you should pose the questions right now. Regarding the showcase, to me the AFRALO showcase at Dakar was very interesting. I think that your region can do something very good as well, and of course it’s easier to do it if you are all there. I hope you can do so. Thank you.
Jose Arce: Thank you, Sebastien, for your contribution. I think we need to put forward our petition as soon as possible, we know time is ticking. We know we count on your support, on your help, when it comes to organizing our training program and our showcase, so thank you Sebastien. Does anybody else have a contribution regarding this point, or can we move on with our agenda? Dev gave the floor to Sebastien so Dev, would you like to hold the floor now?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I think that it’s obvious that, as Sebastien said, time is of the essence and we should try to ask ICANN and issue that request, I would say by the end of the week [inaudible] and also ALAC as well obviously, so that ALAC in turn can then forward it to the ICANN finance committee. So I think that we definitely do need to work on that, and we can have that document shared, and everybody can see the document either tonight and/or tomorrow so that it can be sent on Friday.
I suggest that we do just that, and again I think we should plan for our showcase discussion because I think we cannot wait, we have to at least get some ideas going for the showcase regardless of whether the support is available or not. So I suggest we do move on to the next item on the agenda. Thank you.
Jose Arce: Thank you Dev. The next item on the agenda was the following. Dev posted a link in the Adobe Connect; I will post the link again. This is a text of a survey to the ALS’s in light of the organization of this type of event, and we need a clear and defined organization not only in terms of the budget but also in terms of activities. So we have shared that link, you can see it displayed on the Adobe Connect room, you can access the draft document. I would like you to see that document so that you can share your concerns or questions.
But basically the idea of that text is first of all to inform the ALS’s of the event that will take place in Costa Rica, and also we would like them to answer some questions so that we can better organize the event in terms of the number of attendees and the ideas they suggest. Dev, would you like to say anything at this point regarding the text we have just shared?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thank you Jose. I just want you all to please review the text. Myself and Jose defined the objectives of the event in Costa Rica, and I want to make sure that everybody agrees to the objectives. We have already discussed what type of events we want to have in Costa Rica. I want you to review that text and see if anybody has any suggestions or comments?
Jose Arce: Fatima Cambronero was asking for the floor.
Fatima Cambronero: Thank you, Jose. There are two things that I would like to make very clear in this document that we will be sending. First, training that we are planning – we would like ALS delegates to really get committed and attend training sessions on a daily basis as it happens with fellowship programs, they are on a daily basis and you have to live up to the commitment that you take. Also, even though the meeting is in the region, some people will not be able to attend. So we have to highlight remote participation.
This is paramount for all people that will not be able to attend the meeting. I don’t know if we should include this in the document but it should be part of what we are going to do. Somebody from the region should be able to reach us and there should be somebody from the region in charge of, devoted to, remote participants.
Jose Arce: Thank you, Fatima. When you read the document (this is a draft document), you will see that Dev and I highlighted commitment. Commitment is important to us so it is currently reflected in the writing of the document. I would like you to read the document and I would like to have the document ready tomorrow at the latest. And I would like to have the survey ready today. I believe we could have feedback from the survey today. Natalia Enciso is asking for the floor.
Natalia Enciso: Regarding ALS’s commitment to participate in training sessions, could we set that more clearly? And they should state their agreement to participate in these events.
Jose Arce: Thank you Natalia, we take your idea on board. I think it is a good idea and it will be included in the document. Does anyone else want to contribute any idea regarding the text? If not, we look forward to the feedback. Dev you have the floor now.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thank you. To respond to Natalia, see: “Question 4 – If financial support is offered to your ALS to attend, do you agree to attend all events organized by the LACRALO Costa Rica events working group?” So that’s our attempt to try to say that you can’t just attend Costa Rica and not participate in these events. And of course if they were to say no to this, then obviously we should not offer support to that ALS representative.
Jose Arce: Natalia would you like to answer Dev?
Natalia Enciso: Okay, now it’s very clear – because from the English version it sounded like an option, but now I see it is not an option. It is clear to me, so it’s okay.
Fatima Cambronero: Just a suggestion, excuse me, a question regarding delegates participation in the training program. Couldn’t we include a requirement for them to lodge a report, as we do with fellowships, once they are back home after the meeting?
Jose Arce: Thank you Fatima, we can talk about it of course. I believe there shouldn’t be any problem about including one more requirement regarding the training program. Dev, do you have anything to say at this point?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I would say yes, I think it would be good to have some sort of requirement that persons attending have to write some reports. If we were to study the AFRALO events in Dakar, what they did was on the Monday, they organized various workgroups on various policy issues and then they had to give a report on the final day, which was Thursday.
So that’s something that could be done. I don’t know whether we need to explicitly state that in the poll, because we haven’t really organized the specific capacity building events on the actual schedule or anything. But that’s why I think you have to agree to all of the events planned by the working group, that’s why I stated it like that. So whatever we plan, you have to attend, there’s no option not to attend or not to participate in all events. Maybe after the call we can try to work on the actual wording of it?
Jose Arce: Thank you Dev, I think time is of essence. As long as it’s clear that participants have to make a commitment to attend and participate, in principle this would include all these type of activities. We can fine-tune the survey and send it as soon as possible, and on a personal basis, for example, I can speak with most of the participants and make it clear to them. But the word commitment is a key word and it’s self-explanatory, we don’t need to define it any further regarding the event. But I do want the survey to be released as soon as possible because time is ticking away.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Time is short for this call because we have to look at the showcase discussion, so let’s review the text and see if there’s any additional text that can be added to allay Fatima’s and Natalia’s concerns about having documentation being produced as a requirement. Then let’s proceed to the next agenda item.
Jose Arce: Jose Ovidio now holds the floor.
José Ovidio Salgueiro: First I think we should include among the commitments of course, people’s participation in conference calls in preparation for the meeting. I think that is a must and is the least in somebody can do, and that goes in line with what I said before. On the other hand, unfortunately I have to drop this call in the interest of time, I’m really sorry.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I think Jose Arce’s call just dropped, I think we have to dial him back. While Jose Arce is being dialed back, let me just temporary chair the call in the interim. To respond to Jose Ovidio, I think that’s a good idea, but I think what’s even better (and again it comes back to if we get the support and we do these capacity training sessions), we can then state that one of the requirements is that this is not just a one-time event.
The idea is that after this event we want to see increased participation and involvement in LACRALO activities and in ICANN policy discussions. I think we can work that into the conditions, that as part of this you must attend the monthly calls, you must at least attend some policy discussion, some working group. We can come up with the wording of it after but I agree that this is definitely not a one-off event. That is why we are asking for the support, because we don’t want this to be a one-off event.
This is not just having a general assembly and then that’s it, this capacity training is to get persons involved in LACRALO after Costa Rica. It’s not just coming to Costa Rica and doing the summit coming up. So that’s all I wanted to say on that. I see that Fatima and Natalia agree with me on this point. I see Jose is still not back on the call. Okay, let’s just look at the LACRALO showcase discussion, because…
Interpreter: Excuse me, this is the interpreter on the English line, Jose Arce has joined the call.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, Jose Arce, we were just about to start the LACRALO showcase discussion agenda item.
Jose Arce: Go ahead, Dev.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Well I was about to begin agenda item five, the LACRALO showcase discussion. As you know, each RALO has a showcase at each of the ICANN meetings. It first started last year in Kenya with AFRALO, and right now we have gone through all five regions and AFRALO, thanks to the ability to have the ALS’s present, were able to do this series of capacity training exercises and so forth. But for their showcase, they changed the format. Typically the format of the RALO showcase was the chair of the RALO or the RALO president would open the showcase, they would have a keynote speaker, and then they would have presentations from the ALS representatives that were there present at the meeting.
This is how it happened in Cartagena. The AFRALO showcase was much more dynamic. In fact they had music, they had dancers to open the showcase, and they only had three or four speakers – the president, the ICANN CEO Rod Beckstram, the ALAC chair Olivier Crepin-Leblond, and they had a keynote speaker who I believe was the ICT minister in Senegal. And then they just told each of the ALS representatives to come up on the stage and then afterwards they were photographed and had more music and refreshments and wine and so forth afterwards.
I think we should try go for something just as dynamic because we’ve done the presentations of ALS’s and so forth before, we shouldn’t try to repeat what we’ve done already, we should try to make it a lively and dynamic event. So that’s my thoughts on the LACRALO showcase. We have to come up with a possible agenda and idea for the possible keynote speaker or speakers is there a particular theme you would like to have for the showcase – does anybody have any initial ideas? Jose Arce, you were there at the AFRALO showcase, what are your thoughts?
Jose Arce: Thank you Dev. I did attend the AFRALO showcase and the other showcase I attended was the showcase in Columbia last year. I was there thanks to the fellowship program and I do agree with Dev’s point of view in that our showcase must be dynamic, something that enables a dynamic interaction between or among the ALS representatives and also interaction with speakers that may represent the interests of internet users in the region.
We need this dynamic aspect, we also need typical music, bands, and typical dancers on the stage I believe it’ll be no mistake to replicate this because this makes the showcase become lively and I do believe that we just need to set up an agenda with possible speakers and an estimate of what activities would be interesting and worth including in the event, that is not a very long event, so that it is a dynamic event. Does anyone have any ideas or contributions?
Fatima Cambronero: I fully agree with Jose and Dev, this should be dynamic. In Cartagena I attended a showcase, it was very lengthy, plenty of speakers one after the other, and it was very boring. People lost interest and I agree with having something lively and fun, for example, typical dancers or musicians. But please let us remember that we are dealing with users, we need to show the users what is it that we do, so let’s not lose sight of that. Okay we want to be different, innovative, dynamic, but please, remember our focus.
Jose Arce: Thank you, Fatima. We need to find a formula that will work, a combination of speakers plus some other event for the sake of dynamics. I think that in the coming days we can exchange ideas, share ideas through our email exchange lists and start setting up the agenda. I think that Dev posted a link with photographs of the AFRALO event, so we can all set up this agenda and suggest ideas. Dev you have the floor now.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thank you, Jose. I think we want to at least identify some keynote speakers now. I don’t really want to wait too long because we’re coming up to December and that means Christmas and all that, and literally the Costa Rica meeting is in March, so we only have about 10 weeks, literally. So I just wanted to get some answers as to what possible themes for the agenda. Sebastien posted a link to the Dakar event showcase agenda and the theme of that AFRALO showcase was internet development and African participation.
What type of theme do you want to adopt, in terms of keynote speakers? I’m basing this from the fact that we just had a free IGF meeting in Trinidad so I know that there are a lot of people interested in internet governance. I’m probably not pronouncing his surname correctly, but I was thinking perhaps we should try to get the keynote speaker to be somebody like Raúl Echeberría, who is the LACNIC… I’m not sure what exactly his position is in LACNIC, I think he’s the CEO? Jose would probably know it better than me.
But I would think because they are involved in internet governance, perhaps he could be invited to speak at the event. The reason that I suggest somebody like Raúl, we could then approach LACNIC to then sponsor some of the showcase meeting, like the refreshments or so forth. And yes that’s right, he’s also the president of ISOC now, thank you that’s right Sebastien, that is absolutely correct. So if we could approach him as the keynote speaker we could probably get sponsorship form ISOC or from LACNIC for it. So that’s my suggestion. What are your immediate thoughts towards this?
Jose Arce: Thank you Dev. I promise I will contact Raúl and as Sebastien says, Raúl holds many positions so it would be very interesting indeed to have him as a speaker. It just came to mind that I have been speaking with ISOC Costa Rica’s chair and Costa Rica is a country that is beginning to expand in terms of technology and internet governance. So we could contact somebody in Costa Rica that has some influence in this regard, and he or she could be our speaker and could give us a point of view from this country’s viewpoint, as a country that is beginning to discover all these issues. This is just an idea of course, I agree with having Raúl Echeberría, I like that idea. We could contact somebody from Costa Rica. I don’t know if somebody else has any contributions?
Fatima Cambronero: Jose, I have a question.
Jose Arce: Go ahead Fatima.
Fatima Cambronero: Do we have to contact keynote speakers right now? Or do we have to define the speakers right now? Because maybe we can think about a keynote speaker and then they do not accept our invitation.
Jose Arce: Thank you, Fatima. I think that the time for this conference call is now over and we still have items on the agenda. Well, we are actually covering the last item on the agenda. I don’t know if we could go on for five more minutes regarding the keynote speaker, I just wanted to give you four or five names, let’s say. And of course this will not be short-listed or restricted to these four or five people, we can suggest more speakers through our email exchange list and we can contact these people. I don’t know if you agree?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Just to reply to Fatima. That’s why we need to identify persons now and if that person says no they are not going to be available, or no they don’t want to be attending or whatever, then we have to continue looking for and finding a keynote speaker. So we can’t really put it off too long. So if there is no objection I think we should at least initiate contact with Raúl and perhaps even invite him to the next LACRALO monthly call so that he’s aware of what LACRALO is and so forth, because he may not… I mean, he’s very involved in the IGF stuff and the internet governance forum and so forth, so I just think he will be a good speaker. I can’t think of anybody from Costa Rica as such. I think Jose Arce’s suggestion also has merit, we should perhaps look to have somebody from the ISOC Costa Rica, I don’t know. But we should identify persons now and then start going through who we want and start going through the list. That’s all.
Jose Arce: Thank you Dev. I am already contacting people in Costa Rica to find a possible local speaker. I would very much like the following, I don’t know if he could be our keynote speaker but I would like a local speaker from Costa Rica. So probably tomorrow I will be sending you a list of possible candidates with their CV’s, but no doubt Raúl Echeberría is a very good option. Natalia posted a suggestion on our chat. Dev you have the floor, go ahead please.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Just another thought I had in mind for this. Instead of speeches from the ALS’s, which I think was a good thing, because everybody would like to talk for a long time and as Fatima said even when I try to say only 2 minutes, that line didn’t really hold… They had one screen on the left hand side, I don’t know if Jose and Natalia remember this, and they had a slide show playing all the time. So I think what we have to look at is getting a slide show of our own showing photographs and/or video, and then make that play as a video loop.
And then what we will have to do, because we can’t really have sound playing from those videos (they would just be playing throughout the showcase), we would have to put subtitles. I’m just pointing out that involves some work, so again if that’s something we agree is an idea we should go with we should then start looking at what kind of video – should we just ask people to record a 2 minute video with [inaudible] or should we just ask them to send photos and we just make a photo slide show. Your thoughts?
Jose Arce: Thank you Dev. I think the idea of doing something along the lines of AFRALO with a video or a presentation instead of a 2 minute speech as we had in Cartagena with that LACRALO, well that’s a good idea. We cannot go into a full discussion right now because our conference call time is over but Juan Manuel Roha is asking whether somebody knows Juan Miguel Porrúa? Juan would you like to take the floor and explain who Miguel Porrúa is? Juan are you connected?
Juan Manuel Roha: Yes, but I had muted my phone, I’m sorry. Yes, Jose, I was saying that we could contact Miguel Porrúa, he’s part of the JAS.
Jose Arce: Thank you, Juan Manuel, for your contribution. We will evaluate that. As I said before, I don’t want to extend the conference call for much longer. I don’t know if you have any further ideas regarding possible speakers. Otherwise we are moving towards the close of this conference call and we will continue in touch through our email exchange list. Any contributions? Dev go ahead please, you have the floor.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I just want to say perhaps we can try to have our next call, say Thursday or Friday next week. Since we have also scheduled to have another conference call on Thursday or Friday to discuss the same issues as we had on Monday, regarding geographic regions and bylaw modifications, perhaps we could have a portion of the call dedicated to that? So that’s my suggestion. Because we can’t really wait too long, I do want to stress this.
I base this on experience from Cartagena – the showcase had a lot of work involved, so I do want to have meetings and then delegate tasks for the working group to work on. So my suggestion would be to have a portion of next week’s Thursday or Friday call dedicated to an update of the issues and so forth. And definitely we have to work online looking at the text to send to ALAC, looking at the text for the poll and sending out the poll and so forth.
Jose Arce: Thank you Dev. Before closing the conference call, let me just say that the text of the poll I referred to, I would like to have it finalized by tomorrow at the latest.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay.
Jose Arce: I always have Dev’s support, so Dev I’m sure we can complete it by tomorrow – I can finalize it today and you can review it tomorrow, and we should be sending it tomorrow. And if somebody has a contribution, please request the floor. If not, we will be closing the conference. Thank you Sabrina and Veronica for your efforts. Thank you to the staff. Thank you Sebastien for participating in the phone call. Does anybody else want to make any further contributions, or may I proceed to close this conference call? Having said that, I thank you all for your participation. There is plenty of hard work ahead so let’s get down to work and we look forward to seeing you. And I’m sure we will come up with wonderful events for Costa Rica. Thank you all. Good bye.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thanks to the interpreter as well.
Interpreter: Our pleasure.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thank you so much.
Heidi Ulrich: Do you think that went well?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I think so; at least I got my point across.
Heidi Ulrich: So if you can just be in touch with [inaudible] then, about the timing. Did you want to do a doodle, did you say?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: We could do the doodle for either Thursday or Friday. Although I have a feeling Thursday, so pick Thursday.
Heidi Ulrich: We’re just now seeing the schedule for our workshop next week, let me just take a look for Thursday.
[Unknown]: Thursday we’ve got a…
Heidi Ulrich: Good, you’re on the call, good [unclear].
[Unknown]: Sorry, I’m here. Tanya thanks for everything, thanks to the interpreters, thanks to everyone else, I was just getting myself off mute. Dev if you can just wait 2 seconds… [inaudible].
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: No problem.
Christina: Thank you everyone, I’m going to log off, have a good night and a Happy Thanksgiving.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Alright, thank you Christina, thank you so much again.
Christina: My pleasure. Bye bye.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I’m now seeing the cost of the capacity estimates from Silvia. I didn’t see that during the call.
Heidi Ulrich: Yeah it’s okay, probably better not to say all that right now anyway. And if they insist on having Fatima, etc, I’m sure that that can be arranged.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Well what happens also is that when we do the poll, part of me is like, if not everybody responds, or they don’t agree to the conditions for whatever reason, then we can’t offer the support to that ALS. And we have a few extra spaces, so to speak.
Heidi Ulrich: But also keep in mind, people like Alejandro Pessanti, I don’t think he’s going to wish to sit in a capacity building program. He could teach it.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Yeah he could lead it.
Heidi Ulrich: Exactly.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Sorry [inaudible] Fatima’s point, I mean, I recognize that. But then [inaudible] wants to then send somebody from ISOC Mexico.
Heidi Ulrich: Yeah I understand.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: But the thing is, I want to keep the costs low. You don’t want to go into the triple figures.
Heidi Ulrich: Absolutely.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Because when they look at that, they think, woah.
Heidi Ulrich: I don’t know if Matt’s on the call still, but in AFRALO we had a couple drop out. So even though there was money for everyone they didn’t all use it. And keep in mind that there is some money left over from AFRALO as well.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I know, but I don’t want to mention that in the call.
Heidi Ulrich: And Olivier knows that as well, so he could use that.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: So exactly yeah that’s $3,000. That’s three people…
Heidi Ulrich: So basically, I heard you mention a little bit, but were you able to make the action item about you and Jose sending a note to Olivier formally requesting this event?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Yes, we said that we will share the text, we will work on it and get it done by tomorrow so that can be sent out on Friday. Obviously we will make sure it’s in English.
[Unknown]: Heidi? We’ve brought up the [inaudible] schedule. Sorry Dev, we’ve got this face-to-face meeting next week and I didn’t think that Thursday was quite as full as it is.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Oh dear.
Heidi Ulrich: Is that internal meetings?
[Unknown]: Oh gosh, it’s 8.30 through to, I’ve got it [inaudible].
Heidi Ulrich: Do you have a more detailed list of appointments? Am I missing something?
[Unknown]: Yes Heidi, in the email that Marilyn sent today you have, the 5th document is PD internal schedule. Do you have Marilyn’s email?
Heidi Ulrich: I do have that, but she’s also printed the text for the whole agenda at the bottom of the email, so there’s more in those documents? Let me take a look.
[Unknown]: Yes if you look at the 5th document called PD internal schedule. Basically the best time for us Dev… Now, I heard you mention a call with regards to the continuation of Monday’s call, is that correct?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Correct. So instead of trying to do two calls, let’s just try to do one call and just set up that as a portion of that call.
[Unknown]: If we’re doing one call, I can foresee this call to be 2 hours.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I would agree with that assessment.
[Unknown]: Looking at 2 hours for next Thursday, it’s going to be extremely difficult to have. There’s one portion that I’d really like to be on as soon as Heidi gets the schedule up.
Heidi Ulrich: I have it up.
[Unknown]: 12 to 1 MD our time would be 2000 to 2100 UTC, which could work.
Heidi Ulrich: We could also do 10:30 to 11:30 because for new policy team members, that’s not a…
[Unknown]: Starting at 1830. But you see 1830 Buenos Aires time is 3pm, in the middle of the afternoon. My thinking behind this is on Thursday we can offer a slot, let’s say from 1830 to 2030 UTC or from 1900 to 2100 UTC. Or my suggestion would alternatively be the Monday. It’s going to be very difficult for staff to be on the call and I think having the call without staff is not really an option. We’re getting into showcase, into…
Heidi Ulrich: What time is this? Monday what time?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Monday 2359 I guess. I think that seemed to be a much more well-attended call, I was very surprised actually.
Heidi Ulrich: What about Seth, could Seth cover for that and just give us… I mean, at a minimum if we had to do that day, Seth could cover.
[Unknown]: If we are to do that day, yes Seth could cover and report back.
Heidi Ulrich: But I would prefer Thursday or Friday.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: [Inaudible] have time to book on the weekend. Because once we head into December it’s going to be very hard to get people, closer towards Christmas anyway.
[Unknown]: Okay, just for me to set up a doodle, and Dev I’ll work with you on integrating it into the second part of Monday’s call. The first of December, I think the safest bet is probably a 1900 to 2100 slot, or 2100 to 2300 and get Seth to cover.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Well, let me ask you again, 2359 UTC, you don’t think that’s feasible?
[Unknown]: Would you like us to offer those three time slots on Thursday? We can offer the 1900 to 2100…
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Oh I see, this is on Thursday, that will be the 1st of December. Okay, if Thursday 2359 could happen, I think that would work well.
Heidi Ulrich: Sorry, just quickly, the time of the task force meeting – when is that scheduled?
[Unknown]: The task force meeting, just bear with me for a second - I’m going to forward it to Cheryl, currently the best option would be Monday the 28th at 1700, according to the doodle poll.
Heidi Ulrich: What time is that Pacific?
[Unknown]: 9am.
Heidi Ulrich: Perfect.
[Unknown]: I’m going to send an email to confirm it with Cheryl before sending it out to the group. So, getting back to LACRALO. Thursday, Dev?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Thursday 1st of December, I have a feeling that 2359, if that’s doable, I think that would work great. If you want to offer a choice, fine, but I just have an instinct that the 2359 would work well because it seemed to work well for the Monday call.
[Unknown]: Do you want to do a doodle poll with 2359 to 0200 UTC and offer Monday the 5th, the same timeslot?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Sure. Should we offer the Friday? I don’t mind doing it on Friday but I’m just thinking… I don’t think people would, but if we wanted to offer the choice I guess we should, just to be complete?
[Unknown]: Do we want to offer the 2359 to 0200?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Yes, just in case, I’m sure that nobody will go for it but you never know.
[Unknown]: So we’re going for Thursday 1st, Friday 2nd, and Monday 5th, correct?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Correct.
[Unknown]: Okay, we’ll do it this way, I think Olivier like myself will only be for the first half of the call, it goes into 2am…
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: That’s alright.
[Unknown]: …morning, but Heidi and Silvia, etc, we’ll make it work.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Yeah I know, but apparently what people were saying afterwards was that because they were at home it was not a problem, whereas 5pm or 6pm is the time most people are either staying at work to attend a call or fighting traffic.
[Unknown]: So we’ve agreed on that? Do you want to just give me what you want to put in the doodle? Because I wasn’t aware that we were having a second part on Monday’s call.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Well, what should we say: LACRALO would like to have another conference call to continue the discussion from Monday 21st conference call’s issues and the Costa Rica events working group. The meeting will be a 2 hour call and please indicate the most suitable times, then give the options. Something to that effect.
[Unknown]: So it should be put for 2 hours?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I think we should schedule the translation for 2 hours at least, because you always have that lead time of… well hopefully we won’t have any of these problems that we had in today’s call. Not sure what the problem was there. But yes, schedule it for 2 hours – we may finish earlier.
[Unknown]: Okay, I’ll get this off then.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: So we can have the first discussion a continuation of the discussion regarding geographic regions and bylaw modifications, and then we can talk about the showcase a little bit more. I’m sure it will be an hour and a half but let’s leave it for 2 hours, it makes life simpler. Were there any issues in the [unclear] regarding LACRALO that I should be aware of? Because I saw Olivier’s email formally requesting the document for the regional request.
[Unknown]: That’s to be able to get it through and give it approval, but you haven’t sent that through have you?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: No that’s next, we have to draft that. I’ll share the Google doc, get people to contribute and get that done by Thursday so that you can give it to Olivier by Friday. Let me ask one quick question, was there a poll done for AFRALO, and if so what was that email like?
Heidi Ulrich: If I can answer for that, there was no poll made.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Was that because everybody, because the budget was there, everybody was invited?
Heidi Ulrich: Correct.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I see.
Heidi Ulrich: Are you planning on sending the poll before the budget is actually approved?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Well, I don’t know if you saw the text of the document, because Jose wants to send out the poll.
Heidi Ulrich: Oh I remember, it says something about ‘if there is funding’… well hopefully Olivier will take it to the [inaudible], etcetera ASAP and the decision will be made very shortly. So I would hope by mid-December there would be a response. And I think it would be better to hold off on that and change the text of the poll, because otherwise you’re getting everyone’s hopes high, and then if there isn’t anything… and we’re literally talking about only a few weeks. It’s up to you but…
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I can try talking to Jose, or we can ask Silvia to talk to Jose about this, maybe that might go too far?
Heidi Ulrich: What are your thoughts on that? Why are you so eager?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I agree. I wasn’t so eager. I think the idea was that the poll would then indicate who would be able to go – I think we could have used it earlier. Then we could say that we have polled it and we know that the vast majority wanted it and then we’d have a firm budget estimate. Because I think the worst thing is if we get some money and then realize we either have to ask for a second round or say we can’t really send all of you and do some sort of straw poll or something.
Heidi Ulrich: I think the next board meeting is on the 8th of December and I don’t know when the board finance committee is meeting, but I would hope that a decision would be made shortly. Because the meeting is in mid-March so the planning will need to take place very quickly.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Exactly. I don’t know if you saw the text of it and if you have any suggestions. That’s why I tried to break it out like that, to ask ‘will you be attending despite the current lack of ICANN travel support?’. And then the third question will be, ‘if financial support becomes available via ICANN, will you then attend the meeting in Costa Rica?’; and ‘if you are attending Costa Rica, do you agree to attend all events organized by the LACRALO Costa Rica events working group?’
Heidi Ulrich: I would say something in the first sentence that it’s still absolutely preliminary depending on funding.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I understand what you’re saying.
Heidi Ulrich: I would also mention something in the objectives, something about [inaudible].
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Oh you mean the objectives of these events? Okay, I’ll work with Jose on this. Maybe Silvia could also…
Heidi Ulrich: I think the text was clearly if financial support becomes available…
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: I know that sometimes the new answers don’t get carried over in the other language. For the Caribbean it will be fine, everybody understands what this means, but I am always worried about misinterpretations.
Heidi Ulrich: If you could just make those changes about everything being preliminary, et cetera.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, [inaudible]. And actually there’s been quite some good feedback, some good exchanges of emails between Natalia and Fatima and Cintra and Carlton. I’m optimistic about things going forward here.
Heidi Ulrich: Sorry I was on mute. For the next meeting you said you wanted it to be a combination of discussing the two issues, the bylaws and the geographic regions, as well as the Costa Rica events?
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Yes, so instead of trying to do two calls, let’s try to do one.
Heidi Ulrich: That’s going to be a very long call.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Heidi, if there was room for a general assembly here, I would sit here for 4 hours. I have memories from 2006 and 2007, there was a lot of talking. I remember [inaudible] in Brazil, we spent 3 hours debating just the first line of that text, back and forth, and then people would say something not even related to that, but they felt they had to say it. If all the ALS’s are present it will be very long. They may not be debating any issue, they just want to say something.
Heidi Ulrich: So let’s see what the doodle sorts out. I have to go, unfortunately.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay so try to make a mention, something on new [inaudible].
Heidi Ulrich: I think that would help you.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: And regarding the poll itself, you’re saying what? Make sure it mentions preliminary
Heidi Ulrich: Yes, if you could just mention it in the first sentence, just add that it’s preliminary plans for the Costa Rica event.
Dev Anand Teelucksingh: Okay, preliminary plans, I will work on that.
Heidi Ulrich: Thank you very much, good call.
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