ICANN 82 Preview

What’s Coming Up at the ICANN 82 Community Forum?

The ICANN 82 Community Forum will take place between Saturday 8 March and Thursday 13 March at the Hyatt Regency, Seattle, Washington State. The Community Forum is an opportunity for the ICANN Board to meet with various community groups, and for community groups to meet with each other. This meeting is also the first ICANN meeting for Kurtis Lindqvist as ICANN’s CEO. We are anticipating his remarks during the Opening Ceremony on Monday morning with interest and hoping to learn more about the direction he plans to take ICANN in the coming years.

With the application window for new gTLDs opening in Q2 2026, this meeting will have a strong focus on next round work. There will be two distinct threads to next round discussions in Seattle – informational sessions on different elements of the New gTLD Program and implementation work to enable the window to open in Q2 2026.

DNS Abuse remains on the ICANN agenda as an important topic, and we are anticipating the INFERMAL report to be the focus of many community discussions. The INFERMAL report is interesting for a number of reasons, not least because its conclusions encourage readers to not assume that there is any single “fix” for DNS Abuse.

If you do plan to attend in person, it is essential that you register by 7 March. Virtual attendees will also need to register before they can access the schedule and the links to participate in sessions but can do so right through to the end of the meeting. Please also be mindful that Seattle changes to daylight saving time on Sunday 9 March at 2.00am local time.