Revised plans for Best Bits gathering - now in Baku

[Jeremy Malcolm]

Thanks everyone for your invaluable inputs on the proposal.  Here is a
quick update, following discussions with various of you offlist.

First, it looks like we won't be able to do Singapore after all.  The
hotel reported to me yesterday that they are fully booked for the
weekend prior to the IIC conference, and that for the alternative dates
after the conference we are on standby.

Several of you have voiced that you would prefer to do the event in
conjunction with the IGF in Azerbaijan instead.  Although it has its
downsides, the big benefit is that we would have to support fewer
participants' travel costs.  This is important because the budget that
we have sketched out is significantly too high to be supported by any of
our prospective funders (and indeed at this stage, it looks like only
one of them, Google, will be able to offer support).

On this basis, I have gone ahead and begun enquiries with the hotels in
Baku about hosting the event over the weekend prior to the IGF.  The
next thing to determine is who will be in Baku, and who won't.  Amongst
those who won't, we need to receive and decide upon their applications
for travel support *within a week*.  Sorry for the short deadline!

So without further ado, I have thrown up a document in Google Docs (I
would have stuck with Etherpad, except that it doesn't support tables
yet) with a table of the groups who were listed in the proposal as
prospective invitees.  It is at http://bit.ly/SqnzeS
<http://bit.ly/SqnzeS> . *Your help is needed to complete this table*.
Please:

  * If you are on the list (which you should be!) please complete the
    entry for your organisation by:
      o Indicating whether you plan to attend, either in person or remotely.
      o If you /really/ can't make your own way to the meeting without
        assistance, please specify what kind of assistance you are
        seeking (for example full or partial flight cost, hotel for two
        nights or for the whole week, etc).  If you can estimate a US
        dollar value, all the better.
      o Indicating how you would like to participate in the draft
        programme - would you like to speak at or to moderate a
        session?  Would you like to be part of a working group that
        prepares "zero draft" text for discussion on day 2, or do you
        want to nominate someone else to do so?  (Andrew or I may reach
        out to some of you individually about this.)
  * Please check the other suggested representatives from each group -
    there are a few that need adding, those I've listed mightn't be the
    most appropriate, and there are a few that I haven't completed.  In
    general, one representative per organisation should be enough.
  * If you know any of those people, and the "invited" column isn't
    already completed, please contact them to ask if they are interested
    in attending the meeting.  I'm attaching a PDF document excerpted
    from the proposal that can accompany the invitation.  Then add the
    date when you contacted them to the "invited" column, so that we
    know they have been informed.

Once again, the *deadline to complete the table is by next week* - 24
August 2012.  Whilst the details are yet to be confirmed (for example
how many delegates could be funded and which hotel will be used as the
venue), we need to have an idea of the prospective participants first.

Thanks again, and please let me know of any queries or concerns with
these revised plans.

-- 

*Dr Jeremy Malcolm
Senior Policy Officer
Consumers International | the global campaigning voice for consumers*
Office for Asia-Pacific and the Middle East
Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM, 7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg, TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Tel: +60 3 7726 1599

*Your rights, our mission -- download CI's Strategy 2015:*
http://consint.info/RightsMission

@Consumers_Int | www.consumersinternational.org
<http://www.consumersinternational.org> |
www.facebook.com/consumersinternational
<http://www.facebook.com/consumersinternational>

Read our email confidentiality notice
<http://www.consumersinternational.org/email-confidentiality>. Don't
print this email unless necessary.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/bestbits/attachments/20120816/f1aa3aa8/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Flier for Best Bits.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 126606 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.igcaucus.org/pipermail/bestbits/attachments/20120816/f1aa3aa8/attachment.pdf>