ICANN75 — The Hague, Netherlands

From June 12–17 2022, ICANN (the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers) held its first in-person conference in the Hague, Netherlands since November 2019.

Day 1 — (1&2) meeting with the Board Chair, Maarten Botterman (Netherlands) and the Vice Chair, Leon Sanchez (Mexico) surrounded by the other ALAC members; (3) discussing recent policy publications by members of the SSAC (Security and Stability Advisory Committee); (4) and then listening in to a policy session with Alan Greenberg attending remotely from Canada.

This meeting was the first after the Covid-19 pandemic which had ceased any possibility of close contact for any members of the ICANN community (including staff) for over two and a half years. Because of the uncertainty of the covid situation with so many people coming from around the world, masks were compulsory during meetings and social distancing meant that the room could only fit less than half of the normal capacity around the meeting tables. We all wore lanyards that were of different colours: GREEN if you didnt mind a hug, YELLOW if you accepted people shaking your hand, and RED if you would rather have no contact.

A variety of masks worn by myself, Maarten Botterman (the Board Chair), Jonathan Zuck (my Vice Chair of Policy and soon to be ALAC Chair, as well as movie producer from USA), and Joanna Kulesza (my Vice Chair of Outreach, a university professor from Poland)

At-Large conducted a rather hectic schedule of meetings which included joint sessions of other sections of the ICANN community such as the SSAC (above) and the Government Advisory Committee (GAC).

This was the programme of At-Large meeting which many members from other sections also attended including Board members and executive staff of ICANN. We too attended sessions of other sections which made for a long day listening to people.

At the end of each day, ICANN Org (the management of ICANN) sponsored a cocktail hour which gave everyone a bit of a break after a day of meetings. It was a time to catch up with people from within ICANN that we hadn’t seen for two and a half years. At the final session, there was a presentation of the Excellence award which is given to someone who has been acknowledged by the ICANN community for the work they have done within ICANN. This year it was won by Vanda Scartzeni who had been on the ICANN Board, the Chair of the ICANN Nominating Committee, the founder of the DNS women and many more activities over many years. A very well deserved honour for her.

During the cocktail hour, with friends we haven’t seen for so long. And finally congratulating Vanda for receiving her award.

During the week, there had to be early nights because we were up early for breakfast meetings with small groups who were planning upcoming sessions for that day. But I did go out to dinner a couple of times. Once, with some of my ALAC team — Hadia ElMiniawi from Egypt, Joanna from Poland and Holly Raiche from Australia — at a great pizzeria close by the hotel and meeting venue. Later in the week I was invited to dinner by the NIXI team (who manage the .in domain in India) with Amrita Choudhury, the incoming Chair of the APRALO region. Amrita and I had just earlier visited the beach which was only about 10 minutes train ride from our hotel. It was packed with visitors on summer vacation in the Hague, crowding the restaurants both on the boardwalk and those on the edge of the beach… with at least 100 metres to walk to the water.

The last ICANN meeting that was held in person was in Montreal in Canada in November 2019. This meeting was significant for the At-Large community which represents the interests of Internet end users, because it was the Summit meeting of the global community of At-Large. Members from the five regional organisations (AFRALO-Africa, APRALO-Asia, Australiasia and Pacific Islands, LACRALO-Latin America and the Caribbean, NARALO-North America,and EURALO-Europe) gathered together to attend ATLAS III (the third At-Large Summit) where members from around the world gathered around the tables to discuss policy issues of importance to the At-Large community. The next SUMMIT will be held in 2024, somewhere in the world.

Maureen.