ICANN São Paulo meeting site

Last night - late - we got talking about what clothes we had brought with us. Some had travelled light. Others had more than they could possibly wear. Of particular interest was shoes. At the risk of reinforcing a stereotype, it seemed that in a straw poll of about 9, none of the men had more than 3 pairs and the women had between 5 and 9 (although one person bought 2 pairs here which led to a debate about if they should be included). The person who had 9 - a well known ICANN identity whom we will call Athena (not her real name), turns out to be a symbol, but more of that later.

As this 27th ICANN meeting races to a close, there is no doubt in my mind that we are improving rapidly in the way these meetings run and their usefulness . I am aware that this is a little self-serving as I am an ICANN employee. It's happening because we are responding to excellent suggestions from the community. What's my evidence? This site for one. We did this quickly and placed our trust in Kieren McCarthy and he delivered big time. In addition to improving remote participation, the blogs, the comments and chat rooms have seen ICANN staff appearing on an official ICANN site providing personal perspectives that have at once humanised them, made them more accessible and dare I say it a bit more transparent.

There will be a really interesting session today at 3pm to discuss how we run meetings. What might seem an exercise in navel gazing is actually, I think, going to be a very useful discussion that could inform our whole approach to not only running meetings, but where they are located, how we participate, their purpose and more.
So in amongst lots of meetings, one more to talk about how the meetings work! But it will be very valuable.

In addition to meeting overload, I think I'm in meat overload. This week I must have eaten a flock of sheep, a herd of cows and a coop of chickens! If you can drag yourself away in the evening to sample a rodizio (where all kinds of delicious meat just keeps coming) you should. They are outstanding.

So I'm Executive Officer and VP Corporate Affairs for ICANN and I'm tasked with improving our communications amongst other things. In another forum Keiren McCarthy says: 'the real test will come in whether the ICANN staff start using it (this remote site). ICANN is still in under-fire mode (although it has started relaxing a little following the JPA) and the staff have a slight bunker mentality. I just hope that they start interacting with the community and in return the community gives them a fair hearing. If the site can solve one problem that wouldn