[ALAC] Fwd: [ICANN Community Leaders] ICANN69 to be Held as Virtual Public Meeting

[Maureen Hilyard]

https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2020-06-11-en

LOS ANGELES – 11 June 2020 – The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers (ICANN) today announced that the ICANN Board of Directors has
made the decision
<https://www.icann.org/resources/board-material/resolutions-2020-06-11-en> that
the ICANN69 Annual General Meeting (AGM), which was to be held in Hamburg,
Germany, will not proceed as an in-person meeting. Instead, the Board has
directed the ICANN org to coordinate with the ICANN community on the best
way forward for ICANN69 to meet the expected outcomes of an ICANN AGM and
support the community's ongoing policy advice and development work, despite
being unable to meet in person.

The meeting, scheduled for 17-22 October, will be the third time ICANN will
hold a Virtual Public Meeting as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ICANN67, originally scheduled for Cancún, Mexico, was held as a virtual
meeting, as will the upcoming ICANN68, originally scheduled for Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia.

The health and safety of the ICANN community is always a top priority, and
as such, convening ICANN69 as an in-person meeting is not expected to be
feasible by its scheduled date. While progress has been made to mitigate
the impact of COVID-19, there are still several barriers remaining that
prevent holding large international meetings, such as ICANN's Public
Meetings. These include ongoing restrictions on international travel,
diminished flight availability, challenges in obtaining visas, physical
distancing requirements, the risks posed to the local host community, and
the possibility of a resurgence resulting in further lockdowns.

"Above all, the health and safety of the global ICANN community, Board, and
staff is the most important consideration for any Public Meeting," said
Maarten Botterman, ICANNBoard Chair. "As of right now, there are still too
many uncertainties involved with hosting a face-to-face meeting. The Board
believes that this is the right decision, and it gives us ample time to
plan a successful Annual General Meeting. There's a great deal of work to
be done, so let's continue to focus on getting it done, together."

ICANN thanks the Hamburg host committee and our regional partners in
Europe, who have provided their support and input during the planning
process for ICANN69. The Board fully appreciates the importance of
face-to-face interactions, and looks forward to a return to in-person
ICANN Public
Meetings. ICANN is currently scheduled to convene ICANN70 in Cancun,
Mexico, and ICANN71 in The Hague, The Netherlands.

ICANN org, in consultation with the ICANNcommunity, will build on the
lessons learned during ICANN67 and ICANN68 to improve upon the meeting
format. In its decision, the Board directed the ICANN org to work with the
community leaders to determine how to ensure that the virtual meeting
fulfills the community's agreed-upon priorities.

Those interested in attending ICANN69 will still be required to register.
An announcement will be posted to https://icann.org
<https://www.icann.org/> once
registration is open. To learn more about remote participation, visit
ICANN Public
Meetings <https://meetings.icann.org/en/remote-participation>.

More information, including details about the meeting's time zone, language
interpretation options, and final schedule will be provided at a later date.


Sent from my iPhone

David A. Olive
Senior Vice President
Policy Development Support
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)


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