+1 Well said. We all would welcome any questions. Cannot say it often enough. Stephanie Perrin On 2016-08-03 19:04, Dan Krimm wrote: > I think it's worth pointing out that my sense of the veterans here is that > they are generally welcoming to energetic newcomers, the more the merrier > as long as you are prepared to dig in and share some heavy lifting. > > The veterans often will feel burdened -- there is much to be done, and the > relative few with long-standing experience in the labyrinth of ICANN often > feel like there are few alternatives to pick up the ball. Then there is a > tension between allocating resources to getting new folks up to speed > versus just getting things done. It's that joke about being up to your > butt in alligators while trying to drain the swamp. > > In many positions here, experience is not as crucial as it may be to NomCom > in particular -- new folks can get up to speed as long as they can allocate > the effort for the learning curve, and if they bring related technical and > policy experience from outside ICANN per se they can very quickly become > very valuable to the process. > > I think newcomers who come to us with energy and sufficient time to be > available for some hard work should not feel intimidated at all. The more > we can spread the work around, the more effective we will be collectively. > (Spoken as someone who regretfully has little time currently for the heavy > substantive work...) > > While it would be great to have more of a mentoring dynamic here (as you > put it, a leadership program), there is at least a decent collection of > self-learning resources that are available to new members. Here's a > selection from what Tapani included in his most recent welcome message: > > General tips: > https://community.icann.org/display/gnsononcomstake/How+To+Get+Involved > > List of working groups and their members: > https://community.icann.org/display/gnsononcomstake/Getting+Involved+in+Working+Groups > > A one-stop page about ICANN's policy efforts: > http://gnso.icann.org/sites/gnso.icann.org/files/gnso/presentations/policy-efforts.htm > > Information about GNSO and about GNSO activities during ICANN meetings: > http://gnso.icann.org/en/icannmeeting > > Finally, if you begin to feel overwhelmed by ICANN acronyms, you will > find most of them in this glossary: > https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/glossary-2014-02-03-en > > > We've discussed more active mentoring options in the past, but I'm not > aware of anything that really put down roots and established a durable > process -- this is a long-standing issue that has simply not been resolved. > Short of that we fall back on individual bootstrapping to get going. I > would encourage newcomers to try to identify the people involved in various > areas of interest and to not be shy about asking them pointed questions in > order to accelerate the process of self-education. > > It's less like a cable car and more like rock-climbing. > > If we were to formalize this, I might imagine creating formal roles in > NCSG/NCUC/NPOC where the sole responsibility is to actively help newcomers > get oriented and engaged. In a typical NPO with lots of volunteers, this > might be a Volunteer Supervisor/Coordinator, and it would be a paid > position. We have no paid positions, but we might nevertheless find it > valuable to have someone formally in such a role (an elected position? > appointed by EC?), as opposed to only having policy-substantive roles. > Depending on how it is defined, it may or may not require a charter update. > > Bottom line: > > Don't be intimidated, for any reason. If you want to get involved, there > will always be a way to get you going in some capacity. You don't have to > be elected to a representative position in order to contribute something of > unique value to the group. Start out by getting onto a WG or two, and when > you find your footing you'll be ready to run for an elected position. > > Find an entry point to focus your efforts, and don't worry about being > expert in the entire range of NCSG activities. Pick something where you > have an existing interest and perhaps some useful expertise outside ICANN, > and jump right in. If you can actually commit to a serious work schedule, > you will quickly be seen as an expert and will rise according to that merit. > > It's not about joining up and immediately getting elected to something. > Get involved by participating in specific working processes, demonstrate > what you can do, and then you will naturally be asked to do more (be > careful what you ask for, you might get it!). > > Dan > > > > At 7:10 PM -0300 8/3/16, Renata Aquino Ribeiro wrote: >> Hi >> >> I don't agree with discouraging people from expressing +1s to >> nominations. It doesn't even seem feasible, really. >> >> However, as someone who decided not to run, it is very intimidating >> the immense outpur of support for continuity, in opposition to the >> timid and localized expressions around new names. It wasn't my >> decisive factor but it is a factor now and I can't seem to think of it >> not being so in a foreseeable future. >> >> But, this intimidation to me has more to do with the roster of "usual >> suspects" always climbing up the ladders of ICANN leadership than an >> actual aversion to newcomers. Being new, not from an english speaking >> country, will always be harder. That is why diversity criteria >> addresses this and perhaps thinking about a leadership programme to >> NCs could make things better. >> >> Best, >> >> Renata