[WSIS CS-Plenary] Phase I: Speaker nomination process (1)

[karen banks]

dear all,

for reference, below is the first of two messages that outline the process 
for speaker nomination for the first summit - it may help refresh some 
memories and be useful as information for those who weren't involved in 
phase I.

It may also be useful for those were involved in this process, to flag 
problem areas we ran into - so as to ensure we do our best not to, this 
time round..

The process was managed by the content and themes group, or a 
sub-committee, and the final speaker slection process was managed by a 
nomination committee.

The messages were sent around early novemeber 2003, after about 4 weeks 
discussion of who would be the speaker for the main plenary

Although the first message relates to the context of the summit in 2003, 
you can see that it is fairly similar to that proposed for 2005

Maybe the working methods group can make a process proposal building on or 
learning from, 2003.

karen

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(posted by bill mciver to plenary around nov 8th 2003)

All,

The Civil Society Bureau has been requested by Secretary-General Utsumi
to submit nominations for speakers at the Summit. Details are below.

The Content and Themes group will coordinate the nomination process.

I will post our process in the 2nd message.

The guidelines from the Secretariat are as follows:

1. Opening Ceremony

a) The Opening Ceremony will be held at 2pm on 10 December 2003.  The 
opening statements shall be limited to 5 minutes. One top level 
representatives from civil society (including NGOs) as well as one top 
level representative from a business sector entity (including ITU sector 
members) will be invited to make remarks.

b) CSB and CCBI are invited to propose a short list of possible speakers 
before 15 November. The speaker will be identified after consultation.


2. General Debate

a) The General Debate will be held over the five plenary meetings, starting 
on the afternoon of Wednesday 10 December. The last hour of the first four 
plenary meetings is set aside for statement by observers. Speaking time 
shall be limited to 3 minutes.

b) CSB and CCBI are invited to nominate 12 speakers each before 15 November.

c) In principle, the 12 slots will be distributed as follows.  CSB and CCBI 
should designate the slots in which the speakers will appear.
Wednesday afternoon; 4 slots
Thursday morning; 2 slots
Thursday afternoon; 4 slots
Friday morning; 2 slots

d) In nominating speakers for General Debate, regional distribution* of 
speakers and balanced representation on the issues of the Summit should be 
given due consideration. All nominees should be at the very top level of 
their organizations or entities.
* In considering regional distribution, customary grouping in the UN 
General Assembly should be taken into account.  The grouping as of May 2002 
is attached for your information.


3. Round tables

a) An outline of the round tables is provided in Annex 2 of the proposed 
Format of the Geneva Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society. 
Four round tables will be organized consecutively between Wednesday 
afternoon and Friday morning. More details on the round tables including 
the timing and topics will be communicated to the CSB and CCBI at the 
beginning of November.

b) CSB and CCBI are invited to nominate 18 participants each before 15 
November. Some of the nominees could also be speakers already nominated for 
the General Debate or the Opening Ceremony.

c) In principle, the 18 seats will be distributed as follows.  All seats 
will be placed at the table. Several participants may intervene in the 
course of discussion. CSB and CCBI should designate the seats in which the 
participants will appear. The timing of each round table will be decided at 
the beginning of November.
Round table 1: 4 seats
Round table 2: 4 seats
Round table 3: 4 seats
Round table 4: 4 seats
17th seat could be added to one of the four round tables. 18th seat could 
be added to one of the round tables other than the one to which 17th is added.

d) In nominating participants, regional distribution* of participants and 
balanced representation on the topics of the Round table should be given 
due consideration.  All nominees should be at the very top level of their 
organizations or entities.
* In considering regional distribution, customary grouping in the UN 
General Assembly should be taken into account.  The grouping as of May 2002 
is attached for your information.

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The original letter from Secretary-General and the Guidelines can be
found here:
http://mboom.draper.albany.edu/~mciver/WSIS/Summit/Speakers/

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CT Coordinating Group