In Buenos Aires for the 48th meeting to be held by ICANN, it is easy to see that this gathering is particularly well attended. It has attracted not only ICANN veterans but also many newcomers – and both groups have the new gTLDs on their minds. The mood is generally relaxed, however the deadlines to secure partners and vendors in the new gTLD launches do create a feeling of urgency felt throughout the meeting.
Fast Facts:
– How many people are there in attendance?
325 ccNSO (country code names supporting organization) and 1759 public participants – for a total of almost 2000 participants.
– Are many people attending the sessions and what are the sessions about?
The sessions are generally well attended mostly by the policy folks. With the near launches of the new gTLDs, the sessions have gained in importance for the policy makers. The business contingent of the meeting, is more visible holding meetings in the hallways and networking at the events.
– Have people been talking about the upcoming NamesCon show in Las Vegas in January?
For a domain name show, which usually gets omitted at ICANN, NamesCon has been mentioned quite a few times. Many of the new gTLD registries are interested in attending as they are interested in finding new platforms to exhibit and sell their domains.
Speaking with the participants about their impression of the event we received consistently positive opinions and comments. The content of the meetings and the topic of the new gTLDs, (which finally seem to be taking on more of a definition), received the most praise but we’re sure the amazing destination, great weather, incredible food and wines might have something to do with the general good mood as well. So far the only complaint we’ve overheard is the lack of good meeting places at the venue and the rather spread out layout of the entire exhibit booth area. However the individual events held by various participating organizations more than make up for it and offer plenty of chances for networking.
We spent some time in the Exhibit Booth area and wanted to share our gallery with you.
- Freedom Registry (www.freenom.com) – Jeremie Godreche, Joost Zuurbier
- Verisign (www.verisign.com) – Sarah Breinich
- dotClub (www.dotclub.com) – Colin Campbell, Alina Zgoda, Jeffrey Sass
- ncc group (www.nccgroup.com) – Andy Ramsbottom, Pete Stock, Rob Cotton
- dotAfrica (www.africainonespace.org) – Calvin Browne, David Peall, Octavia Kumalo, Theo Kramer
- Afilias (www.afilias.info) – Roland A. Laplante, Maranda Woody
- Iron Mountain (www.ironmountain.com) – Shane T. Ryan, Mary K. English
- Architelos (www.architelos.com) – Norbert Grey, John Metson, Michael Young, Bill Snow
- CentralNic (www.centralnic.com) – Anna Ogneva, Mar Perez
- Core (www.corenic.org) – Ekaterina Dureva, Silvia Krokovicova
- dot Asia (www.dot.asia) Leona Chen-Birkner
- Logic Boxes (www.logicboxes.com) Eeshaan Satwalekar, Siddharth Taliyan, Clifford Desouza
- Neustar (www.neustar.biz) Les Chasen
- IPLAN (www.iplan.com.ar) Augustina Bautista, Roberto Genzone
- Deloitte Clearinghouse (trademark-clearinghouse.com) Frederik Gomme, Celine Jooris
- NIC ARGENTINA (www.nic.ar) Lucila Abate, Hernan Torres, Tomas Vazquez Topssian
- ICANN Newcomers Lounge (www.icann.org/en/about/participate/newcomers) Maria Dolores Puy, Maritza Aguero Minano, Artak Barseghyan, Sokol Haxhiu
(And one fun photo of .surf, .fishing and .bayern characters!)
How many ‘domainers’ were their?
Admittedly or not, everyone in attendance is a domainer (or wannabe).
It’s difficult to give a number but more and more “domainers” have been attending ICANNs and this is particularly true of this meeting. I think most of the domainers here might be in one way or another also associated with either registrars or other companies/organizations but I’ve definitely ran into plenty of familiar faces I used to only see at domainer events in the past.
I actually don’t understand why it is hold in Buenos Aires. Argentina’s NIC is probably the worst registrar in the world, except it is free.
ICANN meetings are held all over the world.
One in Ecuador please!! XD
“Argentina’s NIC is probably the worst registrar in the world, except it is free.”
I’m sorry. That’s not true.
Argentina is the # 1 Worst Country. On top of that The Foreign Ministry controls the domains.
No need to mention how reliable, predictable, secure and truthful is Argentina’s Government.