How We Meet Project

Background of the Project and Documents

Background

There have been many geopolitical and social changes since the Board adopted the current 2014 ICANN Public Meetings Strategy over ten years ago. Post-pandemic, the cost of conducting an ICANN Public Meeting has also increased significantly, particularly in relation to travel. In combination, these changes pose a challenge to how ICANN Public Meetings are organized and conducted, from locating suitable venues in rotation across the five ICANN global regions to ensuring that resources are allocated appropriately to these events that fulfill evolving community needs. Following initial discussions at ICANN80 in Kigali, the leaders of ICANN’s seven Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees (SOACs) agreed that it will be helpful to have a fuller dialogue to assess the way that the 2014 ICANN Public Meetings strategy is being implemented in view of these challenges.

At ICANN81 in Istanbul, the SOAC Chairs discussed a lightweight and nimble approach where a small group of experienced community members would work with ICANN staff to conduct a high level review of how the current ICANN meetings strategy is being implemented, with a view towards shortlisting potential options for broader community discussion. Options that meet with broad community support can then be considered as part of ICANN’s next annual planning and budgeting cycle, for potential implementation in the following fiscal year. To ensure that the initial review can be completed efficiently within a short time frame, the SOAC Chairs requested that ICANN develop a project charter to define the scope of work for the proposed discussion group and an initial document with a list of ideas to frame the group’s discussions. The outcome of the group’s discussions would be presented to the community for input and subject to a Public Comment period to ensure that there is ample opportunity for the full community to discuss the options.

Documents

How We Meet Discussion Group

Members and Mailing Lists

how-we-meet-2025@icann.org

Group Meetings