On behalf of the ICANN organization, I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to the success of the ICANN84 Annual General Meeting (AGM), which took place 25–30 October in Dublin, Ireland. In total, 1,594 people attended ICANN84 in person, including 104 first-time attendees, and 526 people participated virtually.
It was wonderful to spend time in Dublin, among friends and colleagues in the local Internet community, for ICANN's second meeting in the city. I had many opportunities to meet with community leaders and have meaningful discussions about their priorities and how we can achieve our shared goals.
I'm pleased to report that the AGM continued to build on the steady momentum generated over the past year in support of the 2026 round of new generic top-level domain applications, the ICANN Grant Program, and the evolution of ICANN reviews. The review of ICANN reviews is off to a strong start, with community members sharing their views during ICANN84 sessions and throughout the meeting. The intent of this effort is a proposed model for a refreshed system of reviews that further enhances ICANN's accountability, transparency, and effectiveness. Discussions will continue via webinars next week.
The WSIS+20 U.N. co-facilitators attended ICANN84 to receive feedback from the ICANN community, engaging during the "Geopolitical Forum" with the Governmental Advisory Committee. The Generic Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) held a cross-community session on DNS Abuse. The session provided valuable input to aid the GNSO Council in its consideration of initiating a Policy Development Process to further mitigate DNS Abuse.
Following a nearly two-year pilot that concludes this month, ICANN will continue to operate the Registration Data Request Service for up to two years. With the community's support and participation, we have gained insight into disclosure trends and related information that will help provide useful input to work on policy requirements and the process to request nonpublic gTLD registration data disclosure following new global data privacy laws.
We also took the opportunity to discuss next steps on the "How We Meet" initiative with the Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees leaders. ICANN org will now develop a detailed implementation plan for further discussion.
ICANN84 participants hailed from 128 countries and territories, and all regions were represented. Here's a regional breakdown of the in-person attendees:
- Africa – 84 (5.3 percent)
- Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands – 263 (16.5 percent)
- Europe – 717 (45.0 percent)
- Latin America and the Caribbean – 90 (5.6 percent)
- North America – 440 (27.6 percent)
More detailed statistics will be available in the ICANN84 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.
