[council] Date for meeting in Washington area -23/24/25 Feb 2006

[Robin Gross]

I will not be able to attend this meeting as it conflicts with meetings 
at WIPO in Geneva that I am already ticketed to attend.  I won't be able 
join in the GNSO meeting via telephone either.

I don't see any advantage to holding this meeting in Washington DC.  It 
  will skew the results of the meeting in favor of "DC-insiders" and 
away from ordinary users and the larger international community.  I 
think we should at least reconsider holding this meeting in Washington DC.

Robin


GNSO.SECRETARIAT at GNSO.ICANN.ORG wrote:
> 
> [To: council[at]gnso.icann.org]
> 
> Dear Council Members,
> 
> As requested by Bruce Tonkin, the GNSO Council chair, I am providing an
> update on the proposed meeting in the Washington DC area.
> The proposed dates are:
> 
> Thursday 23 February from 1:30 pm to 5:00pm
> Friday 24 February from 9:00 am to 5:00pm (Open Forum planned for half a
> day)
> Saturday 25 February from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm
> 
> In view of these meetings, there will be no GNSO Council meeting as
> planned on 21 February 2006. http://gnso.icann.org/calendar/#feb
> 
> The room space can accommodate 30 people at an open U shape table and
> there will be 10 extra chairs on the sides.
> Some of the constituencies have informed me that their representatives
> will participate remotely and that they would like to have one or two
> additional designated representatives for on site attendance. If you
> will be participating remotely, the constituency should agree who will
> attend the meeting in person and let me know as soon as possible please.
> DIAL IN will be provided for remote participation of councillors.
> 
> The meeting room has a podium, pc projector, wireless Internet
> connectivity and microphones.
> 
> The cost would be for drinks and food, and will depend on the number of 
> people attending, but I am told a sandwich/salad style lunch can be 
> catered for at usually about 350- 400 US$  for about 35 people. There is 
> a contribution for unlimited coffee, sodas, and juice that we are asked 
> to make -- which is much nicer than having to worry about ordering 
> catering for drinks. That might be about 150- 175 US$ An alternative is 
> to break for lunch. There are numerous lunch places to buy salads, soup, 
> sandwiches "on one's own".
> 
> I have contacted about 10 hotels in down town Washington and the room
> rates vary from 190 to 250 US$. In order to negotiate a reasonable
> price, and hold sleeping rooms, I do have to know how many rooms will be
> needed and would be most grateful if you could give me an indication
> whether you will be attending or who will be attending from your
> constituency.
> 
> There are 3 airports serving the Washington DC area:
> - Regan national airport is the closest being 15 to 20 minutes cab drive
> to Down Town Washington DC.
> - Baltimore (BW1) is about 1hour 15 minutes but does have subway
> transport  between the airport and Down Town Washington DC.
> - Dulles (IAD) is about 50 to 60 minutes away by cab or shuttle and
> there is an excellent shuttle service between Dulles airport and Down
> Town. There is no subway nor are there trains between Dulles and Down 
> Town Washington DC.
> 
> I hope this helps. Please contact me if you have any questions and 
> please let me know whether you will be attending in person or by remote 
> particiaption.
> 
> Thank you.
> Kind regards,
> 
> Glen
> 
> Glen de Saint Géry
> GNSO Secretariat - ICANN
> gnso.secretariat[at]gnso.icann.org
> http://gnso.icann.org
> 
> 
>