Hi Luca, all:

I joined Luca in amplifying his disapproval, and two members of the MAG jointly responded. You can see her response below.

Still, it doesn't fix the issue at hand, and it also suggests that we might need additional space to meet (not necessarily the same as in Guadalajara, but it might be worth thinking about).

Best,
-Michael

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jutta Croll <jcroll@digitale-chancen.de>
Date: Wed, Sep 19, 2018 at 6:09 PM
Subject: Re: [DC] Rationale of 60 minutes for DCs and 90 for BPFs

Dear Luca, dear all DC members and all who have taken part in the debate,

As MAG members and facilitators for the DCs work we would like to explain the rationale behind the programme and the reduced time slots for DC sessions.

First of all please bear in mind the programme for this year’s IGF in Paris will last for only three days without a day 0. So all IGF activities need to be squeezed in this tight time frame. In parallel to this development the MAG received an overwhelming number of workshop proposals this year (348 total). In the evaluation process we followed a strict time saving policy and for many of the workshops a reduction of time from 90 to 60 minutes was suggested in order to accommodate as much as possible to the programme. 

The DCs’ request for 90-minute slots was stated clearly several times during the MAG meeting, and this was defended strongly by the DC liaison. The MAG acknowledged this request; nevertheless there were suggestions to not only reduce DC sessions in duration, but to schedule them outside of the regular programme (this is reflected in the transcript of the meeting). The 60-minute slots in an integrated programme represent a compromise that we should be able to accept for the time being. It is worth noting that some DCs, independent of the MAG’s discussion, had also said they could agree to 60 minutes. 

As representatives of the MAG and the DCs we don’t think competition between BPFs and DCs will bring us forward. While BPFs are held under the auspices of the MAG with MAG oversight other than DCs, both are doing so much valuable work for Internet Governance. By a simple look at numbers it becomes obvious its easier to accommodate 4 BPFs in the schedule of the IGF than 17 DCs with an equal amount of time.

We kindly ask all DC members to accept the indispensable conditions for this year's IGF and start working to make the most out of their 60 minutes slots. Personally we will take responsibility for achieving again 90 minutes slots for DCs in the IGF 2019 schedule.

Kind regards,
Jutta Croll and Markus Kummer