59^th Annual DPI/NGO Conference (6-8 September 2006)

Minutes of the Nineteenth Planning Committee Meeting: 8 June 2006

Conference website: www.unngodpiconference.org

1.0Adoption of agenda

2.0Adoption of minutes

3.0 Discussion of Plenary and Roundtable themes

3.1 Mr. Brandt expressed concern regarding the Conference programme. He said that the themes, as written were extraordinarily weak, and that there was a need to strengthen them and solidify why the Conference will be held, and what we want to accomplish with it.

3.2 Mr. Brandt requested that a small group of planning ctte. Members, who have been involved in past conferences, assist Sasa, and Robin in re-drafting the blurbs that precede each panel on the programme.

3.2.1 Estelle, Fannie and Leslie were nominated and agreed to be a part of the re-drafting of the programme. A meeting was scheduled for Friday, 9 June in Sasa’s office.

3.3 He said that Sasa and Robin were dedicated to work solely on the conference as part of the DPI office.

3.4 Mr. Brandt expressed that the programme should lend greater focus to the MDGs and how to move forward on attaining them.

4.0 Recommendation of Speakers

4.1 Mr. Brandt claimed responsibility for being unaware of the “Speaker Contact Information” sheet. He also expressed concern that we have identified speakers for areas where those speakers do not belong. Some speakers might have a high profile, but might not necessarily be the kind of people that we want as speakers. He did not name names, but did express his desire to review the speaker list, to ensure that the caliber of speakers is adequate.

4.1.1 Mr. Brandt said that, he and his team wanted to ensure the worthiness of speakers attending at the conference.

4.1.2 Mr. Brandt also said that for many speakers, there was no contact information form submitted and some were not complete. It is important that all recommendations are made with complete “Speaker Contact Information” sheets.

4.1.2.1 Sasa said that some of the speaker request forms were filled out accurately, but that many were incomplete and did not include mailing addresses. She said that email submissions to Michaela or anyone else were not sufficient.

4.1.2.2 There were some comments regarding individual speakers.

4.2 In response to a comment made from the floor, Mr. Brandt said, even if Michaela were here, he would have said exactly the same things. He clarified that he said what he said not because Michaela was not there, but because he felt this is what needed to be said.

4.3 Jeff said that several months ago, he had done a comparative analysis of past conferences, including a look at past speakers and plenary and roundtable themes. He said that there were lessons learned that we could bring into this conference.

4.3.1 Mr. Brandt suggested that Jeff work with Mr. Brandt and his team on this precise issue: the question of the speakers, determining who and how many there would be, and in general ensuring a high quality and highly effective conference.

4.3.1.1 It was agreed that Richard Jordan would join Jeff in this effort.

4.3.1.2 Mr. Brandt stressed that this was a matter of immediate concern.

4.3.1.3 A meeting was set up for Friday, 9 June at 11am to discuss the speakers.

4.3.2 Robin said that, of the 39 speakers that have been invited, there is still a dearth of information on who they are, and what these speakers would address at the conference.

4.3.3 Robin said that we need to hold off on any more invitations until we re-draft the programme and have a clearer picture of who should be invited.

4.4 There was a question regarding the present conference programme language. The question specifically referenced the discord between many speakers’ backgrounds and the themes of the plenaries and roundtables.

4.4.1 Robin said that because some invitations have been sent, we are limited in what we can change on the programme; however, she emphasized that we could certainly make the programme more focused, while maintaining the spirit of the themes.

4.4.2 Fannie agreed that we need to have the topics in greater detail. She also said that we need to tell the speaker exactly what it is we want them to discuss at the conference.

4.5 There was a question regarding the outcome for the participants of the Conference, and what we want them to get out of it.

4.5.1 Mr. Brandt said that this is exactly the right question to ask ourselves. He emphasized that each speaker needs to have a serious message that would plant seeds in the minds of participants and potentially lead to further attainment of the MDGs.

4.6 There was a comment regarding the current US/UN tensions, especially in light of John Bolton’s recent comments toward the Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General.

4.7 Mr. Brandt emphasized the need to be extremely careful with speaker invitations. He stressed to the committee not to take it upon themselves to invite anyone personally to the conference. It would create a terrible embarrassment if someone was invited by an NGO without knowledge or approval from DPI.

5.0 Sol announced the first co-ordination meeting will be held on 14 June.

6.0Subcommittee reports

6.1Multigenerational

6.1 No report

6.2 Events and Fundraising

6.2.1 The committee reported that there was a bit of a problem with the tote-bag logo (the one that would be on the posters). The committee said it would go instead with the NGO/DPI logo, to promote the conference. It was brought to the committee’s attention that if the bag were a product of the NGO/DPI executive committee, they could go with that logo but it should not mention the conference. If it is to be a conference tote, then it would have to have the logo, DPI/NGO Annual Conference.

6.3 Midday Workshops

6.3.1 Leslie reported that there were still problems with the website that related to midday workshops. She asked the internet committee to look into it.

6.3.2 Many people are still unable to access the online midday workshop form and they were running into the June 15^th deadline,

6.3.3 Leslie also reported that the committee had been late getting requests for interns out. She said that instead of having 15 interns, they would have about 4, and therefore would need volunteers to help them write midday workshop reports. Leslie requested that Mona help train the interns, to which she agreed.

6.4 Resource Centre Support

6.4.1 Mona reminded everyone where the registration website is located: www.un.org/dpi/ngosection

6.4.1.1 She explained to the committee how to use this site for registration.

6.4.2 Mona said that if the Headquarters does not want to handle this task, then they can send the information to any representative to handle it.

6.4.3 Mona said that there were 492 registrants so far. Out of them, 90 are youth representatives. In total, 158 NGOs had registered.

6.4.4 Mona said that some of the CSOs from last year’s conference had approached the resource center and that their applications were being accepted.

6.4.5 Mona said that the deadline for registration is the 15^th of June.

6.5 Media

6.5.1 Joan Levy reported that there had been a very positive meeting with the Chief of Media Accreditation, Gary Fowlie, to inquire about college newspaper editors being granted access to cover the conference. She said that the committee would draft a letter in this vein, to invite and accredit some of these students.

6.5.2 Jeff reported that the committee had discussed further the film festival idea, and where and when it might be held. He expressed that the film festival is contingent on funding and availability of space.

6.5.3 Jeff reported that he and Sarah McCue had discussed the Atlantic Monthly and their support in the Conference. They discussed potentially inviting some more prominent plenary speakers to draft a statement and match it with a corporate sponsor, for submission as an editorial to the Atlantic Monthly. Jeff reported that the logistics of this proposal is underway.

6.5.3.1 There was some discussion regarding which films would be shown, which types and on which topics, and when they would be shown during the conference.

6.5.4 Jeff reported that the Media committee had been working with the Networking committee, to ensure that their respective events would not overlap.

6.5.5 There was extensive discussion regarding inviting Al Gore to the conference and having him show his film. Mr. Brandt emphasized that we still use caution, and not invite him personally but rather confirm availability and get his address.

6.6 Internet

6.6.1 Vanessa reported that the committee had been reviewing the preliminary designs for the website, to be launched the 15^th. The committee requested all information be in by Monday, 6.12. Vanessa said that she was investigating the midday workshop form troubles.

6.7 Trouble Shooting

6.7.1 The committee had no trouble to report.

6.8 Networking

6.8.1 Fanny reported that the networking committee had completed its form to go on the website. The form asks for best practices in networking.

6.8.2 Fanny also reported that the committee had developed a one page paper that would be placed in the conference kits, that describes the networking process and agenda.

6.8.3 Fanny asked for clarification on whether or not their networking initiative would be accepted for a midday workshop slot.

6.8.3.1 There was some discussion regarding this, including favoritism and prejudice against the planning committee, in regard to concerns over limited space for events.

6.8.4 Bill spoke about using the internet to network people before, during, and after the conference.

7 Other Business

8 Next Meeting is for co-chairs

8.1 Thursday 15 June 2006