Attendees Steve Peters, Oris Friesen, Henry Goldberg, Mark Goldstein, John Lucas, Janet Major, Mala Muralidharan, Vince Nicholes, Nan Williams, Bill Lombardi.
Establishing The Broadband Stakeholder Network Steve explained that the purpose of the proposed Arizona Broadband Stakeholder Network is to facilitate collaboration, coordination, information sharing and communication among key public, private and nonprofit stakeholders committed to promoting the expansion of broadband deployment in Arizona. The Network may also lead to collaborative projects, development of joint grant applications, sharing of funding and other resources, aggregation of demand at the state and local level, policy discussions, etc.
ATIC and GAZeL are collaborating on establishing and operating the Broadband Stakeholder Network. The GAZeL Board, in its transition to new 501(c)(3) status, has included Broadband and this Broadand Stakeholder Network project in their mission statement. The project has been on hold for a while because of Steve’s personal/family issues, but he is now ready to actively work on this.
Steve will be seeking sponsors to fund the Broadband Stakeholder Network project. Part of this funding will enable him to work on this project in his role as GAZeL Coordinator.
Janet stated it will be important to invite all broadband service providers to participate. Steve responded that the leadership team’s purpose is to get the Broadband Stakeholder Network going, and the service providers will be invited to participate in the upcoming Roundtable sessions.
Planning the 1st Roundtable Steve explained the roundtables will be in-person meetings so people can network and get to know one another, but online participation will be available for those who cannot be there in person.
Obtaining Sponsors Steve is working on obtaining sponsors for the roundtables. He has met with Adonis Trujillo, Microsoft’s Community Engagement Program Manager for Arizona, who said he may provide initial seed funding of about $3,000 to support the development of the Broadband Stakeholder Network and the first roundtable. Adonis will introduce Steve to Microsoft’s Broadband Manager for Arizona as well as others they are working with in rural communities. Janet asked who decides on how the sponsorship money will be spent on the project, and Steve responded that the leadership team will decide on this. Janet recommended there be more diversity on the leadership team to include other stakeholders, and that the new Arizona Broadband Director at the Arizona Commerce Authority would be a key person to have on the leadership team. Steve added that sponsors may be asked to contribute $250 - $500 to have an exhibit at the Roundtable.
Date of Roundable It was decided that the 1st Roundtable would be held in April, likely April 17th or April 25th, depending on the availability of the room and speakers. The session would go from 2:00 – 6:00 pm. The agenda would consist of: 1) Networking time (with possible demos from exhibitors), 2) Program of presentations, and 3) Ending reception with refreshments.
Program for Roundtable The program would likely consist of three major presentations:
Arizona Broadband Director role and possibly newly appointed person for that position,
Update on the E-rate Modernization Program Grants for schools and libraries by Milan Eaton and Mala Muralidaharan,
State of Arizona Broadband activities overview (including focus groups and Goal Council recommendations) by Karen Ziegler.
This main set of presentations may be followed by some (up to five) “Ignite”- format presentations of 5-minute duration from sponsors or other significant initiatives.
Mark suggested Michael Sherman of the Sun Corridor Network might present an Ignite presentation on their multi-state I-40 fiber network traversing northern Arizona. John Lucas was asked if he could make an Ignite presentation, and he said he would speak with the County Supervisors Association of Arizona (Craig Sullivan) and the Arizona League of Cities and Towns (Tom Belshe) about whether he could do this. Vince Nicholes may work with Mala on a presentation of T-Mobile Wi-Fi hotspots program for rural libraries.
Nan suggested the program also include a time period for questions for attendees on “What kind of projects are you working on?” and “What kind of partnerships would you like to see?”.
Mark and Mala suggested including a keynote presentation from a prominent national speaker. Mark suggested Blair Levin, the original author of the FCC Broadband Plan. Mala suggested Tom Wheeler, the former FCC Chair and leader of the 2017 E-rate Modernization program, who has authored an excellent new book entitled “From Gutenberg to Google”. Mala also suggested John Windhausen of SHLB (Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition)as another potential speaker to discuss broadband for rural community anchor institutions. Mala will contact Tom Wheeler to ask if he would do this.
Location of Roundtable Possible locations for the 1st Roundtable were discussed. The location must have adequate space, microphones, and teleconferencing capability. Mala noted that Karen Ziegler of the Arizona Department of Administration said we could use a room they have which can accommodate 75 people with tables, and there is free parking and food can be brought in, but exhibit space needs to be looked into. Steve said Rio Salado College has great spaces for conferences with food service and lots of parking, and they have video production capabilities. Other suggested locations were the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix (parking cost is an issue) and the University of Advancing Technology. Steve will look into the location options and report back at the next leadership team meeting.
Promotion and Registering for the Roundtable Steve will draft an e-mail to advertise the roundtable. This e-mail can be forwarded to any of ATIC and GAZeL’s constituency groups. The information on the roundtable will also be posted on the Broadband Stakeholder Network webpage on the ATIC website.
Steve said Eventbrite will be used to register for the roundtable. Mala suggested including a question for attendees registering whether they want to be included on our e-mail list for future communications.
Next Broadband Stakeholder Network Leadership Team Teleconference Steve will arrange a follow-up leadership team teleconference to discuss progress on the program, location, and date for the 1st Roundtable.
The next leadership team teleconference will be on Thursday April 14th at 9:00 am.