2018 IGF - MAG - Virtual Meeting - XV

>> Hello, everyone.  We will get started in just a minute.  I see some people are still trying to come in.
>> Good afternoon, morning and evening, ladies and gentlemen.  Welcome to the virtual MAG meeting, virtual MAG meeting number 15.  Just to remember, we will be using the speaking queue, and Luis has posted that the link to the speaking queue in the chat, so you put your name there, and then Lynn will call you up in that order.
To start off, I'll hand the floor over to Lynn to start the meeting.  Thank you.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Chengetai.  Maybe to get ahead of a few questions, Chengetai is back with us at least for the duration of the IGF meeting, which we are very thankful for.  So he is basically stepping back into his old role, which I know will be greatly appreciated.
The agenda is posted there in the chat room.  It was sent out earlier this week.  Are there any requested edits or any other items under AOB?  Again doing the slow count to 6 to get people time to get into the queue.
So not seeing any then, we will call the agenda approved.
  (static).
And the first item, miscellaneous updates from the Secretariat or the chair.  I think I'll let the Secretariat get started.  And then we will move to the Host Country and if there is anything beyond that, I can step in later.  Chengetai?
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, Lynn.
To give you a brief overview for the registrations, we have over 2253 registered participants so far, and a reminder for the badges, you can pick up the badges starting on Saturday, from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., but you will not be able to pick them up on Sunday, because that is a public holiday in France, and UNESCO is closed for Sunday.  For the IGF we have 56 booths and they will be panels behind the booths and organizers can come in on Saturday to set up the booths and this is from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m., you can come in and set up your booths.
For remote hubs we have 33 remote hubs registered, and we may be able to add a few more, while in fact we do encourage to add a few more, if you know of somebody trying to organize a remote hub, you can please contact Luis as soon as possible, so that we can arrange some training for that.
For the visa support I know some of you are having a little bit of problems with the visa support.  We will provide that support on a case by case basis.  But it is understood that everybody should comply with the requirements to get a visa, but if there is any special circumstances or extraordinary circumstances, please contact the Secretariat and then we will try and assist you.
There is the interactive schedule that we have published on the IGF Web site.  So you can mark which sessions that you are going to, and actually that will be quite helpful for us, so that we can know how to arrange things, and to get, concentrate the support where it's needed in the rooms that it is needed.  We would encourage people to use that interactive schedule.
I will let Eleonora say a few words about the reporting from the session organizers.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Actually, Chengetai, can we do that at the item 4?
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Okay, sure, no problem.  Yes, I understand.  That is fine.  There is a media advisory that was issued by United Nations department of information, which may be of interest to MAG members.  We do encourage you to spread that around.  We will put the link in the chat and I'll also send a E mail out with the media advisory about the IGF 2018 meeting.  Back to you, Lynn.  Thank you.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you.  I sent the E mail advisory out.  They have it already.  I'm going to thank Chengetai for stepping back in, a huge thanks to all the individuals in the IGF Secretariat, all three of them, and the good support they got from UNDESA as well.  You can see that it was a lot of work and fairly easy for Chengetai to come back in based on all the work that they had done.  So much appreciated for everyone, for additional effort.  Let me see if we have Ambassador Martino on the call.  He was going to try and join.
>> I am on the call.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Excellent.  You have the floor, we are on agenda item 3 which is update on Host Country preparations, and I think specifically there have been a number of questions on the opening ceremony and the high level panels.
>> Right.  Thanks for the invitation to join you today.  First of all, we will probably open a desk at the entrance of UNESCO for the pick up of the badges on Sunday, and most probably not on Saturday.  So we are considering options, because, yes, there is a cost, and so we will make sure that the information is precise as it should be as soon as possible.  Second, as regards the planning, the program of the IGF, so as you know, we are on the high level multistakeholder segment on Monday afternoon, so right now the program goes as such.  The Executive Director, general director of UNESCO, Mrs. Azulai will say a word of welcome to participants at 3:00 p.m. exactly.  Then we immediately give the floor to Secretary General Antonio Guterres so it will be the first time that UN Secretary General actually attend the IGF, the floor between 20 and 30 minutes.  And the President will have the floor and we will have two multistakeholder panels, dedicated to new topics and new ideas of Government, with again stakeholders, representative from different stakeholders and representatives from Government around the world.  So I can be more precise on the exact composition, I can't be more precise because we are still expecting some confirmations, and the whole exercise should end around 6:00 p.m., and then as you know, ICANN, ISOC and the I star organizations are inviting for, I think there will be a reception at UNESCO, and that is it for the first day.
On day 2, this is something we have started discussing with Lynn, and I think we need to open it to discussion with you.  So we have a big challenge in front of us, which is that we need to keep governmental representatives and notably ministers who will be in town and who are considering participating to the IGF in to give them sort of a slot, so that they can actually address the audience.  We have a good number of Government representatives, and other stakeholders who would like to take the floor, who of course are not part of a panel that you have organized and we need to find a solution, so that they can feel that they are part of the event.
We have been talking about that with Lynn.
I understand that there might be some time on Tuesday morning, before everything starts.  I strongly advise the MAG that to keep that space, so that we can actually have people, so we can actually have these ministers and other stakeholders to intervene.  I think that would be a very smart practical move, so that we keep these people interested in the future of the IGF.  Then we still need to work on the Closing Ceremony for which we are very much in your hands.  Of course, the protocol of the IGF and of the UN requests that representative from the Host Country and a representative of the UN actually end that Closing Ceremony, so we have that in mind.  We have started a discussion with our colleagues at the office of the Secretary General to see who exactly from the UN would take the floor on Wednesday, but that is very much a work in progress, and we are very confident that the ceremony will be a good moment and a substantial moment.
What else would you like me to say or to describe or to address?
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you.  Let me open the floor to MAG members, see if there are any other questions or comments.  Are there any questions from the Secretariat at the moment?  People could use the speaking queue, that would be helpful, but any further follow up or questions from the Secretariat?
Not hearing anybody or seeing anybody, I mean, again, as Ambassador Martino mentioned, we are trying to understand how many additional VIPs we should work to pull into the IGF and how best to do that, so discussions are under way with the French Host Country, obviously with the Secretariat, and we are looking at several solutions.  There is certainly a preference not to return to the kind of individual speaking queue we have had, but at this late stage, there may be few options.  Again, it depends on how many individuals are coming, and another thought is that we perhaps try and group them around a couple of specific questions or something, and see if we get a minimal debate, I guess, format going.  But again we are still trying to understand the numbers and the opportunities based on the venue.
David, do you have the titles for the two sessions, the two Opening Sessions?  I know you were very close, but if you could cover those, that is probably the last question.
>> On the panel, you mean?
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Yes.
>> The titles of the two panels?  So, of course, the first one will be focusing on the new challenges of Government, new topics, the security, data protection, digital inclusion, that sort of topics.  We will be, for sure part of that panel, again the director of UNESCO ....
  (no audio).
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Ambassador, I think we lost you.  Can anyone hear me?
>> LUIS BOBO: We lost Mr. Martino, he was going to return by phone.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Right, okay.  It looks like he's gone now.
>> LUIS BOBO: He will need to reconnect.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Luis.  Let's see if he comes back in.  If not, we can share the second panel.  So, yeah, we will make him aware, maybe you can just send a note to myself, Chengetai, and we will forward it on to Ambassador Martino.  We did have the same offer, we are trying to find some accommodations for them in one of UNESCO's Open Forum as well.  So we are looking at those opportunities.
>> Hi, this is David.  I'm back.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Excellent.  (chuckles).
>> Sorry for that.  I was talking about the first panel, and I was saying that most probably the President of ISOC will be part of it, Maria Gabriel who is the European Commissioner for digital affairs will be part of it too, and we are confirming a few more speakers, and the second panel will be about the empowerment of IGF and the reinforcement of Internet Governance.  We will be part of it, somebody called Lynn St. Amour, I think that is the name that I read on my list, and most probably representatives of the Host Countries from 2017, 2018, and 2019.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Ambassador.  We do have a question from Titti.
>> Thanks for giving me the floor.  This is Titti.  Can you hear me?
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: We can.
>> Titti:  I have just a question about the list of people that have been invited by the French Government.  Can I know what Italian have been invited any, because the list from Eleonora but I want to be sure they have not been invited by the French Government.
>> The French Minister of Europe and foreign affairs has invited the Italian Minister, his Italian counterpart.  The HLM Minister for digital affairs has been invited by his French counterpart too.
>> Because did he invite also our Prime Minister?
>> Sorry, I can't hear you well.
>> Okay, the question was if you have sent invitation also to our Prime Minister.
>> I have to check that.
>> Okay.  So maybe you can send me a mail, we can talk later.  Okay?
>> Okay.  Please send me an E mail, so that I have exactly your    my E mail address is David.Martinon (indecipherable).gov.fr.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Ambassador Martino.  I don't see anybody else in the queue.  There has been comments in the chat room.  What Ambassador reported on earlier was that the registration may be open on Sunday, if not, then on Saturday.  They are still finalizing it, we will let everyone know as soon as    the difficulty is Sunday is a national holiday.
>> We are working on that, because as you said it will be a national holiday.  The thing is, so that everybody knows, UNESCO is a place with a small entrance, and we are under strict rules because of the terrorist threat in Paris and in France in general.  So we are trying to find ways to ease the registration process and the control.  But it's not ideal.  It might take time.  Participants will have to queue for some time, obviously.  But we will provide a very strong wi fi, so that we are not bored while waiting in the queue.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: There will be a separate entrance for those that have already received their badges as well, right?  That should help things.
>> So, no, this is, unfortunately, there will be a separate entrance for the personnel of UNESCO and there will be another entrance for the VIPs for the high level panel, the ministers, heads of states, will have of course their entrance, VIP entrance.  But the rules of the UN and UNESCO are such that so far we are struggling to have another entrance.  This is why I wanted to warn everyone, have your smart phone and your Net Flix identifier so that you are not bored while queuing.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Ambassador, the most important thing is to make sure that we provide really good information and advice, if you will on this ahead of time.  So we can keep on top of that and make sure we are informing all the delegates.  Chengetai, do you have any questions or anyone, Secretariat.
  (audio fading).
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: I don't have any at the moment.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Ambassador, do you have any questions or anything else you need from us?
>> No.  Again, we still have the question of the slot for high level representatives from the Government and Civil Society who would like to address the floor.  That is the remaining question for us.  I leave it to you.  I have to rush to another meeting.  But thank you for listening to my remarks, and we are anxious to welcome you all in Paris.  Take a coat, and take an umbrella, and take some time off to enjoy Paris while you are not at UNESCO.  By the way, as it has been most probably said  (static) you have all, you will all have an access to the Paris Peace Forum, and to the gov tech summit either on the morning of the 12th or the afternoon, but of course I wouldn't recommend to go to the gov tech on the afternoon because of the multistakeholder panel.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: We have a question, asking for more information on the Paris Peace Forum, in particular the digital track.
  (audio breaking up).
It doesn't appear you have voice, to provide additional information.
>> Sorry, I have a hard time understanding.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Yeah, Arnold is asking for additional information on the digital track within the Paris Peace Forum.  I'm not sure what his question is, he doesn't have voice.  Perhaps we can follow up off line.
>> As far as I understand the question, what I can tell you that all members of the MAG will have an invitation for the Paris Peace Forum, which will be under a very serious series of constraints, because of the presence of (background noise) around 50 heads of state and Government.  It won't be easy.  But as MAG members, you will be invited.  I'm not sure I get the question right.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: I think that is close enough.  I can follow up with him off line, if there is additional questions, we will get it to you.  But he is saying thank you.  So maybe that answers.
>> Thank you, everybody.  I wish you a good meeting.  We are anxious to see you in Paris.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you.
>> Bye!
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Bye.  Moving on to the reporting outputs process review, I will turn to Eleonora in a minute.  But by way of a little bit of background and context here, we have been looking for ways to both improve the quality of the outputs that come from all the activities in the IGF, as well as I think consolidate or integrate all the various reporting activities that take place.  Some of them have happened through other organizations, some of them have happened through consultants, some through IGF Secretariat staff or UNDESA staff.  We have been working to try and pull all of that together.
What we also look to do based on the discussion we had at the MAG meeting back in March, where there was very good support for last year's pilot of the Geneva messages, and a request that it be extended to all sessions, was really try to determine how we could support that request, and ensure quick timely turnaround.  Obviously, those to be followed by IGF messages would form the basis of a lot of the daily reporting, should be available to press, for the follow up and that sort of thing.
So the Secretariat has been working both on the documents and the process.  We also have an awful lot of press interest this year from the United Nations and all of its press outreach, as well as from the French Government.  We have had a specific request for some of them to provide some pre session reports.  We weren't looking to increase the load on any of the workshop organizers, so basically we are using the same template we have used in past years, and we are simply asking people to progressively complete the template.  So before the IGF starts we are looking for basic level of information.
There is a request to add some additional information in a very short period of time following the session, again that will support a lot of the daily reporting on site, and then within sort of a week, the fuller session reports, which of course are a requirement for workshops for the next year as well.  The main changes were more in the timing, and in addition, we are asking the workshop organizers, both as they report out on the workshop, to really try and kind of drill down based on everything they heard in the session, and identify what areas or what impact the IGF might have, all the IGF activities, IGF ecosystem might have on that issue.
We are also looking into whether or not there would be kind of a very high level exit summary which would ask the same question, and one of the things we are considering is putting a slide up at the beginning of the meeting, as people are coming in and filing which would have obviously something like the workshop number and name, and then literally the question, something like what impact can the IGF ecosystem have on this issue in the coming year, and then put a similar slide up at the end, as everybody is filing out, reminding them to answer that question.
I think it's two different levels of reporting.  One is what the Rapporteurs take away from the session, which of course is limited in terms of the number of people that can participate, given the duration, versus everybody that is in the session kind of letting the session percolate a little bit through their thoughts, and then perhaps having some additional items.
We are still looking into whether or not that is possible.  It would likely be voluntary, in terms of the workshop session organizers displaying that or not.  So we will keep everybody apprised as we move forward.  We are obviously asking a awful lot of the Secretariat at this point in time.  So we are trying to choose things that are really the biggest priority or the most important for the group.
The only other thing there is the Chair summary is going to take a very different format than past years.  The Chair summary is drafted by the IGF Secretariat.  In the past, it has been sort of largely kind of a formal reporting on what took place.  This year we are trying to make it read a little bit more like an executive summary, organize thematically, and hopefully that also supports further messages and outreach post the IGF.
I think those are the main changes.  I think, I hope that they are very important and very useful, while at the same time being kind of fairly evolutionary, fairly minor in terms of any impact on the workshop organizers or the rapporteurs.  I would like Eleonora to walk through the various formats and the timing and then we will open it up for questions.  Eleonora?
>> ELEONORA MAZZUCCHI: Hi, Lynn, hi, everyone.  Thank you.  Thank you, Lynn, for that very thorough overview.  I actually was not going to add very much to that, at the top of the call, the Secretariat wanted to confirm that all the session organizers have been made aware of this slightly reformed process this year, and they have already been asked for the first stage in this let's say three stage report which we are calling the pre synthesis report, just to quickly go over the different phases.  There is a pre synthesis report that we are asking session organizers to submit by November 2, and then a short report within 12 hours of when their session is held, and a final long report by November 23, roughly a week after the meeting.
As you mentioned, Lynn, this is not three different reports, but a single report which is progressively built on, and the session organizers have been explained this as clearly as possible, and we want to make sure that the guidance and instructions to them are clear on this.  It was important for us to set these reporting expectations earlier, I mean as early as possible.
I would not have, again, too much more to add, except just to re emphasize some of what you said, Lynn, that these changes which are really by no means dramatic, minor changes to what we had in previous processes are intended to, especially from the Secretariat side, to really streamline and standardize the reporting process, to really have everyone use the same template and be clear on what they are supposed to do with reporting and to make sure that the record of the meeting, the ultimate record of the meeting which is in part reflected by the Chair's summary, is as inclusive and as complete as possible.
And of course, this process with this kind of revised timing will make some of the outcomes of the sessions publicly available more quickly, and also as you said, Lynn, this is useful for press purposes, but also just for general participants in the meeting to be able to see almost in realtime what some of the messages and outcomes coming out of each session are.  Lynn, if there is anything else that you would like me to add, I would be happy to.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: I don't know if there is anything further you want to say there.
>> ELEONORA MAZZUCCHI: Sorry, I think you were cut off for a moment.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Asking you to elaborate about the submission process, I'm not sure if there is anything further you want to say on that.
>> ELEONORA MAZZUCCHI: Sure.  Session organizers were advised of this, one particularity about the submission is that it is done through the sessions that they each have editing rights over in the schedule, so each session focal point is, let's say, attached to their session in the schedule, and through that they can submit the report.  There is a report field for them to complete and they have been given the template to follow in order to do that.  Just in case there is any question about how the submission is done, it's not by E mail.  It is through session focal points, IGF accounts in the schedule.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you.  One additional point, there has been discussions with media within the United Nations, and I said they asked for these pre session reports in order to help direct the coverage.  In past years there has in fact been a press access that has been made available, we have begun conversations with DESA and the Secretariat to understand what else we can do.  This isn't just press, it's physically on site, it's press following remotely, bloggers, etcetera.  We would like to make the same level of pre session information available generally.  We are just trying to understand how best to do that.  Then again the most important part of the submissions of course are the three key messages which should be based on the policy questions that individuals are trying to address in their workshop organizers.  That is really the substantive hook, if you will, for reporters.
Let me go back to the queue.  We have Ben Wallis in the queue and Sorina.  Ben, you have the floor.
>> Thank you.  As you pointed out back at the first physical MAG meeting of this year in Geneva in March, a number of people raised questions about how written outputs could be better marketed and communicated during and following each annual meeting.
So, I wanted to thank you and the Secretariat for your efforts at this busy time of thinking of how to build on the Geneva messages, and create more content that is available during the meeting, and which would also be helpful for the outputs, making the outputs after the meeting more concise.
So yes, it was generally, I wanted to thank you for that, and encourage you to move forward with that.  And a thought, maybe not for this week and next week, but in terms of making the outputs more searchable, there might also be something that Luis can think about in terms of arranging the output materials after the meeting as well.  But yes, generally, just wanted to thank you for the efforts.
  (static).
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Ben, and for keeping us focused on this, everything in time.  We have always been pretty insisting on the key messages being [inaudible]
  (voices in the background).
Thank you.  Sorina, you have the floor.
>> I'm not sure how well you can hear me.  There is background noise from the other call in user, that is gone, sorry for that, I have a question about the messages.  I read in the E mail you have shared, Lynn, about daily IGF messages (background noise) not sure where that is coming from.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: We can hear you quite well.
>> I'm hearing some background noise from within the call.  The daily IGF messages, I was wondering what they would include.  I know last year we were having the messages for the main sessions only.  Will there be something from the reports as well?  And also explain the reason for asking for more details, as many of you I'm sure know the Geneva Internet platform has been having this just in time reporting at the IGF and this has been a initiative supported by the IGF Secretariat.  I was wondering if there will be any kind of overlap between these two things, and again for clarity I'm no longer with DiploFoundation so there shouldn't be any kind of conflict of interest with my question.
>> I can speak to that.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Excellent, thank you, Chengetai.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: We are having discussions with Ovan and Stefanie about collaboration and making sure that we do feed into each other and do support each other and there is no real overlap.
  (static).
We are thinking of doing the same thing that we did last year (background noise) with the daily reporting that Diplo did.  It was helpful to us and helped us with the press releases (background noise).
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: First part of  your question, we are intending [inaudible] (background noise) the main session, talk a little more on what the format (background noise) would look like, collaboration with Diplo [inaudible] (background noise).
  (sorry, I can't hear over the background noise).
Coverage, if you will.
>> Chengetai, I heard what you were saying, but Lynn, I'm sorry, I couldn't hear anything what you were saying.  I think that was the case for everyone on the call.  There was background noise from somewhere.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you.  I was basically supporting what Chengetai had said, and answering the first part of your question, which is that we certainly intend the daily reporting to cover more than just the main sessions.  I think we still need to work a little bit on that.  We also want to work, obviously collaboratively with Diplo and the Geneva Internet platform, to make sure that the totality of the daily reporting covers what is important to the IGF community in total, and not just one particular viewer perspective of that.  But it would cover more than the main sessions which was your first question.
Next in the queue we have Timea, you have the floor.  (pause).
>> Can you hear me now?  Hello?  I wanted to share a couple ideas regarding the outputs, and reporting process.  I think it is a really good initiative to build up a little bit more the messages coming out from the IGF, and to try and expand this to further than the main sessions, I understand this is difficult at this point, so close to the event.  But I think it's a great idea to highlight a little bit all the output that the IGF has in all the sessions, and demonstrate the richness that we bring to the discussions, and to the reporting as well.  So it can help build up the Chair summary to go further than the messages from the main session, but also shed some light on the topics discussed in the workshops and elsewhere, I think that will be great.
I think what the other IGFs are doing, I believe it is practiced at EuroDIG, the sessions at the end reserve a couple minutes to agree on the highlights of the session [inaudible] impossible in a short time, but perhaps we could encourage this year as well this practice, that people who are organizing workshops and sessions ask at the end, what do you think we should say on the reporting.  This also leads me to a question, because to be honest I just looked yesterday afternoon at your E mail, Lynn, with the reporting templates.  But I see that the session organizers are supposed to put in ahead of the session the three main messages, is that correct?
If that is so, I would propose that we change that to the key concepts that are to be discussed or the key questions that the session would address, rather than messages.  I think the session should be allowed to develop those, and then report back on them.  For the future, perhaps we can even have some sort of a Forum piece attached to the public report from the session, so that people who are attending can still share some views afterwards.  And I know this is, again, a new idea, that you are proposing, but I really hope that the Chair's summary can cover as much of the discussions as possible in the end when it comes out, so that the main sessions, as much as the main messages.
And another question I have and perhaps you can elaborate on that, from the Secretariat side or you, Lynn, or those who worked on this, is there anything planned for after the IGF on how these messages, these reports are to be collected and shared and marketed afterwards?  I heard Ben saying that perhaps we could talk about some tags so they would be more easily searchable.  That is a great initiative.  But I wonder if we are thinking about developing a strategic communications plan, so that the messages are not lost in the momentum of an annual event, but actually live on a little longer.  Thank you.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, all excellent questions.  Let me respond to a couple, and then we can turn to the Secretariat.
These key messages concept was always meant to extend to all sessions.  We are trying to work the output of those key messages, those IGF messages into all the reporting and communications.  Again, that was agreed back in March, so it's always something we were intending to do.
I also agree that maybe the wording isn't stated quite so clear, where it says please, for the pre session reporting, please state no more than three key messages of the discussion.  I think that was probably a holdover from last year's process, where there wasn't a pre session reporting component.
It was actually meant to focus on the policy questions, the questions that people were or issues that people were trying to advance in the session.  So maybe we can look at rephrasing that a little more clearly.
Obviously, coming out of the session, there would be some key messages.  But I think that is an excellent point, trying to make that a little more clear.
I also think the Forum reporting is an interesting idea.  We were sort of trying not to overburden or overtax all the participants too, too much, which is sort of what we thought with this quick exit survey, which is what can the IGF ecosystem do in the coming year to help advance this issue.  I don't know if we will be able to do much more than that.  But it's a really interesting idea and we should maybe take that up immediately following the IGF with the new MAG, and determine what points we can actually advance.
With respect to the post reporting, again, another excellent question, there are certainly some things we can do through the press channels and look perhaps to some of the press outreach from those that participate in the IGF as well as some of the more established channels, if you will, of the UN press and even some of the French Host Country press.  Maybe we can get support from Germany as next year's host to actually support a robust strategic communications effort, I think you said.  It's probably, I'm working on a transition plan between the outgoing MAG and the incoming MAG.
I think this is something we can perhaps think about how best to support because the outgoing MAG is the one that is going to be closest to those issues from this year's IGF, as a general statement.  It's an interesting thing to think about, whether or not maybe there is one responsibility to the outgoing MAG following the IGF, and that is helping to determine or flesh out the strategic communications plan, leaving this year's IGF, and then of course it needs to quickly be tailored as we look forward to next year's as well.
But it's an excellent question.  I don't have a particular answer at this time but it's on the radar and something we should pick up as part of the transition discussions.  Let me see if there is anything that the Secretariat wants to add to that at this point.  Chengetai or Eleonora?
>> Nothing from my side, Lynn, thank you.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Okay.  Luis, is there anything you want to add?  I know on the strategic work plan working group, we looked at one point at the friends of the IGF which is a resource that captures all the outputs from the IGF that we discover quite a number of people weren't aware of.  I don't know if there are any other efforts happening in the Secretariat with respect to better tagging or structures or, I want to give Luis a chance to respond.
>> LUIS BOBO: Hi, Lynn.  No, our whole site is searchable and taggable as well.  It works like any other searching system.  You can find content including the videos and transcripts of previous IGFs with a direct search.  I don't know if that answers your question.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: I think it's a good answer.  It is where we is (chuckles) sorry, it is where we are.  And maybe we can again pick this up, the future MAG can actually pick it up.
Timea, if you have any further questions come back in.  For right now I'll go to Raquel.  You have the floor.
>> Thanks, Lynn.  Hi, everyone.  Good morning, good afternoon, good evening depending on where you are.  My points are first to echo in a positive way to welcome this improvement on the outputs processes, and the fact that we are trying to outreach and make more of, to bring more of the reference and what is coming out of the IGF in a concrete way.  I think Timea touched some of the points but I want to emphasize, the first one is that perhaps since now we are more in a way to have outputs as early as possible, we could use those to be at the last day before we conclude the meeting, before we go to the closing discussions, we could use this material to steer some of those discussions, perhaps steer is not the right way but to frame or to help to frame based on what was discussed at the IGF.
So this will tackle some of the concerns from the community and also that we raised since the stock taking processes that by concluding the IGF you need to have more of those focused messages coming out of it.  And of course, the Secretariat did a great job, but it can't be done alone.  So looking for external partners, as I hear, and connecting the dots with existing resources is pretty much a smart way to get it done.  But perhaps we can think that more seriously if you want or set and help the Secretariat to set some something on that sense, if others agree it's a good direction.
The second one is more regarding the strategic communications, and that was a very good point.  Also working with our working group on communications, I know this has a more let's say scope but it also is important to coordinate with the efforts that are already being made.  Last but not least, also if there is anything concrete that we can help right now, and in terms of the asks that we need to put forward, I mean I can jump with several ideas, but if there is anything that you need from us now, please let us know, Lynn.  Thank you very much.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Raquel, a number of good comments as well.
You are absolutely right in terms of working with the working group on coms and outreach.  And if MAG is supportive of going forward with this plan, I think that's the next step, you said a lot of this was kind of internal and administrative, and once we actually have the, and largely the responsibility of the Secretariat of course to drive, but once we have a process for getting the content and getting the information to work with them to structure it as helpfully as possible and sharing information appropriately and timely enough as well so that we can feed those outreach efforts is obviously very important.
I think the next thing I'd like to see happen and again a lot of this is in the Secretariat and DESA, is evolving a little bit the press outreach efforts.  We have had press packages in the past.  I think with the pre session reporting, we can do an awful lot to highlight those sessions that may be of interest to particular journalists.  We can do a lot to organize them.  I think the thematic focus helps a lot with that.
I think having a online resources, because we are not just talking about journalists that are physically present but talking about those that are participating on line, talking about a wide range of reporting resources from bloggers to more traditional media outlets, and that is something I'd like to continue working on over the next couple weeks.  Maybe we could have a meeting with the working group on coms and outreach and try and see where we can find some synergies and advance that.  I see WaiMin wants to come in.  I want to thank DESA for their support.  It wouldn't have been possible to make this amount of progress without their support, given honestly, given Chengetai's absence, just too much work to be done in the Secretariat with three people.  WaiMin and Deniz all stepped in, much appreciated.  WaiMin, you have the floor.
>> Thanks, Lynn.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: We can hear you.
>> Thanks again.  Just like to echo and also to address some of the questions in the chat.  So yes, essentially this new reporting is certainly not just to reflect the messages coming up from the main sessions but also for the workshops and also for all the sessions for that matter including open forums sessions, that is a total of 146 sessions.  Because of the sheer number which is the reduced number from last year, we certainly do appear to all the rapporteurs all involved in some meetings that report to put as much efforts in producing the reports, even though the pre sessions report, yeah, is exactly, it is more to reflect the key policy questions, and the short report that is to be very short twelve hours is on the policy, on the key policy messages.
So even despite the short turn around time, another additional I would say limitation that we put upon [inaudible] can you imagine any reports to put out the key points (background noise) that is the challenge, but that will also help in us putting together a full report as well as Chair summary to be concise and not to be lengthy reports.  But we do have to remind that the full discussion has to be reflected in the full report that is due one week later.
These are the key points.  Again, they appear to all rapporteurs that to help us with submitting the reports both timely and also to put in as much effort as you can, and that will really help with the coming together with the full quality reports.  Thanks, Lynn.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you.  To follow up on a couple of comments in the chat room, Eleonora, do you think it's possible to send a note out maybe clarifying the key messages?  I don't know if that means we need two questions, which is what their expectations are, that the room would be kind of addressing or concentrating on key areas of focus based on the policy questions, and then if it's a separate question in the post reporting, or if we simply just have a little explanatory note, I think that would be helpful before people get too far advanced in terms of filling them out.  Is that possible?  Or do you have any concerns with that?
>> ELEONORA MAZZUCCHI: Hi, Lynn, no, of course it would be possible, and I think it's something worth clarifying.  We can just think a little more about whether it's better to separate out the questions, I mean just instinctively I would lean towards just giving a fuller explanation of what we mean with that question and letting organizers know that they are also encouraged to revise it based on what happens during the session itself.
I don't know if that would be satisfactory enough, but (overlapping speakers) adding questions.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Right, we can think about it off line, another option would be to leave that questionnaire with explanation as you said and we have another question which says were there any additional points that came up or were those in fact addressed but we can think about that off line.
One quick question, then we will move on to the main sessions.  There was a suggestion in the chat room from Wisdom that MAG members have a different color badge or perhaps a sticker or something on the badge that would denote that they were MAG members, which is an interesting idea, because not only of course could we be helpful to the people that are there, it would also be a natural entry point for people if they have suggestions or thoughts or ideas, if I could leave that with the Secretariat to see if there was some way to, unless you have a response immediately, to indicate MAG members.  Of course hopefully, you will have to indicate whether or not you were a outgoing MAG member or incoming MAG member.  Perhaps we can get a update from WaiMin afterwards on the status of the appointments.
We will take the MAG member identification off line.  WaiMin, when you have a moment, if you can give us a update on the MAG employment process that would be excellent.
>> Yes, Lynn.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Yes.
>> We are still on track, the deadline that we set ourselves, we are going to follow up with the office of the Secretary General, as I mentioned there have been several discussions with the director on our end from DESA and also with USG.  So we are still very much looking forward to the announcement, the event a week before.  On that, we do have other questions coming from different parties, including governments as well on the process, so that is actually the additional challenges that we have to address, which also happens for the case of the past years, especially on the MAG members representing the Government, so this is as much as I can say for now.
But in general, yes, we still want to do that.  I'd like to say that there will be a meeting between the Under Secretary General and the MAG members.  We were together with Secretariat to find out what is the best time to do that, but it is likely to be in the day 2 for this to happen.  Thanks, Lynn.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you.  Two quick answers to the questions.  Normally it's the third of the MAG members that turn over every year, unless some additional individuals have said they are not available.  I think that is probably the number we are working with this year as well.
Raquel, you asked a question about whether or not there was a MAG meeting on site at Paris between outgoing and incoming.  This was discussed at a previous MAG meeting.  The feeling was that we just don't have time to organize it.  The incoming MAG members are either going to be announced, we are expecting, just before the IGF or perhaps even during the IGF meeting itself.  So it is definitely not enough time to get travel, etcetera, organized and ensure that the MAG members were there.
One of the things we are looking at, funds permitting, would be adding a third MAG meeting next year.  So one possibly in the January time frame, which would allow us to take a more strategic look at all the things, the MAG and the IGF community are expecting, over the coming year, hopefully a little more leisurely on some of the improvements we keep trying to put in as well as of course getting a earlier start on the program.
So that is sort of the rough plan we are working towards.  Our next MAG meeting, we wanted to cover a emerging transition plan, and we can work more on that.  The biggest thing to a third meeting next year is going to be funds for meeting.
Let's move quickly to our next topic which is incredibly important, and that is to review the thematic or main session preparations.
I think many and maybe all have sent out an update, so I think we can keep them quite high level.  Basically, we want to know what the status is in terms of title, guiding framing questions, your status with speakers and most importantly, is there anything the rest of the MAG can help you with, with respect to finalizing the session preparations.
Is there somebody who wants to go first or shall I just start from some random thought process here?
>> Hi, Lynn, it's Jutta speaking here, I volunteer to speak for the main session on the SDGs, which is organized together with the Dynamic Coalitions if I may.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Please, thank you, Jutta.
>> Okay.  Timea, who is also coordinating that session, together with me and with the support from the Secretariat from Eleonora can step in maybe.
The title for the session is now agreed as effective policies for inclusive and prosperous digital transformation, what's needed.  The session will be on Tuesday afternoon, and it's to my knowledge now 11 Dynamic Coalitions who have sent in their papers.  We had a first round which showed one pages and second round where the papers were a little more elaborated.
For the format of the session, we have decided to have a short 30 minute of part of the session with speakers, which are coming from business, from industry, as well as from Civil Society, from Government, and I do think someone from Government from the African group needs to be confirmed.  The other speakers are already confirmed and agreed.
Then after this session, this 30 minute starting point, we will have the next 20 to 30 minutes with the input from the Dynamic Coalitions.  But that is not like standing in a speakers queue and one after another we will step in, but it's more in the hands of the two moderators that have been appointed for the session to bring in the Dynamic Coalitions at the respective point in the discussion.
That leads us to another 20 or 30 minutes, depending on how the discussion goes with open discussion and interventions from all the participants in the room.  We have a co moderation team, with Milana from Colombia and from the Netherlands representing the Youth Coalition on Internet Governance.  I think that is all at the point.  Maybe Timea or Eleonora can add something further.  Thank you.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Jutta.  Eleonora or Timea, anything you would like to add?  Timea says nothing to add.
>> Nothing from me, thank you, Jutta.  That was a very good overview.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Jutta.  It sounds like an excellent session.  I'm going to go to the list I had written down here of all of the sessions.  The next one is Cybersecurity and trust.  Ben has spoken on that before.  I'm not sure who is prepared to speak to it today.
>> Hi, Lynn.  Yes, I can speak to it again today.  I circulated, I think on Monday, my time at least, a version of the discussion document that is put into the template that the Secretariat had circulated.  Our focus at the moment is on pulling together a list of potential speakers, so that me and my co facilitators, Sala and Michael can decide on what would be a good balanced line up, and approach speakers early next week, so that we can start to get that line up finalized.
We are collecting names.  We have a few names.  But we will definitely appreciate any suggestions, particularly I think from the technical community and Civil Society.  We certainly have a number of Government representatives lined up.  We have a lot of good options to choose from there.  So yes, the focus in sharing the discussion document this week was really to kind of give people a chance to make suggestions or even requests for speaking slots on that session.
So that was the main thing I wanted to focus on.  As I've stressed before and in the discussion document, we have got a session which covers two issues which are seen as separate, Cybersecurity and privacy, and how they feed into trust, and so it's important when people think about speakers that they are not just privacy experts or Cybersecurity experts, we are really hoping to have a coherent discussion which can look at how everything is linked together.
So to the extent possible, speakers are able to make a link between the two, even if they are an expert in one more than the other, that is helpful.  Finally, as I've said previously, I'm unfortunately not able to be in Paris.  I'm going to be at the plenipot in Dubai.
We have two other co facilitators, Sala and Michael, but I'm aware that there is a moderator role, there is a online moderator role, there is a Rapporteur, someone is going to be taking notes.  So I think we probably are going to be looking to MAG members for any volunteers to help with those roles as well.  I'm going to discuss further with Sala and Michael later today.  But I think that is another area where we will be looking for assistance.  Thank you.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Ben.  Once you have spoken to Sala and Michael, perhaps you can put out a specific request on the MAG list for some additional roles you haven't been able to fill them otherwise.
>> Ben:  Thank you.  Noting the comments in the chat as well, I'll take a note of them and thank you, Renata, for your offer to help.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Ben.  Let me work backwards here through the queue.  Sylvia, I'll call on you in a second to give a update on tech and operational.  Then perhaps after that, we can have somebody speak to us on the human rights and gender.  I know Renata sent a update, but says she doesn't have voice or the ability to speak and June can't, either.  If you can identify somebody else, put a note in the chat room once you have sorted that out.  We will go to you next.
Sylvia?  You have the floor.
>> Hi, thank you, Lynn.  I was trying to unmute myself.  Thank you to the Secretariat for unmuting me.  Can you hear me?
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: We can, yes.  Very well.
>> Wonderful.  Thanks, Lynn.  Regarding the update for the technical and operational the mailing list has been a little quiet.  But a lot of my colleagues are actually at the ICANN meeting in Barcelona.  So there has been quite a few side meetings and conversations to identify the roster of speakers, and to fine tune the focus of the content, blocking and filtering, that the group decided to focus on.
We have a few, we have approached Alyssa Cooper from the ITS, Sarah Wilkinson and just presented at the 77 meeting on a similar topic, Jeff Houston, Peter Cook from the CCT from Germany, and we have another set of contacts, University of Toronto and we are looking for Government representatives.  We have approached the ones from the governments in Asia, where we know that content blocking and filtering is in use but unfortunately neither of those is attending IGF, ones not comfortable speaking on technical issues, so we are looking for some assistance like the one that Ambassador Martino offered to identify Government officials and regulators that might be interested and able to, and willing to share experiences on this.
On that, the idea is that we have conversations around the pros and the cons on doing this.  We also need to identify governments that are actually advocating for not doing content blocking and filtering, having a negotiated approach to that, and for that we contacted Canada, Australia and New Zealand governments to date.  But because of the plenipot, it's difficult that either of them are going to be there.  So assistance from the MAG to identify Government representatives that are willing and able to talk about technical and operational issues on content blocking and filtering will be appreciated.
That is the update for us from now.  We will share the final list of speakers as soon as we have the diversity part, that is the scary part I guess.  Thanks, Lynn.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Sylvia.  Maybe as an operating principle, I think we only have about half of the MAG on the call here, perhaps if we send really focused memos with appropriate titles, subject titles as well, we can get support from the MAG in terms of all their networks.  So if there are specific requests, again, to make it clear in the subject and be clear in the request, then we can get that out in a MAG list, and that is a easy way I think to get a broad outreach.
Is somebody, Renata or June, prepared to speak to the human rights and gender issue?  Anybody have voice?
>> Hello, this is June.  I've got background noise, hopefully you can hear me.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: It's not too bad.  Yes, thank you.
>> Not too bad.  Okay.  We are making progress with our session.  We have started to write, we have actually written our invitation letters.  We are still looking for speakers, at the moment we are looking for a speaker to represent Africa.  We have our meetings on Skype on Mondays.  The next meeting will be at 8:00 my time or 12UTC time on Skype.  If any of the other MAG members are interested, they can join us on Skype.  Send us an E mail with your Skype addresses, and we can add you to the list.
What we have done so far is, we are still working on our document.  Speakers, still looking at speakers.  We have got John Car from WEOG on our list, which someone else has also mentioned, Thiago Taveris from Brazil, we also have [inaudible] to talk about online safety.  John has accepted so far.  I have approached Timea because we want to get a speaker from Africa, and she said she has someone in mind.  She will get back to us.  As I said, we are meeting on Skype.  We are making great progress.  We managed to swap our session with help from Eleonora.  So that is sorted.
We have also, we started looking at starting a Twitter account and IGF account so people can access from other angles, apart from E mails, there is Skype, there is Twitter and Facebook.  Our next meeting is going to be Monday morning.  That will be 8 my time and 12UTC time.  For the moment, that's all I have to say.  Thank you.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, June.  Thank you for stepping in too.  [inaudible] saying she can help.  Are there any other questions or comments for June, Renata and team?  Seeing none, then Raquel volunteered to speak on the media content, Raquel, you have the floor.
>> Thank you very much, Lynn.  I have my co facilitator Mamadou here, Sala is not on the call but she was the driving force of this group, to take note kudos to them.  The group has advanced on preparing the main session, we fill in the template, as required.  Just to note, we had a good surprise by doing that, because there was a prework during the concept note around the main session topic, that went far into around 7 pages.  So it's becoming a background document.  I don't know if others in the main sessions had the same decision.  But it might be useful to, if discussions expand as ours, and you have more feed in terms of substantive content, we are using that as part of the annex to an, appendix to the template to feed the discussions.
But overall, just so you know where we are right now, we have already confirmed let's say the policy questions, and then we are in the stage of sending the invitations for the speakers.  We had some confirmed, thanks, Rasha on the call is one of them.  Then there is the interest of course around this information topic, or fake news and freedom of expression.  We reached out to Facebook.  We have the digital Commissioner, European digital Commissioner who might be joining.  Of course, outreaching to UNESCO, who has the trend on the freedom of expressions for journalists and so on, and ICANN.
Those are the highlights that I have here.  We are also looking for representative of Civil Society.  I hope I didn't miss anyone.  Mamadou, please jump in if I do.  One of the improvements that we need to do is in part of the remote participation, but that is the one I have depend on but if anyone has a interest in knowing more about the session or wants to contribute, has someone should be there in terms of the speaking session, please let us know.  We are glad to share in more details.
Lynn, it is probably, I don't know if that is any beyond those sessions but I wanted to also raise that some of the youth groups have reached out, and they are interested to seek opportunities if there are, as we elaborate, we shape those main sessions.  But I can elaborate later if you want, just to flag.  Thank you.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Raquel, for the update.  And also for flagging the youth as well, and either later on perhaps under AOB or perhaps a note to the MAG, encouraging everybody, informing them how they can actually work to identify someone from the youth, that would be excellent.
Any questions for Raquel, Mamadou and team on that main session?
>> Hello, Lynn.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Very faint, Mamadou.
>> I'm fine with the report.  It's okay.  That is what we have done so far.  We are looking forward to more invitation for speakers.  Thanks, Raquel.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Excellent.  Thank you.  Thank you for all the excellent work.  Let's see, Paul, you were going to give us a update on the inclusion, I think, session.
>> Yes.  Thank you.  Wisdom is our lead.  But he is in a bad connectivity spot right now, difficult for him to talk.  I've been asked to give a brief, we have our draft document.  I think it's in good shape now, it covers most of what we are striving to achieve.  We shared that with the MAG.  We have broken it down into three sessions, we split the two key topics which is digital accessibility and digital inclusion, where we will have some speakers, four or five speakers on each topic, 20 minute sessions with 20 minutes for contributions from the audience, and wrap up of ten minutes.
We have framed our policy questions.  We have four policy questions per topic.  With regards to the speakers and the other portfolios we are in the process of identifying the Chair, with the Secretariat.  We have identified a moderator, Eldrid Jordan.  We are working on the remote moderator and rapporteurs.  With regards to the panelists, we have sent out requests or invitation letters to some panelists.  We are starting to get RSVPs from the panelists.  We are trying to get a balance, as all the other sessions of Government, private sector, Civil Society, with gender and geographical regions.  I think we are getting close to where we want to be.
We had a couple identified that can't make it because of overlapping sessions.  But I think we are pretty much 90 percent there, pending positive replies from our proposed speakers.  We encourage the MAG to read the document.  If there are any suggestions on speakers or any of the other portfolio that we are looking to fill, we would be most welcome to receive those from the MAG members.
I think that pretty much covers it.  Zeina is also on the call, I don't know if she wants to chip in with anything.  But the coordinators or co coordinators, is Wisdom, Zeina and myself.  Thank you.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Paul.  Zeina, anything you would like to add?
>> Hello, everyone, no, I think Paul clarified all the session related issues.  I don't have anything to add, unless you have specific questions.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: That is a good segue.  Are there any other questions from MAG members for Paul, Zeina, Wisdom?
Not seeing any, again, Paul requested everybody look through the report.  Again I would make the point that if you start getting to the wire, any, anyone here, with your sessions, you need specific help, calling it out separately in quite pointed manner would probably be the best way to get everyone's attention.  This is a particularly busy period.  But I'm sure all the MAG members would like to help, and everybody has a great network.  So we should be able to provide help if we can focus on the requests.
Thank you, Paul.  Zeina, Wisdom.  Natasha had volunteered to give an update on emerging technologies.  Natasha?  Can the Secretariat perhaps help?
>> I think I unmute myself now.  Can you hear me now?
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: We can, yes.
>> Hello, everyone.  On behalf of the co facilitators of the emerging technologies main session, Christoph and Raquel and myself, I'll give a short update of our main session preparation.  I think we made significant improvements since our last meeting.
I'll go with the title first.  The title we are proposing is are emerging technologies governable.  It's main session that last for 18 minutes, and it's planned for Monday morning.  We have three policy questions, how governance and what model is suitable to be applied to define who is in charge of AI/algorithm, Internet of thing solution.  Number two is, how can transparency and accountability be assured, what does it mean for each technology.  The third policy question is how is ethics to be considered from a policy perspective, can ethical considerations be incorporated into the technology development.  Are there relevant approaches that could be shared as best practices.
The agenda that we propose is that moderators, we plan two moderators.  They will provide a brief approximately three minutes introduction to set the scene.  After that, we plan to divide the panel into three 15 minutes blocks, one for each policy question, which would follow by 8 minutes, 8 minutes open mic sessions, that would enable public participation, by expressing their views or addressing questions to the panelists.
So all that would last for I think 74 minutes, and it would give us 6 minutes that will provide Rapporteur with a brief summary of the session that we could all agree upon, and room to clear for the next session.
We also propose moderators that we try to take care of gender, geographic, multistakeholder balance.  We also propose panelists, we tried to pick the persons that are already on the IGF, so we could make it a little more practical.  So that would be all.  We are looking forward to MAG colleagues feedback so we can proceed with the preparation.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Natasha.  I think it's great too that you are incorporating some of the regional IGF practices, Timea mentioned them earlier with respect to doing the Rapporteur messages and take aways from the session in the session.  That is excellent, something we should add specifically to the workshop organizing process document.  Are there any other questions for Natasha or team?  Seeing none, that brings us to the final main session, which is the one that is jointly organized between the NRIs and the MAG, evolution of Internet Governance topic.  Anja, were you going to speak to that or is there someone else from the organizing team?
>> Thank you, Lynn.  Maybe I could start, then I do see a couple of names from the involved NRIs and also some of the MAG members that are involved in the organization of the session.  So they can maybe follow up after me and add a couple updates.
Just to start, maybe from the fact that we did share a written I think comprehensive update last night Geneva time through the MAG list, and you know that if you look at the session proposal for this main session, you will see that the content for this session and the structure and its format are finalized, so in terms of the policy questions that are being agreed and also how are we going to structure the session and use the 80 minutes.
I did update on this, I think over two last MAG meetings so not to be repetitive and everything is in the proposal, I will focus on what are our next steps and what else needs to be finalized.
What we are trying to do is first of all see which NRIs will be able to delegate speakers on site, in Paris, given the funding challenges that they face.  So far we have 33 NRIs that are confirmed that they will delegate their speakers.  Some of the NRI colleagues are, still ask for more time to confirm their attendance.  If not they will probably join on line, and speak there.  We will try to, depending on the final number of the NRIs that will be present, we will try to    sorry, I'm getting some side chats    we will try as I said to limit the minutes per individual speaker, so that we create synergies between speakers and very interactive session, rather than just reporting from various speakers on this important topic.
In that sense, the burden will be on the co moderators to lead this discussion.  Where we stand now in terms of the moderators, we do have a couple of names, which are well known names, senior experts in the IGF ecosystem that are proposed to be Co Moderators.  Next week, we will have the last meeting in this month with the purpose of finalizing the names that we will agree on who will be the Co Moderators, and that as soon as we have that information, that will be communicated to the MAG as well, and of course to the wider community and the proposal will be updated.
The same goes for Rapporteurs.  The Rapporteurs for the session will have a complex role given of course this new reporting policy that we have.  In that sense we are trying to finalize to have at least four Rapporteurs that will cover the session, produce concrete messages and of course comply with the new reporting procedure.
Finally, next week also the Secretariat will finalize that brief presentation that will open the session with presenting general overview of the network and the nature of their work to the wider community, after what the Co Moderators will take the floor and lead the whole discussion.
I think that would be all from me.  If you have any questions, I'm at your disposal.  Thank you.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Anja.  Are there any questions for Anja or any other members of the organizing team that would like to come in and make a few comments?  Sylvia, if your question is to this workshop, come in now.  If not   
>>   My question was about the deadline for the publication of the sessions.  So if we can   
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Right, that was my next comment.
>> Okay, good.  No worries.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Perfect timing.  I think the Secretariat was looking to have them by the 25th.
>> Tomorrow.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Which is tomorrow.  I'll point out that we are just over two weeks away from the IGF happening.  I don't think this is an artificial deadline.  The earlier we get the information, of course, the earlier we can complete the postings on the Web site, and the earlier we can use it to support the press outreach.  (overlapping speakers) deadline people would like but everybody needs to make their best effort and hopefully it's no later than the very early part of next week.
>> My comment about the deadline was actually that listening to the updates from different sessions, I guess most of us, we are kind of like in a similar situation, where we have the agenda sort of organized and structure, the basics, but then we are still waiting for confirmed speakers.  So if there is any chances that we can submit what we have and leave the part of the speakers for closer to the, for next week or something, then we will not be late, if that is okay.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Let me ask, that is a good question, let me ask Chengetai, Eleonora, what works for you?
>> Lynn, if I may quickly come in on this.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Please.
>> Thank you, Sylvia, for raising this.  We should have mentioned earlier that main sessions like all other sessions in the schedule have editing privileges that are linked to each of the focal points.  So as of a little while ago, each of the focal points in the main session organizing groups have been given editing rights over their sessions online, as published.
So what I think would be best is if session focal points started to put in that information as outlined in the templates, and then of course, if any changes or additions need to be made, they are free to do so by going directly into their sessions in the schedule, and making those additions or changes, particularly as pertains to speakers that we understand that those always take some time to confirm, and that there can always be changes even at the last minute.
But I think we do want to move to publication as soon as we can.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Eleonora.  Sylvia, any follow up question, or any questions from other MAG members on that?
>> I was quickly checking to see if I received that and I don't think so.  But I will follow up separately with Eleonora to make sure that I have that access.  We have almost everything except the list of confirmed speakers.  I think many people are in the same boat.  So thank you very much for that, Eleonora.  That is great news.
>> ELEONORA MAZZUCCHI: Thanks to you, Sylvia, and to you and other session focal points, the Secretariat is always here to help with that.  We will do everything possible to facilitate the posting of those descriptions.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Eleonora, thank you, Sylvia for raising the question.  Let's move quickly, we have about 15 minutes left.  Let's see if we can get through the intersessional updates on BPFs, D.C.s, CENB and NRI updates.  Anja, do you want to give us, a update on NRIs.  You sent a document last night which I forwarded to the MAG.
>> Yes, thank you very much.  I saw your E mail.  To build on that presentation that was shared as a update to the MAG on the final records of the NRIs especially their integration into this IGF annual meeting in Paris, I would just say that aside first of all of the fact that we are standing with 111 recognized, officially recognized NRIs, and the biggest majority will join us on site or online in Paris, but very proud to say that almost everyone that are active are also involved actively, the organization primarily of the main session.  There is also one important session I would like to draw the MAG's attention to, which is NRI coordination session.  That is traditionally since the Mexico IGF, we are open work meeting that is happening between the NRIs, the UNDESA officials, IGF Secretariat and also the Chair of the MAG.
That session will be scheduled for the second day.  It is going to be 90 minutes long.  It will allow for the NRIs to meet with the IGF Secretariat and UNDESA and NRIs among themselves, of course also with the wider community, to see how we can help each other for future time to improve our processes regardless if they are organized on that level of country region or global level.
In that sense, the agenda is almost finalized.  We are having some final refinement of certain agenda items.  But I can briefly announce for the MAG's attention that most probably the agenda will focus on how to increase visibility of the IGF through the NRIs and NRIs through the IGF, how can we ensure the cooperation between the IGF and NRIs, especially regarding their main session, the collaborative sessions.  In that sense also we will discuss how can we maybe strengthen the collaboration between the IGF's intersessional work and NRI, whether we should organize a observatory of the NRIs and in that sense we will invite some of the, I would say very good friends and partners of the NRIs network, they are known as ICANN wiki, but there is a new project called Internet community wiki that could maybe help us to implement this idea of organizing an observatory.  We will also discuss about the funding, how can we secure funding for the NRIs.  The host countries, for the IGF through the NRIs, and also the HLPDC, High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation is of interest for NRIs.  We will reach through the panel as well to see whether we could have the codirectors to join us and see how can the NRIs as valuable sources can help also the work of this panel and the other way around.
That session is happening immediately after the main, NRI main session on the second day during the lunch break.  I hope the MAG as well as the wider community will join this important meeting and bring your portion of expertise.  Aside of that, there are five collaborative sessions.  The preparatory work for those sessions is under way.
We have the colleagues that are trying to finalize their session proposals so hopefully, we will have that with us very soon.  The booth is going to be a place where you can meet with all the NRIs, and I will also try to spend as much time there as possible, to speak more about the joint work and what is the Secretariat's role and so on.
That would be maybe just an addition to the presentation that was shared last night with the MAG.  But please, if you have any questions, as I said I am at your disposal.  Thank you.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Anja.  That was a very complete and very interesting update.  Are there any questions for Anja?  A lot of information came out to the MAG over the last couple days.  If you look through the presentation, you have questions, Anja would be the right person to direct them to, across NRIs.
Let's go to updates from the BPFs, DCs and CENB.  Anyone who would like to go first?
>> Hi, Lynn, it's Ben.  I can go first if you want.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Excellent, thank you, Ben.
>> I'm updating on the BPF on Cybersecurity.  Policies that I didn't send a written update before this MAG meeting as I have before previous ones.
There has been some coverage of the BPFs' work this year at the global commission for security and cyberspace, the meeting in Singapore and also at the Haiti cyber con, both presentations by Martin who is driving the work of the BPF.
  (static).
We had a call last week of the BPF to go over the submissions that we have received this year, and we are now working on, with help putting together the final paper that will be circulated I think in about a week's time, so a couple of weeks before the IGF is the plan.
The other thing we are now focused on obviously is putting together the session, the BPF in Paris, and we are just starting to put together an idea of how we will, I think we are planning to have two or three speakers which are probably from the contributors themselves, and then generally a round table discussion where anyone is open to comment.  That will be on the Wednesday at some point, I can't remember the exact time.  I will certainly be updating the BPF list with details of the meeting in Paris.
We might have an additional call in the week before Paris.  But that is not finalized yet.  Thank you.  (pause).
  (no audio).
>> Hi, Lynn.  I think you were muted.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you.  Thank you, Luis.  I was asking if there was someone who could update us on the local content.  Vin, I think you did last time.
>> Thank you again.  Yeah, I'm happy to do that, although I think it may be the same message as Ben just gave for the Cybersecurity.  The local content is BPF is working on two things, one is putting together a session for the Paris meeting, there are a number of panelists already identified or also number of case studies that are asked to come and testify, and the second one is that the focus is on the finalizing the first draft of the output by November 1.
So that's the update for now.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you.  Any questions for Vin?  I neglected to ask if there are any questions for Ben on Cybersecurity but if there are any questions or either.  Raquel, to finish the BPFs, it doesn't appear as though there is anybody who can give us a update on BFP gender.  Renata said she would send a update to the mailing list afterwards.  If we could, is there someone who can update us on artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, big data BPF?
>> Can you hear me?
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Yes.
  (audio breaking up).
>> Last call on 18 of November, decided our final draft, we will be having our next.
  (audio breaking up).
Tomorrow ... UTC and we have also structured our (indecipherable) tomorrow we get more confirmation on that.  That is the brief update at this moment.  If I missed something, you can ask something here, thank you.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Suman.
>> Audio was falling away, I want to give the exact time, tomorrow's meeting is, tomorrow's call is at noon at 12:00 p.m. UTC so that is the extra call we have to really discuss and focus on the document drafting.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you for the update.  See if there are any questions.  Seeing none, let's go to, Raquel is going to do CENB and she can also do BPF on gender.  Thank you, you have the floor for both those items.
>> Thanks, Lynn.  I will be quick in sake of time.  The BPF, our facilitators and people working at the BPF gender are having a meeting right now.  That is probably we are going to have more updates after the call.  As others the BPF gender received some inputs, but we are still looking for more, if possible.  One of the ways we are looking is perhaps sending short, even shorter survey to experts.  So it can enrich the drafting exercise that we are under way right now.
In terms of the session, it has also the component, the calls during the preparations of the BPF itself and the discussions, we have this kind of experts or different stakeholders sharing their expertise and their best practices, or even their cases.  We are trying to build on that, to bring to the session at the IGF Paris itself.
Same goes for CENB.  It makes sense for them to be together.  CENB has received up to now between 7 and 8 contributions but we are still looking for more.  And the draft exercise is in place.  Well, it is slightly different because we want to build more on the outputs and the outcomes of this work, connecting to the policy options and to the SDGs per se, in terms of the drafting it's on track, it's a lot but I think we are going to make at least our first skeleton pretty soon.
Our co facilitators from Penn University are also offering a lot of resource, thanks for consultant from the Secretariat, so everything is running as fast as it can be.
In terms of the session for the CENB, one of the ideas is to break down as we did last year into the SDG discussions so having an expert or one of the contributors to do a speech on the topic whether ISPV7 and I have also my co facilitator here who can say a little more, but if you talk about clean energy, what does this mean, for Internet Governance, etcetera, and then hear from those who send the contributions who are making experiences on the ground in advancing really access and inclusion.
So that's the outline that we are working, and we started, we are going to share more at least I think for finishing now.  Thank you.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you, Raquel.  Any additional comments or questions for Raquel on either of those two BPF gender or CENB?  Seeing none, there were a couple comments in the chat room with respect to the DC updates, and that the primary update was done earlier, we need to discuss the main session, that they are jointly organizing, that they are organizing, and also she mentioned that they in fact, DCs are not going to have a booth this year, but they are looking for more interactive ways to reach out ahead of next year and towards next year's IGF.
I have two final comments.  One is to remind everybody on the call that all the activities are meant to use the same reporting template.  So DCs, open forums, best practices, CENB, we really are trying to use the same template, again that will facilitate all of the reporting on site and post the IGF.  For, we have one more meeting ahead of the actual IGF itself, and the plan at this point in time would be to cover any kind of, obviously, open items, specific to IGF 2018.  I'd like to cover the working group updates at that point in time, and it's my hope to have a transition kind of plan in front of you between incoming and outgoing MAG and Chairs for this year coming up.
So that would be the focus of our next meeting.  Again, if anyone needs help or support, please put out very clear noticeable request on the MAG list.  I'm sure you will get support.  I want to thank everybody for all the excellent, excellent work they are doing, and for everybody helping us get through this very full agenda, and end on time.
I think I'd like to ask Chengetai if there is anything else from the Secretariat that he would like to comment on.
>> CHENGETAI MASANGO: Thank you very much, Lynn.  At the moment, there is nothing from the Secretariat to add to this meeting.  Thank you.
>> LYNN ST. AMOUR: Thank you.  Thank you, Chengetai.  And welcome back.  Thank you, everyone.  We will talk again in a few weeks and see everyone soon.  Bye bye.