The biggest conference in the history of the domain name industry is taking place next month.
This summer’s ICANN meeting in London set an all-time record for a domain name related conference with 3,115 people in attendance.
The record is likely to last only one more month, as ICANN’s next meeting in Los Angeles is just a month away.
ICANN meetings have grown in size for a couple reasons. First, the release of new top level domain names has increased interest. Second, and perhaps a greater influence on attendance at the London meeting, is the process of separating IANA functions from the U.S. government.
The Los Angeles meeting takes place October 12-16 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. The Hyatt is sold out, as are most hotels within walking distance. Some of the overflow hotels have space, but you might need to take a cab or shuttle to get to the Hyatt.
Registration for the meeting is free.
If you live in North America and have never attended an ICANN meeting, I highly recommend making the trip. The next meeting in North America won’t be until 2016.
You giong?
Yes, I’ll be there.
How is ICANN meeting a “domain conference” ?
Sessions. Panels. Exhibitors. Social events.
It’s a conference.
I’ll be there for the first three days of the conference where most of the registrar and new TLD sessions occur. Looking at the public attendee list I see many names from the domainer space and with many domain investors interested in getting in on the “ground floor” with the new gTLDs, this has become a domain investor meeting of sorts. To those attending, I hope to see you there.