[Gnso-epdp-team] Face-to-face meeting attendance

[Kurt Pritz]

Hi Everyone:

Here is where I am on attendance at the face-to face meeting (and for discussion tomorrow).

I have given this considerable thought, writing a 1400+ word memo / analysis of the different options to the GNSO leadership. Then, I re-thought all of that to come up with an alternative approach. 

I believe that the best option is: 
Members are invited and will be provided travel support.
If a member cannot attend in person, an alternate can attend and be provided travel support. If this is the case, the alternate should be designated to the Support Team as soon as possible. 
In example(2) above, if the absent member wished to participate remotely of a portion of the meeting, then she can do that and the alternate can only participate when the member is unavailable to participate.
If an attending member is, in good faith, reasonably certain that s/he will be absent for a period of time where attendance by an alternate is desired, then:
that member and the alternate can attend the full meeting but only one will be designated as a participant at any one time
the alternate will not be given travel support
I think this is the best option for several reasons: 
It provides travel support commensurate with membership
It allows alternates, when needed, to keep up with the proceedings
It is economical compared to other solutions 
It will be easy to manage who participates and when
Will not materially impact the meeting room size or planning by the ICANN Meetings Team
Thinking of other options: 
If alternate participation is curtailed beyond this, team effectiveness might be hobbled. 
If alternative participation is expanded beyond this, meeting costs might escalate and logistics would become complicated. 

My second choice would be to make the meeting completely open. In this case there would be two sets of attendees: members and observers. 
The separation would be easy to manage 
The goal of keeping alternates up to speed could be realised. 
Openness and transparency would be assured.
However, costs and logistic support requirements would increase, taking budget from more important needs
Thanks and regards,

Kurt

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