Internet Week in New York is an annual event that promotes the internet community here.  They take an "open beats closed" to planning the week.  Basically, anyone who wants to host an internet-oriented event may do so, and then post that event to the Internet Week public calendar.

http://www.internetweekny.com

We are targeting internet week as our coming out party for 2008.  We expect the Draft RFP to be released shortly thereafter, and we want to be ready to sprint.  Our goals for internet week are Outreach , Fundraising , and genral buy-in from the nyc community.

Internet Week Strategy

It has three components: 

Civic Space

We will secure a flexible event space, perhaps for the whole week.  We will then invite various groups with an interest in community media to hold workshops, presentations, etc. there.  Connecting nyc will hold its own workshops, the content of which will be determined in the next few weeks as our organized inquiry unfolds.

The results of these workshops will help us finalize our more traditional pitch to the nyc establishment.

Traditional Fundraiser

At the end of the week, we will hold a more traditional fundraising event.  Perhaps a cocktail soiree, with a presentation detailing our progress so far and our plans for the future.  We want to come out of this with the endorsement of our city and its elected officials, so that we can go into the Paris meeting and the application process with a strong backing.

Media Democracy Coalition

The Internet Week events scheduled as of early April are decidedly commerce-oriented.  We want to rally the groups with an interest in issues related to community control of the internet to hold events during Internet Week.  They may join us at Civic Space, or may hold events in their own locations.  In either way, a wave of community groups would provide proof that an audience exists for .nyc and the values it upholds.