Executive Director's Travel Report 30/04/05
ICANN Mar Del Plata April 2005
Overview
The purpose of my travel to the ICANN conference in Mar del Plata was:
1) Develop an understanding of the administration issues in setting up an ICANN meeting.
2) Develop relationships with the people needed to run ICANNZ06
3) Identify and talk with potential sponsors
4) Promote ICANNZ06 to potential attendees.
5) Develop operational relationships with ICANN staff.
5) Support the InternetNZ team at the meeting and be available to attend sessions when others are unavailable.
Other reports, from Keith Davidson and the ICANNZ06 working group also cover the areas I was working on.
The Conference
Keith' s report provides the details of what went on at the conference. As this was my first ICANN conference, I was listening and learning. Here are some of my perceptions:
1) InternetNZ is hugely respected in the ICANN community, and is seen as a well informed and balanced authority in several areas.
2) Everyone who attends these meetings has to say what they came to say even if several people before said the same thing. It seems impossible to say "me too"
3) Most presentations are simply read from the screen.
4) It is very hard to get a sense of direction from the meetings.
5) As with all conferences the "after match" functions are where the real business gets done.
6) ICANN is trying hard to be accepted by the whole Internet community, and is almost tripping over itself. On the other hand, they struggle with delivery of quality communications.
The consensus seems to be that ICANN is nicer than the ITU, so lets get on with making ICANN work the way we want it to. Unfortunately, there is not consensus on what ICANN should look like.
ICANN06 Stuff
The basis for our planning to run the ICANN conference in March 2006 fits well with my observations of the Mar Del Plata event. Differences in organization will be caused by the Wellington venue not being in a hotel, and in the better, more frequent, domestic air transport in NZ.
The nature of the conference demands high attention to details for the organizers, and we have learned from some of the issues observed. The issues are being worked on by the ICANN06 operational team of Laura Virgo, Jordan Carter, Keith Davidson and myself.
A few of the key areas to target include
- Logistics, getting the ICANN kit from LA to NZ in plenty of time (this was a big issue in Agentina)
- Printing- timely good quality printed materials
- Good presentation of the event schedule and clear directions to the meeting rooms.
- Lunches on site to ensure attendees don' t struggle to get back on time.
- Inexpensive network access in all hotels.
- Plenty of coffee
- Plenty of comfortable informal meeting areas as that is how the main business is transacted
- Good "meet me" capability to ensure that delegates can locate the people they want to meet
Promotional activity is planned to gear up for the Vancouver conference in December. To get the ball rolling I spent much of my time discussing and promoting attendance. I found a high degree of enthusiasm, and a strong indication that many attendees will be bringing partners and children to spend time in NZ before and after the event.
With the success of the indoor soccer tournament, we saw strong support for a touch rugby tournament in Wellington. This will become an integral part of the social program.
Sponsors fall into three categories:
- Those who traditionally support ICANN events, and who are aggressive in pursuit of their goals in sponsorship. Keith and I were under continued bombardment by this group.
- Traditional but low key sponsors who we need to cajole.
- New sponsors who we will need to sell to.
From the indications of support we have to date, we will be able to meet out sponsorship target.
Following the meeting I returned via Los Angeles and visited the ICANN office in Marina del Rey. I had several meetings with staff, to learn more about their operation, forge working relationships, and to smooth the way for the operational aspects of ICANN06.
Another benefit was getting an inside perspective on ICANN operations. Sadly this reflects the position observed at the Mar Del Plata event.
ICANN staff are good people with a strong desire to be supportive and understanding of the constituencies they are responsible to deliver services for. Sadly this is not happening. The top down culture is preventing the operation form engaging globally. To make it worse the staff have had no international nor business relationship skills training. This issue must be resolved quickly if we are to ensure that ICANN is an effective foil to the ITU ambitions.
I would be keen to work on this issue after the conclusion of my term at InternetNZ.
