Hi,

Well, being the NCUC liaison to ALAC, I decided to liaise.  While no  
formal meeting has been set for Seoul (which to me is a pity but  
whatever), that doesn't mean that interested folks can't get together  
for more informal chatting about mutual concerns and such.  Getting to  
know and understand each other better seems a worthy use of our scarce  
time, especially since, as others who are also in both camps can  
attest, we often are having parallel conversations with parallel views  
being expressed, and ought to be working together where possible to  
advance public interest representation in ICANN.  So I wrote to ALAC  
and proposed an informal, agenda-free round of libation and/or dinner  
on Monday night after the IDN ccTLD fast track reception (meaning  
people may already be well lubricated), and more than a dozen people  
responded favorably, which is encouraging.  I hope we can muster a  
good NCUC contingent to make this work!

The path of least resistance would probably be to simply gather in the  
lobby at 8pm and then head off somewhere, we can ask the concierge for  
suggestions based on the body count.  Given the responses on the ALAC  
side I'm guessing/hoping maybe 20-30 people unless the reception etc  
proves centrifugal.

My mobile is +41 78 635 4888 if someone fails to make the connection  
and wants to join later wherever we end up.

Please do come if you're free, some bridge building would be  
constructive.

Best,

Bill


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William J. Drake
Senior Associate
Centre for International Governance
Graduate Institute of International and
  Development Studies
Geneva, Switzerland
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www.graduateinstitute.ch/cig/drake.html
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