ICANN Meetings

ICANN Meetings are held three times a year in various regions around the world in compliance with the ICANN Bylaws, which mandate that the ICANN Board maintains transparency in managing the Internet and provides opportunity for international participation and discussion regarding policy developments that impact the Domain Name System (DNS) and the global Internet community.

ICANN Meetings are organized and coordinated by at least 100 volunteers from ICANN's Supporting Organizations (SOs) and Advisory Committees (ACs). A general meeting is held annually to give newly elected members their seats.

Participants

ICANN Meetings are open to everyone who is interested in and openly affected by the organization's activities and work. Individuals attending ICANN Meetings come from the following Stakeholder Groups:

• Business & Commerce
• Government
• Academia & Civil Society
• End Users
• Technical & Security

Activities

A wide range of topics regarding the many aspects of the Internet and its governance are discussed during the meetings, including the stability and security of the DNS, intellectual property issues, policies affecting the growth and development of the Internet, creation of new top level domains, and many other issues. During ICANN Meetings, workshops, open forums, and remote participation are conducted using different tools, such as live audio streaming, video, chat rooms and online question boxes.

ICANN Meetings are free to attend and are normally held over five days. An outline of the entire week's activities and agenda are provided the morning of the opening day of every ICANN Meeting.

All of ICANN's constituencies hold their own meetings and sessions to discuss their respective concerns and issues. A day is dedicated for the internal review of the ICANN Structure and for the SO's and AC's councils to make decisions on issues raised during the meetings. Workshops are also held to provide the latest information and upcoming issues regarding the internet industry.

Annual elections of officers are also held during the meetings, and reports from the different constituencies of working group are also submitted.

Meeting Schedule

As of ICANN 55 - Marrakech, ICANN's meeting schedule took a new form. This is the result of the work of a multi-stakeholder working group (MSWG) comprised of ALAC, ASO, ccNSO, GNSO, GAC members, started in February 2013. The working group came together at this time to address the rapid increase in conference attendance and the growing need for intentional and focused meetings that could adequately support all the moving parts of ICANN. The committee came together to focus on the following issues in particular:

• meeting timing
• duration and format
• rotation of the meeting location
• meeting support and engagement activities
• meeting planning

Summary of Recommedations

• Continue the three-meeting schedule annually, but evolve the structure of the three meetings (defined as Meeting A, B, and C) to better address meeting objectives, scheduling conflicts and to use the time in a most effective way.
• Continue regional rotation for all meetings and coordinate rotation to balance global coverage on a multi-year cycle, but evolve the rotation strategy to take advantage of the smaller mid-year meeting (Meeting B) to rotate through new geographic locations previously unavailable to the meetings due to the attendance and logistical requirements of the current meeting structure. See the calendar and regional rotation for future meetings.
• Continue to allocate adequate time for SO/AC work, but evolve the format of the meetings to afford greater opportunity for cross-community engagement and outreach.
• Continue with the public forum at the first and third meetings in the cycle, but evolve the format by splitting the time into two portions with differing focus.

The Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting is required by the ICANN Bylaws to happen at least every 14 months in order to conduct important voting procedures and other structural processes. The last ICANN Meeting of the year is generally designated as the Annual Meeting. The conclusion of the Annual Meeting is when new members of most bodies within ICANN take their seats, most notably the directors of the ICANN Board. Many bodies within ICANN request full attendance from their members.

Sponsorship

Over the years, a variety of sponsorship schemes have been used with relation to ICANN meetings. It has been noted that the initial operation and the first meetings of the organization were made possible through loans from major industry companies, such as MCI, Cisco, and others. Currently, there is a six-tier sponsorship scheme, offering plans ranging in price from $7,500 to $250,000. At one point, the highest level of sponsorship cost $500,000. There is also now the opportunity to sponsor individual "networking events", such as a lunch, coffee break, Music Night, etc.

Highly active and consistent ICANN sponsors include Verisign, Afilias, Neustar, Iron Mountain, and others. It is common for local corporations to sponsor when ICANN's rotating meeting schedule puts the meeting in their region.

Full sponsorship info can be found here.

Reforms

In November 2006, Susan Crawford led a discussion that resulted in a proposal of recommendations for implementing ICANN meetings in a more efficient, low-cost, and engaging way. Her paper was broken down into three parts: a description of the goals of ICANN meetings; a list of criticisms and concerns about the meetings; proposed solutions for the criticisms. Among other things, her recommendations included a public forum at the beginning of each of the three annual meetings, an online docket that tracks the status of all decisions made, and the establishment of a central hub for one of the three annual meetings. She also called for clearly stated agendas prior to the meetings and accountability in recording and publishing meeting minutes.

Crawford's reform ideas also involved a Public Workshop that was held at the ICANN 27 Sao Paulo meeting, and many of her recommendations had been implemented by May 2008. Among these was ICANN's implementation of a new policy in 2007, which changed the execution and planning of the meetings -- which were handled at that time by the host of the meeting - into the hands of ICANN itself.

In May 2008, a similar call for reforms addressed the concern that ICANN's original meeting structure was outdated. A paper outlined plans to set into motion long-term reforms for ICANN meetings, beginning in 2010. Its main proposal was for the annual meetings to be reduced from three to two, with one being located in a consistent central hub.

A paper published in October 2012 attempted to provide a rationale for the consolidation of future ICANN meetings. The consistent growth of ICANN meetings, ICANN stated, makes it "increasingly difficult to identify new hosts, as well as new host cities with the appropriate facilities." ICANN argues that reducing the frequency of meetings and consolidating them across fewer locales will help increase their quality and predictability, as well as help establish favorable long-term contracts with the facilities. The proposed new plan would reduce the number of cities visited between 2014 and 2016 from nine to seven. Under ICANN's old plan, the meetings would be broken down to include two in Europe, two in North America, two in Asia-Pacific, two in Africa, and one in Latin America. The new plan would include three in Europe and three in Asia-Pacific, but in four countries rather than six. Africa, North America, and Latin America would all have one meeting each.

Meeting Strategy Working Group (MSWG)

Main article: Meeting Strategy Working Group

The MSWG was formed in 2013 to discuss and propose a strategy for future ICANN Meetings beginning in 2015. In February 2014 the MSWG posted a draft document for public comment that outlined its recommendations. The proposed strategy would keep the current regional rotation of the meetings, but change the length of the meetings. The first meeting each year would be 6-7 days, which as of 2014 was the current length of all ICANN meetings. The second meeting of the year would be shorter in duration (3-4 days) and would focus on SO and AC work. This second meeting would ideally be hosted by venues that could not support the larger meetings. The third meeting of the year would be the longest and largest (8-9 days) and would include the AGM and Public Board meetings.

The comment period for the proposal will close March 20th 2014 and a final draft will then be reviewed by the ICANN Board. The Board will then make a decision to adopt the proposed strategies in some form.

Past and Future ICANN Meetings

The primary factors considered in selecting the locations for the ICANN Meetings include: costs, accessibility, convenience, visa restrictions, availability and affordability of local transportation, proximity of hotel accommodations to the venue of the meetings, excellent space and meeting facilities, installation of networks infrastructures in meeting venues and safety and security.

List of ICANN Meetings

Below is the list of past and future ICANN Meetings:

• ICANN 1 - Singapore, Singapore - Mar 2-4, 1999
• ICANN 2 - Berlin, Germany - May 25-27, 1999
• ICANN 3 - Santiago, Chile - Aug 23-26, 1999
• ICANN 4 - Los Angeles, CA, USA - Nov 1-4, 1999
• ICANN 5 - Cairo, Egypt - Mar 7-10, 2000
• ICANN 6 - Yokohama Japan - Jul 13-17, 2000
• ICANN 7 - Marina del Rey, CA, USA - Nov 13-16, 2000
• ICANN 8 - Melbourne, Australia - Mar 9-13, 2001
• ICANN 9 - Stockholm, Sweden - Jun 1-4, 2001
• ICANN 10 - Montevideo, Uruguay - Sep 7-10, 2001
• ICANN 11 - Marina del Rey, CA, USA - Nov 12-15, 2001
• ICANN 12 - Accra, Ghana - Mar 10-14, 2002
• ICANN 13 - Bucharest, Romania - Jun 24-28, 2002
• ICANN 14 - Shanghai, China - Oct 27-31, 2002
• ICANN 15 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Dec 14-15, 2002
• ICANN 16 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Mar 23-27, 2003
• ICANN 17 - Montreal, Canada - Jun 22-26, 2003
• ICANN 18 - Carthage, Tunisia - Oct 27-31, 2003
• ICANN 19 - Rome, Italy - Mar 2-6, 2003
• ICANN 20 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Jul 19-23, 2003
• ICANN 21 - Cape Town, South Africa - Dec 1-5, 2004
• ICANN 22 - Mar del Plata, Argentina - Apr 4-8, 2005
• ICANN 23 - Luxembourg City, Luxembourg - Jul 11-15, 2005
• ICANN 24 - Vancouver, Canada - Nov 20-Dec 4, 2005
• ICANN 25 - Wellington, New Zealand - Mar 25-31, 2006
• ICANN 26 - Marrakesh, Morocco - Jun 26-30, 2006
• ICANN 27 - Sao Paulo, Brazil - Dec 2-8, 2006
• ICANN 28 - Lisbon, Portugal - Mar 26-30, 2007
• ICANN 29 - San Juan, Puerto Rico - Jun 25-29, 2007
• ICANN 30 - Los Angeles, CA, USA - Oct 29-Nov 2, 2007
• ICANN 31 - New Delhi, India - Feb 10-15, 2008
• ICANN 32 - Paris, France - Jun 22-26, 2008
• ICANN 33 - Cairo, Egypt - Nov 2-7, 2008
• ICANN 34 - Mexico City, Mexico - Mar 1-6, 2009
• ICANN 35 - Sydney, Australia - Jun 21-26, 2009
• ICANN 36 - Seoul, Korea - Oct 25-30, 2009
• ICANN 37 - Nairobi, Kenya - Mar 7-12, 2010
• ICANN 38 - Brussels, Belgium - Jun 20-25, 2010
• ICANN 39 - Cartagena de Indias, Colombia - Dec 5-10, 2010
• ICANN 40 - San Francisco, CA, USA - Mar 13-18, 2011
• ICANN 41 - Singapore, Singapore - Jun 19-24, 2011
• ICANN 42 - Dakar, Senegal - Oct 23-28, 2011
• ICANN 43 - San Jose, Costa Rica - Mar 11-16, 2012
• ICANN 44 - Prague, Czech Republic - Jun 24-29, 2012
• ICANN 45 - Toronto, Canada - Oct 14-19, 2012
• ICANN 46 - Beijing, China - Apr 7-11, 2013
• ICANN 47 - Durban, South Africa - Jul 14-19, 2013
• ICANN 48 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Nov 17-21, 2013
• ICANN 49 - Singapore, Singapore - Mar 23-27, 2014
• ICANN 50 - London, England - Jun 22-26, 2014
• ICANN 51 - Los Angeles, CA, USA - Oct 12-16, 2014
• ICANN 52 - Singapore, Singapore - Feb 8-12, 2015
• ICANN 53 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Jun 21-25, 2015
• ICANN 54 - Dublin, Ireland - Oct 18-22, 2015
• ICANN 55 - Marrakech, Morocco - Mar 5-10, 2016
• ICANN 56 - Helsinki, Finland - Jun 27-30, 2016
• ICANN 57 - Hyderabad, India - Nov 2-9 , 2016
• ICANN 58 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Mar 11-16, 2017
• ICANN 59 - Johannesburg, South Africa - Jun 26-29, 2017
• ICANN 60 - Abu Dhabi, UAE - Oct 28-Nov 3, 2017