After two years of extensive, cross-community work, I'm pleased to report that the ICANN Board approved a new ICANN Meetings Strategy for implementation in 2016, as well as proposed meeting dates and geographic rotation through 2020.
This new vision for ICANN Meetings is firmly rooted in the Meeting Strategy Working Group Recommendations [PDF, 527 KB] first posted for public comment in February 2014.
While ICANN Meetings continue to serve as a venue for progressing policy work, conducting outreach, facilitating interaction among members of the ICANN Community, including Board and Staff, and learning about ICANN, this accomplishment marks a significant milestone in the process of addressing the growing number of attendees at meetings, and the growing demand for more sessions, more inter – and intra-community discussion opportunities and more meeting rooms.
Much work still lies ahead. My team is focused on further development of the meeting schedules and formats to ensure we make the best use of our face-to-face time throughout the year. To that end, we understand that we will need increasing understanding and awareness of the new meetings approach and are planning a number of consultations across the Community in the coming months and through 2015.
Most importantly, I want to thank the members of the Meeting Strategy Working Group for their excellent work in providing us with a clear path for the evolution of ICANN Meetings, as well as the individuals and organizations/groups who contributed to the comment period and/or participated in public sessions held in Durban, Singapore, or Los Angeles.
