The ARIN XXII meeting report was made available today. It contains, among many other things, a transcript of all the BoT and AC candidate speeches that were made on Friday morning. I have copied mine here:
MR. GRUNDEMANN: Good morning. Yes, I’m Christopher Grundemann.
I was sitting there thinking about what I could say up here to introduce myself to everyone in less than three minutes. And my thoughts wandered back to 6th grade and a session on debate. It was an interactive class project. We were tasked with debating an issue and then switching sides to argue the opposite view. I remember the day as the first time I realized I had a knack, I guess, for not only seeing the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments of both sides of an issue, but also being able to bring an energy and excitement to either side as well.
And I think that skill as a devil’s advocate and as a mediator, as well as my passion for the Internet and its bottom-up grassroots structure are why I accepted the nomination and threw my hat into the ring. I believe in the Internet not just as a tool, but a revolution in communication. And probably more relevant to your vote, I believe in the way we’ve gotten to this point. That organized anarchy as some have called it, which allows anyone who wants a voice, to have a hand in shaping the future.
As a member of the ARIN Advisory Council, it would be my goal to preserve and protect that open community-based system that served us so well.
I think I can do that in part because of my experience as a network engineer, which has given me a fairly in-depth understanding of how the Internet works and how organizations and individuals make it work for them. Coupled with that experience is the skill I talked about, to be able to see the flaws in an idea that I agree with and to see the merit in ideas that I don’t, which I think lends itself very well to the policy process. And that’s why I think I can play an integral role in helping to build consensus around strong forward-looking policy that preserves and grows all the things we love about the Internet and ARIN’s place in it. Thank you.
All of the speeches were quite good and I recommend reading them if you are at all interested in ARIN and it’s mission. Of course you could wait until this Friday to hear who was elected and then read only their speeches, if you are short on time.