Don, 

I am going to throw this out there as an idea about a great way to positively impact the UA (A= Acceptance/Awareness) with the authentic realization that it will be both stillborn and read as sarcasm.

Just before NamesCon in January in Las Vegas is this little show called CES - that pulls in nearly 180,000 people - with CIOs abounding.  IF ICANN spent a teensy weensy fraction of the interest on the nTLD auction proceeds, say, for example, they could get space that week and announce and hold summits or workshops - and having a fairly solid presence during that event that might attract those CIOs to have the right conversations if aligned with some announcements and marketing.

I am partially being sarcastic because I have a suspicion that this would be a challenge to get approval for in such a short span of time, not to mention that it is unlikely reasonably accomplished given the many coordination and messaging steps that would have to happen to execute on this effectively so that it would be a wise spend.

That said, I really wonder how many folks on this list saw what I wrote and said, 'OMG did he really say that... but WOW, You know, that is EXACTLY the type of action we need to see', and then spent a moment envisioning such an expenditure of resources or time, realized the likelihood was minimal, and in a crestfallen manner resumed to look at mild volunteering efforts again.

The volunteering by so many in the community towards helping improve the situation is impressive, and appreciated, and my note is really more one to suggest that the path forward needs a bit of oomph so that CIOs will engage on this topic.  Or as I playfully say, we need something to get king 'Enry to peek up over the mutton leg they're gnawing.

I was encouraged slightly by talk of a UA hack-a-thon for example, that's creative.  CES instead of the Marrakech meeting would be a place to hold something like that.  Or even NamesCon.  Bring it.  

Appreciating that approval for the budget to do something big at CES is not likely, instead I'd gladly make space available during the show for a UA (Acceptance) Hack-A-Thon.  And we could all collectively invite CIOs to NamesCon on UA (Awareness) to learn about the new naming options.  They just stay a couple extra days in Las Vegas.  Not a hard sell.  UA (awareness) is one of the core principles of NamesCon already.

Any takers?

-Jothan

Jothan Frakes
Tel: +1.206-355-0230


On Thu, Dec 10, 2015 at 2:19 PM, Don Hollander <don.hollander@icann.org> wrote:
As we move forward on the completion of our documentation, we’re looking for some community CIO’s to provide guidance about what should be in and what shouldn’t be in a CIO Guidebook.

Our plan is to have a focus group of people that we know very well and who understand the issue but have the role of CIO or senior IT staff and can look at the documentation from that perspective.

And after that, we will have a focus group of CIO’s from outside the industry who will be able to critique the result.

So, if you’re a CIO, or know a CIO, and would be willing to read the existing documentation and provide feedback, would you please let me know.

We’d like to try to do this through e-mail but we can organise a call if that will be useful.

Thanks.

Don