On behalf of the ICANN organization, I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the ICANN82 Community Forum.
This meeting was a great opportunity for me to get to know more ICANN community members, and to put faces to names and emails. At the same time, I experienced first-hand just how much work goes on behind the scenes at ICANN Public Meetings. I'm amazed at how well we're able to collaborate with online participants across time zones.
Over six days and 175 public sessions, members of the ICANN community, Board, and org gathered at ICANN82 to advance discussions and policymaking on essential issues for ICANN. High-interest topics discussed included the approaching 20-year review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20) and the New Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) Program: Next Round.
During the meeting, the ICANN community reiterated its commitment to the WSIS+20 process and the importance of the multistakeholder model in Internet governance. The community also lauded the great work being done by the project team on advancing the New gTLD Program: Next Round. On behalf of my colleagues, I'd also like to thank all community members who participated in the Q&A with the ICANN org executive team. I appreciate the open dialogue and learned a lot from your insightful input.
ICANN82 was attended by 1,369 people on the ground in Seattle, including 155 first-time attendees, while 548 people registered to join us online. Overall, our participants represented 129 countries and territories. Here's a regional breakdown of the in-person attendees:
- Africa – 112 (8.2 percent)
- Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands – 185 (13.5 percent)
- Europe – 261 (19.1 percent)
- Latin America and the Caribbean – 84 (6.1 percent)
- North America – 727 (53.1 percent)
More detailed statistics will be available in the ICANN82 By the Numbers Report to be published in the coming weeks. If you missed anything during the meeting, please visit the meeting website for session recordings and transcripts.
