Summary Report MAG Virtual Meeting 8 November 2016

IGF Virtual Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG) Meeting IX

 8 November 2016
 

Summary Report

1.         The ninth IGF Virtual MAG Meeting of the 2016 IGF preparatory cycle took place on 8 November. Ms. Lynn St. Amour moderated the meeting as Chair of the MAG and Mr. Chengetai Masango represented the IGF Secretariat. The webex recording of the meeting can be accessed here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4oPMhWAuvN-a1hkV0pVTE5Hcjg/view

2.         The meeting opened with a briefing from the Secretariat on overall preparations for the annual meeting. The online schedule is now available in the dynamic “Sched” format on the IGF website. Like last year, this schedule allows users/IGF attendees to have their own accounts and customize their own schedules; session organizers can fill in the details of their session and also attach any relevant documents; accounts created in previous years are still valid. MAG members were encouraged to sign-in to the Sched and promote the IGF programme through this channel. It was also noted that Main Session information received by the Secretariat from MAG main session organizers have been published on the IGF website. Main session organizers should review the information there and inform the Secretariat with programming updates in the next weeks leading up to the annual meeting.

3.         It was reported that more than 2000 people had registered so far online (online registration closes on 17 November). Half of them are already processed and most of these 1000 people are approved.  The list of currently approved delegates is available on the website and live statistics of registrations is also available: https://www.intgovforum.org/content/igf-2016-registrations-statistics. It was also noted that 43 remote hubs have been registered in different locations around the world for the meeting. Virtual trainings will be held by the Secretariat for remote hubs, remote panellists and moderators and session organizers have been contacted, to warn their potential remote panellists as well as their remote moderators.

4.          The Secretariat then reminded the MAG that the draft output documents of the four 2016 IGF Best Practice Forums (BPFs) are now all available for public comment on the IGF review platform. MAG members were encouraged to spread the word about this commenting opportunity widely to the IGF community. While each BPF adopted its own unique methodology suited to its specific theme over the past few months, these documents were all produced as the outcomes of multistakeholder, bottom-up and community-driven processes.  Draft I of IGF Policy Options for Connecting and Enabling the next Billions - Phase II was also recently published on the IGF’s review platform and will remain open for another week - until 14 November. It consists of a summary of 50+ submissions we received, including original and background submissions. Draft II will be published before IGF and will contain comments received on the review platform along with some additional submissions we received after Draft I was published.

5.         A representative from the Host Country then gave a short briefing on their preparations. Updated information for delegates is being made available on a rolling basis on the host country website, including information on hotels, how to obtain visas, and other logistical information. The host country organizing team is working closely with the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assist participants in obtaining visas. Further information about host-country led day-zero sessions, including the high-level meeting on ‘Achieving Social Inclusion – A Common Goal for the Internet Community’ will also be shared with the MAG and made publically available shortly.

6.         MAG Main Session organizers then gave brief updates on the status of preparations for the Main Sessions set to take place during the annual meeting. Organizers of the main sessions were reminded to send updates on their sessions to the Secretariat for the IGF website and to also upload their session information to the online Sched.

7.         The Working Group on New Session Formats and the IGF Secretariat then gave a brief update. New session formats will be included in the programme of this year’s meeting, to better engage youth and new participants. 3 new, dynamic types of sessions have been added to the 2016 schedule: Lightning Sessions; Corner Sessions and Unconference. The working group completed a survey of the workshop proposals not originally selected for the 2016 programme which could be suitable specifically for limited Lightning Session slots. There are 16 of these slots projected. The working group and the Secretariat is now in the process of contacting these respective session organizers to invite them to hold their proposed workshop at the IGF as a 20-minute Lightning Session. Confirmed lightning sessions will be added to the programme on a rolling basis. For the corner sessions and the unconference space, participants will be able to spontaneously sign-up for these spaces.

8.         An update was then provided on the Newcomers Track and it was noted that the new-comers session will be held on Day 0, and that MAG members were encouraged to volunteer to act as ‘newcomer friendly’ volunteers during the meeting, and to also indicate if they are able to speak specific languages to delegates.

9.         The MAG was then asked to comment on the proposal[1] from the Working Group on Workshop Evaluation and Selection process which had been circulated to the MAG mailing list. Some MAG members felt that they required a few extra days to fully review the proposal prior to moving forward with it. MAG members were asked to send comments, if any, by Friday 18 November.

10.       The next MAG Virtual meeting is scheduled for 29 November, one week prior to the official start of the annual meeting on 6 December. There will be a discussion on the mailing list to determine if this meeting is required. MAG members who would like to hold issue-specific or working group meetings before the annual meeting should contact the Secretariat.