[NCUC-DISCUSS] Board Decision: ICANN67 will no longer be hosted in Cancun, virtual meeting instead.

[Bruna Martins dos Santos]

Dear all,

As posted on ICANN website about an hour ago, the decision around the
cancellation of an onsite ICANN67 is set. The meeting will now happen on
the same dates (7-12 March) and will be virtual.

Community leaders will have a planning call on friday to discuss possible
changes to the program as well as what will be timezone of this meeting.
Any updates coming my way I will share on the list.

Best,
Bruna Santos
NCUC Chair

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https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2020-02-19-en


LOS ANGELES – 19 February 2020 – The Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers (ICANN) today announced that its ICANN67 Public Meeting,
which was to be held in Cancún, Mexico, will now be held via remote
participation-only. This decision was made as a result of the COVID-19
outbreak, considered a public health emergency of international concern by
the World Health Organization <https://www.who.int/>.

The meeting, scheduled for 7-12 March 2020, marks the first time in ICANN's
history that it will hold a Public Meeting solely with remote participation.

Each ICANN Public Meeting attracts thousands of attendees from more than
150 countries. With cases in at least 26 of those countries, there is the
potential of bringing the virus to Cancún and into the ICANNmeeting site.
If this were to happen, there could be accidental exposure of the virus to
attendees, staff, and others who come in contact with an infected
individual.

COVID-19 continues to be a rapidly evolving global situation, with new
cases emerging daily.

"This is a decision that the ICANN Board has been considering since the
outbreak was first announced and it is one that we haven't taken lightly,"
said Maarten Botterman, ICANN Board Chair. "We know that changing this
meeting to remote participation-only will have an impact on and cause
disruption to our community; however, this decision is about people.
Protecting the health and safety of the ICANNcommunity is our top priority."

The community will have many questions about travel arrangements,
scheduling, and other meeting-related issues. ICANN will consult with
community leaders and groups to focus the virtual program on the most
essential sessions, and will publish a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
page to https://icann.org <https://www.icann.org/> in the coming days.

ICANN thanks its regional partners in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)
who had worked tirelessly to host this meeting in Cancún. We appreciate
their understanding and we look forward to returning to the LAC region for
ICANN70 in 2021.

Remote participation is an integral part of any ICANN Public Meeting, but
it will be vastly expanded for ICANN67, and will leverage the robust
technology platform in use by the community today.

Those interested in attending the remote meeting should still register here
<https://meetings.icann.org/en/cancun67>, if they have not done so
previously. To learn more about remote participation, visit ICANN Public
Meetings <https://meetings.icann.org/en/remote-participation>.

ICANN will continue to make further announcements as circumstances warrant.
In the meantime, ICANNorg will hold a webinar to provide a short update and
take questions. The webinar will be held on Thursday, 20 February at 1800
UTC.

ICANN also is reviewing upcoming meetings, such as the GDD Summit in Paris
and the ICANN68 Meeting in Malaysia. So far, no decisions have been made
and these are proceeding as planned. ICANNwill keep the community informed
of any changes.
About ICANN

ICANN's mission is to help ensure a stable, secure, and unified global
Internet. To reach another person on the Internet, you need to type an
address – a name or a number – into your computer or other device. That
address must be unique so computers know where to find each other. ICANN helps
coordinate and support these unique identifiers across the world. ICANN was
formed in 1998 as a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with a
community of participants from all over the world
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