Latest news of the domain name industry

Recent Posts

Over 2,000 attendees for ICANN 73?

Kevin Murphy, August 17, 2021, 18:05:55 (UTC), Domain Policy

Puerto Rico is expecting as many as 2,100 people to show up to ICANN’s public meeting there next year, according to a local report.

A local business publication, NimB, cites Pablo Rodríguez of NIC.pr as saying ICANN 73 could have about 2,100 attendees, bringing as much as $8 million to $10 million to the San Juan economy.

My first thought was that the dollar figure seemed high — it works out to about $5,000 per head — until I realized that most attendees are funded by either ICANN or their company credit cards, and not everyone is as frugal as yours truly.

But then I realized that 2,100 is by far the more surprising number.

Consider that it’s by no means assured that there will be an in-person component to the meeting at all. ICANN is certainly planning for one, but like everyone else the Org is subject to the whims of a microscopic glob of goo.

The plan is for a “hybrid”, a mix of face-to-face and Zoom, with some recognition that there are some parts of the world that will show up with extremely light delegations.

Consider also that the last time ICANN met in San Juan in March, just a couple years ago, the grand total was 1,564 people, 37% of whom hailed from outside the Americas.

With that in mind, 2,100 seems like an incredibly ambitious prediction.

Tagged: , , , , ,

Comments (4)

  1. Rubens Kuhl says:
    August 18, 2021 at 1:00 am

    Perhaps there is pent up demand for a physical meeting after 2 years without such… or, at least that’s what who made the guess is thinking.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says:
    August 18, 2021 at 1:12 pm

    Pablo is a force of nature. A smart, big hearted, always-smiling leader who works hard to accomplish his goals. If Pablo wants it to be 2,100, he’ll probably find a way!

    Also, I agree with Rubens. There’s a pent up demand for in-person conferences.

    Reply
  3. Rob Golding says:
    August 26, 2021 at 9:51 pm

    Those figures seem highly unrealistic even without ‘pandemic’ issues.

    Whilst there may be ‘pent up demand’ for some, there will still be corporate bans and personal safety concerns for many ‘usual’ attendees.

    I highly doubt as the 1st possible ‘in-person’ icann meeting for a while it’ll reach close to the numbers from the last PR meeting

    So 50% of the guestimated attendeees and more like 20% of the guestimated spend IMHO.

    If the policy meeting in Hague goes ahead, I can see that being the 1st ‘close to usual’ attendance level.

    All that said, PR is a lovely place and an extra $10 million into their economy can only be a good thing, so lets hope he’s right 🙂

    Reply

Add Your Comment