Executive Director Report - 28 April 2006
My report covers the period from the last meeting on 4 March 2006 to 21 April 2006, and should be read in conjunction with the attached Project Reports.
ICANN Wellington
Has now been and gone, and rated as successful by many. With 709 attendees from 84 countries the ICANN meeting was well attended, and with 170 NZ and 47 Pacific Island attendees it can be assumed that significant outreach for InternetNZ has been achieved.
Attached to the ICANN Project Report is a Confidential Draft copy of the ICANN debrief report. The reason for distribution to Council in its incomplete form is to seek relevant input and amendment from InternetNZ attendees, prior to 5 May. The paper will then be circulated to Providers for their comments, and brought back to the 16 June Council meeting for adoption as the final report.
The Organising Committee will have held their final meeting by the time Council meets, so a verbal update on any issues of relevance will be provided to Council.
The timing collision of the ICANN meeting with the NZ telecommunications regulatory issues saw massive media interest and significant coverage and profile building for InternetNZ.
I was able to facilitate meetings between Vint Cerf and various parties including the Minister of Communications, the Telecommunications Commissioner, National Library and others, and the outcomes of these meetings may prove most valuable to InternetNZ in due course. Simon Riley also facilitated a tour of Weta and the NZ Supercomputer centre for Vint, which resulted in a most useful meeting of Vint with Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, Scott Houston and others.
IPv6 Hui
The ICANN IPv6 workshop provided a useful backgrounder for NZ attendees. Roger Hicks was in attendance, and members of our IPv6 TF have subsequently commenced planning for an IPv6 Hui for August 2006.
NZNOG
Unfortunately I was unable to attend any of the NOG conference this year, but had the delight in attending the organised dinner, and highlight of presenting Joe Abley with his Fellowship to InternetNZ.
Websites
Development of mini web sites for the Broadband Campaign, IPv6 Hui
and NZCERT will commence in early May.
Membership
As at 31 March 2006 InternetNZ membership stood at 178, comprising the following:
Total last month end 168
Less Void / Resigned 1
Plus new members 11
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Total this month end 178
As stated in the project report, around 6 new members have come from the combined NZCS / INZ membership proposal. It should also be noted that zero new members resulted from the $30,000 newspaper “Your Internet is Our Concern” advertising campaign.
Feedback at the member consultation meetings on the Business Plan endorsed the proposals from Council last year that the Society's membership fee structure be simplified, and fees changed. There is also a need to more clearly plan membership recruitment and communications, to help with increasing the Society's membership.
Next Council meeting will receive a paper recommending to the AGM the adoption of a new fee schedule, and outlining constitutional changes that will be required to implement the structural changes to organisational members. If accepted, the new regime will be in place from 1 October 2006, the start of the new membership year.
Members Consultation Meetings
Meetings were held in Wellington (10 April – 11 members), Christchurch (11 April – 4 members) and Auckland (12 April – 21 members) and were useful in terms of input into the business plan and other issues relating to InternetNZ’s future directions.
Staffing
Following on from the member consultation meetings and the Executive Committee, I have commenced scoping for the position of a communications person. Some “shoulder tapping” may be required to find suitable candidates for this role. My hope is that recruitment will occur prior to the June Council meeting, and the additional staff member should be fully functional post the July AGM.
Recommendations:
1. (Pacific Internet Partnership)
“that Don Hollander and Keith Davidson represent InternetNZ at the PACINET Annual Conference in Samoa, and that $2,500 budget each be authorised for travel and accommodation..”
2. (IDN Project)
“that the project be discussed with NZRS and NZOC, and be approved to proceed if all parties are in agreement.”
3. “that the report of the Executive Director for April 2006, including the Project Status Reports to 31 March 2006, be received.”
Keith Davidson
21 April 2006
