We will soon convene for the ICANN78 Annual General Meeting (AGM). ICANN78 in Hamburg will be the first ICANN Public Meeting in Germany since ICANN02, which was held in Berlin in May 1999. We are excited to return.

As we approach the start of this AGM, I encourage you to visit the ICANN78 website. Here, you can register and find important information about travel, hotel, transportation, health, and safety. You can also review the materials from Prep Week, which featured 14 webinars to help the ICANN community and public prepare for work sessions. I also recommend reading the ICANN78 Policy Outlook Report.

During ICANN78, the ICANN community will continue its work preparing for the next round of applications for the New Generic Top-Level Domain Program. There will be three work sessions of the Generic Names Supporting Organization’s Expedited Policy Development Process on Internationalized Domain Names and planning sessions led by the ICANN organization for the next Universal Acceptance Day.

Educational opportunities available during the AGM include: “Tech Day,” organized by the Country Code Names Supporting Organization; the “Domain Name System Security Extensions and Security Workshop,” hosted by the Security and Stability Advisory Committee; and a “How It Works” tutorial about the Root Server System led by the Root Server System Advisory Committee. The Governmental Advisory Committees will dedicate capacity-development time for its members, and the At-Large Advisory Committee will discuss technological advances.

The “Welcome Ceremony” will include remarks from the Address Supporting Organization and the presentation of the annual Dr. Tarek Kamel Award for Capacity Building. Later in the week, we will recognize more than 50 ICANN community leaders for their service. The ICANN Board will host joint sessions with ICANN community groups, and the ICANN executive team will conduct a question-and-answer session. There will also be a session to mark the 25th anniversary of ICANN, and the second-ever Approval Action Forum of the Empowered Community.

A global community of stakeholders and participants with different backgrounds and points of view help coordinate and support the unique identifiers of the Internet. The Internet functions for everyone because everyone is invited to help make it work. Consensus policies developed through the multistakeholder model are highly effective and have the greatest legitimacy.

Thank you to all of you for making the considerable commitment of time and effort to attend this ICANN Public Meeting. Whether you are an ICANN regular, an occasional participant, or a newcomer, I encourage you to actively engage in this AGM.

David Olive

David Olive

SVP, Policy Development Support & Managing Director – Washington, D.C.

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