[arin-discuss] Membership representation

[Lee Howard]

> Can this be pooled?  In other words, could "many of us" designate "some of
> us"?

I'm veering out-of-charter for this mailing list, but I think this may be useful to
many people on this list. . .

The policy development process is documented at https://www.arin.net/participate/how_to_participate.html
Informal version follows (or skip to see some other links) . . .
Let's say you have an idea for a new policy or a policy change.  The 
  current Number Resource Policy Manual is at https://www.arin.net/policy/nrpm.html
You can fill out the template (very simple) at https://www.arin.net/policy/pdp_appendix_b.html
  and email it to policy at arin.net.  They'll give it a number for tracking and 
  send it to the Advisory Council (AC).  Somebody on the AC may contact
  you for discussion, or they may say, "This is definitely worth talking about more."
  You do not need to be a member to propose policy.
  If you want some discussion before proposing, you can just post to arin-ppml,
  or pick a random-looking AC member (https://www.arin.net/about_us/ac.html
  you'll see that some of them look pretty random) and send them email, or you
  can come to the Open Policy Hour, usually held the night before the ARIN 
  meeting actually starts.
  Once your proposal is in, Member Services sends it to PPML.  
Once the proposal hits the mailing list, a lively discussion starts.  Or maybe no
  discussion, because your idea is so obvious nobody cares to object.
The AC may rework the proposal in response to comments.  If at some 
  point, the AC decides to stop working on a proposal, there's always an 
  opportunity for the community to object (and the means to petition is 
  always sent out after the AC abandons work).
Before a Public Policy Meeting, the AC determines that it has good words,
  and invites staff and legal counsel to review.  The proposal is discussed at
  the meeting, so that there's a fair chance for people to discover new ideas;
  remote participation (webcast, with text comments read aloud) works
  pretty well: https://www.arin.net/participate/meetings/ARIN-XXIV/remote.html
  See also below, "What to expect from ARIN meetings."
After the meeting, the AC meets and discusses whether there has been 
  consensus on the mailing list and at the meeting, or whether the proposal
  still needs work.  If they're satisfied that the proposal has support and is
  as good as it will get, the proposal gets sent out for Last Call.  If anything
  did not get full consideration, or a new point has come up, this is your 
  chance to bring it up.
After Last Call, the AC recommends adoption to the Board.  Unless the
  Board has serious objections, we adopt the policy.
 
As you can see, the AC is critical to the process.  They are unpaid 
volunteers, although we do cover their travel expenses to ARIN meetings.
They're also elected, and you as a member get to vote for some of them 
every fall.  

Some other things I've described in the past:

What to expect from ARIN meetings: http://lists.arin.net/pipermail/arin-discuss/2009-June/001261.html
Size of organizations at public policy meeting:  http://lists.arin.net/pipermail/arin-ppml/2009-April/013796.html
Why does ARIN charge so much?  http://lists.arin.net/pipermail/arin-ppml/2008-September/011845.html
How much time would we gain from reclamation?  http://lists.arin.net/pipermail/arin-ppml/2008-August/011711.html

Years ago I looked at who participated in ARIN by organization size, based
on posts to PPML, but I can't find it now.  I'm pretty confident that if you
look at http://lists.arin.net/pipermail/arin-ppml/2009-June/author.html 
you'll find a wide distribution of representation.  If your name isn't there,
then at least make sure there's somebody there (or on the AC) who
generally shares your point of view.

Encouragement to attend meetings:  admission is free for Designated
Member Representatives, breakfast, lunch, snacks and some dinners
are included, you can get from BWI to DTW for $118 round trip, and
you can find hotels for < $90/night within a mile of the Hyatt Regency.

Hope to see you there!

Lee