These regional events are a chance for ICANN staff and representatives from gTLD registries and ICANN-accredited registrars to meet informally to discuss topics important to our industry and business relationships. These events happen regularly and in different locations around the world. Previous events, for example, took place in Tokyo, Munich, Toronto, and Rome. It is a great opportunity to exchange ideas, learn and network.

The regional event model was introduced in 2006 as an educational opportunity for ICANN and its contracted parties to share information about registry and registrar operations within the domain name industry. The events have been largely focused on the policies and procedures registration service providers are obligated to implement and enforce as a result of either their contract with ICANN or with one another.

These regional events are distinguished from the regular international ICANN meetings in that they are not structured, for example, to influence policy development. If you are interested in the policy development and a broader interaction with ICANN stakeholders, please join the upcoming ICANN Meeting in Prague in June this year.

Agenda 17 May 2012 Sessions

Schedule Thursday [PDF, 1.09 MB]

Presentations 17 May 2012 Sessions

Agenda 18 May 2012 Sessions

Schedule Friday [PDF, 1.09 MB]

Presentations May 18 Sessions

We thank all attendees and remote participants for a productive event. We value your feedback. The next regional meeting has not yet been scheduled. Information about future sessions will be made available in the future.

Registry and Registrar ICANN teams

这些区域性会议使 ICANN 工作人员、来自 gTLD 注册管理机构和 ICANN 委任注册服务商的代表有机会进行非正式会面，讨论对本行业及业务关系至关重要的议题。这些会议定期在全球不同地方举行。例如，此前曾分别在东京、慕尼黑、多伦多和罗马举行。这些会议是交流想法、了解信息和相互联络的绝佳机会。

区域性会议模式于 2006 年作为 ICANN 及其合同签约方的教育机会而引入，双方可借此机会分享与注册管理机构和注册服务商在域名行业内运营有关的信息。这些会议主要关注注册服务提供商根据其与 ICANN 签订的合同或彼此之间签订的合同而有义务履行和强制执行的政策与程序。

这些区域性会议与 ICANN 定期国际会议之间的区别之一在于，这些会议的目的不在于影响政策制定。如果您对政策制定和更广泛地与 ICANN 利益主体互动感兴趣，请参加我们即将于今年六月举行的 ICANN 布拉格会议。

2012 年 5 月 17 日会议议程

星期四日程 [PDF, 1.09 MB]

2012 年 5 月 17 日会议演示文档

2012 年 5 月 18 日会议议程

星期五日程 [PDF, 1.09 MB]

2012 年 5 月 18 日会议演示文档

我们对所有现场出席和远程参与本次富有成效的会议的人员表示感谢。我们非常重视大家提出的反馈意见！下次区域性会议的时间待定。关于未来会议的信息将随后提供。

注册服务管理机构和注册服务商 ICANN 团队

Эти региональные мероприятия дают сотрудникам ICANN, представителям реестров рДВУ и аккредитованных ICANN регистраторов возможность встретиться в неофициальной обстановке, чтобы обсудить важные для нашей отрасли и деловых взаимоотношений темы. Данные мероприятия проводятся регулярно и в разных странах мира. Например, предыдущие встречи проходили в Токио, Мюнхене, Торонто и Риме. Это отличная возможность обменяться идеями, узнать много нового и поделиться мнениями с коллегами.

Модель региональных мероприятий была введена в 2006 г. как учебно-просветительская возможность для ICANN и сторон, связанных с ней договорными обязательствами, обменяться информацией по вопросам деятельности реестров и регистраторов в рамках отрасли доменных имен. В центре проводимых мероприятий находились главным образом политики и процедуры, которые поставщики услуг регистрации обязаны внедрять и соблюдать в результате заключения договоров с ICANN или друг с другом.

Эти региональные мероприятия отличаются от регулярных международных конференций ICANN в том отношении, что они, например, не предназначены для оказания влияния на разработку политики. Если вас интересует разработка политик и расширение взаимодействия с заинтересованными сторонами ICANN, посетите следующую конференцию ICANN, которая пройдет в Праге в июне этого года.

Повестка заседаний, прошедших 17 мая 2012 г.

Расписание на четверг [PDF, 1,09 Мб]

Презентации, проведенные в ходе заседаний 17 мая 2012 г.

Повестка заседаний, прошедших 18 мая 2012 г.

Расписание на пятницу [PDF, 1,09 Мб]

Презентации, проведенные в ходе заседаний 18 мая 2012 г.

Мы благодарим всех, кто лично или удаленно принял участие в этом крайне плодотворном мероприятии. Мы высоко ценим ваш вклад в нашу работу. Сроки проведения следующего регионального совещания еще не определены. Сведения о следующих заседаниях будут обнародованы в будущем.

Представители реестров и регистраторов в ICANN

Ces évènements régionaux représentent une possibilité pour le personnel de l’ICANN et les représentants des registres des gTLD ainsi que pour les registrants accrédités de l’ICANN de se rencontrer de manière informelle pour discuter de sujets qui sont importants pour notre industrie et nos relations commerciales. Ces évènements ont lieu régulièrement dans des endroits différents dans le monde entier. Des évènements précédents ont eu lieu par exemple à Tokyo, Munich, Toronto et Rome. C’est une grande opportunité pour échanger des idées, pour apprendre et pour travailler en réseau.

Le modèle de l’évènement régional a été présenté en 2006 en tant que possibilité éducative pour l’ICANN et pour ses parties contractantes de partager des informations à propos de l’exploitation des registres et des bureaux d’enregistrement au sein de l’industrie des noms de domaine. Les évènements ont été notamment ciblés sur l’enregistrement des politiques et des procédures que les prestataires de services sont obligés de mettre en œuvre et de renforcer suite à leur contrat avec l’ICANN ou avec une autre organisation.

Ces évènements régionaux se distinguent des réunions internationales habituelles de l’ICANN en ce sens qu’ils ne sont pas structurés, par exemple, pour influencer le développement de la politique. Si vous êtes intéressés par le développement de la politique et par une interaction plus étendue avec les parties prenantes de l’ICANN, veuillez participer à la prochaine ICANN Meeting in Prague en juin de cette année.

Agenda des sessions du 17 mai 2012

Schedule Thursday [PDF, 1.09 MB]

Présentation des sessions du 17 mai 2012

Agenda des sessions du 18 mai 2012

Schedule Friday [PDF, 1.09 MB]

Présentation des sessions du 18 mai 2012

Nous remercions tous les participants, présents et à distance, de cette rencontre si productive. Nous apprécierons vos commentaires.

La prochaine réunion régionale n’a pas encore été planifiée.

L’information sur les futures sessions sera disponible prochainement.

Équipes des registres et des bureaux d’enregistrement de l’ICANN

Los eventos regionales hacen posible que el personal de la ICANN, los representantes de registros de gTLD y los registradores acreditados por la ICANN lleven a cabo encuentros informales para debatir temas relevantes para nuestra industria y forjar vínculos comerciales. Estos eventos se realizan periódicamente en distintas sedes en todo el mundo. En ocasiones anteriores, los eventos se realizaron en Tokio, Múnich, Toronto y Roma. Además, los eventos son una excelente oportunidad para intercambiar ideas, aprender y generar contactos.

El modelo de eventos regionales se introdujo en 2006 como una oportunidad de aprendizaje para la ICANN y sus partes contratadas, posibilitándoles el intercambio de información sobre el funcionamiento de registros y registradores en la industria de nombres de dominio. Los eventos se han centrado principalmente en políticas y procedimientos que los proveedores de servicios de registración deben implementar y hacer cumplir como resultado de los contratos que celebran entre ellos o con la ICANN.

A diferencia de las reuniones periódicas de la ICANN, estos eventos regionales no están estructurados, por ejemplo, para influir en el desarrollo de políticas. Invitamos a quienes estén interesados en el desarrollo de políticas y en una mayor interacción con las partes interesadas de la ICANN a participar de la próxima reunión de la ICANN en Praga que se llevará a cabo en junio de este año.

Agenda de las sesiones del 17 de mayo de 2012

Horario del dia jueves [PDF, 1.09 MB]

Presentaciones de las sesiones del 17 de mayo de 2012

Agenda de las sesiones del 18 de mayo de 2012

Horario del día viernes [PDF, 1.09 MB]

Presentaciones de las sesiones del 18 de mayo

Agradecemos a todos los asistentes y participantes remotos por un evento sumamente productivo. Agradecemos sus aportes. Aún no se fijo la fecha de la próxima reunión regional. La información sobre las próximas sesiones estará disponible a la brevedad.

Equipos de Registros y Registradores de la ICANN.

توفر ICANN محاضرات وتسجيلات جلسة سجلات ومسجلين أمريكا الشمالية التي أقيمت في لوس أنجلوس في 17 – 18 مايو 2012. ورغم أن الحدث هو مخصص للمسجلين المعتمدين من قبل ICANN وسجلات gTLD، فقد حضر عدد كبير من المراقبين أيضاً. حيث حضر حوالي 80 مشاركاً بشكل شخصي و30 مشاركاً عن بعد.

وتعتبر تلك الأحداث الإقليمية فرصة لفريق ICANN وممثلي سجلات gTLD ومسجلي ICANN المعتمدين للاجتماع بشكل غير رسمي لمناقشة وبحث موضوعات هامة حول صناعتنا وعلاقات الأعمال فيما بيننا. تتم إقامة هذه الأحداث بانتظام في مناطق مختلفة حول العالم. على سبيل المثال، أقيمت أحداث سابقة في طوكيو وميونيخ وتورنتو وروما. إنها فرصة رائعة لتبادل الأفكار والتعلم والتواصل.

هذا وقد تم عرض نموذج الحدث الإقليمي في 2006 باعتباره فرصة تعليمية لـ ICANN وأطرافها المتعاقدة لتبادل المعلومات حول عمليات السجل والمسجلين في صناعة اسم النطاق. وقد ركزت الأحداث بشكل واسع على السياسات والإجراءات التي ينبغي أن يلتزم مزودي خدمات التسجيل بتنفيذها وتطبيقها نتيجة لتعاقدها مع ICANN أو مع بعضها البعض.

ما تتميز به الاجتماعات الإقليمية عن غيرها من اجتماعات ICANN المنتظمة هو أنها لا توثر على سياسة التطوير على سبيل المثال. إذا كنت من المهتمين بوضع السياسة والتفاعل الأوسع مع مساهمي ICANN، الرجاء الانضمام إلى اجتماع ICANN في براغ الوشيك في شهر يونيو من هذا العام.

جدول أعمال جلسات 17 مايو 2012

جدول يوم الخميس [PDF، 1.09 ميغابايت]

محاضرات جلسات 17 مايو 2012

جدول أعمال جلسات 18 مايو 2012

جدول يوم الجمعة [PDF، 1.09 ميغابايت]

محاضرات جلسات 18 مايو

نشكر جميع الحاضرين والمشاركين عن بعد على هذا الحدث المثمر. ونحن ممتنون لآرائكم. لم يتم تحديد موعد الاجتماع الإقليمي التالي بعد. وسوف يتم توفير معلومات حول الجلسات المستقبلية قريباً.

فرق سجلات ومسجلي ICANN

First, the audit. Moss Adams, ICANN’s independent auditor and the 11 th largest public accounting firm, issued a “clean” opinion on the FY10 financials: http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-27oct10-en.htm. This is the 11 th year that ICANN has received a clean opinion, and the independent auditors’ report to the Audit Committee indicated that internal controls are as strong as they’ve ever been. There’s always more work to be done, but we’ve made good progress on financial controls.

Next, the Internal Audit function. The Audit Committee of the Board this year directed the creation of an Internal Audit function to ensure that accounting at ICANN is excellent and that the Board and Community remain confident in all financial controls. Grant Thornton, one of the largest accounting firms in the world, was engaged to serve this function for ICANN. They have initiated their work, and identified areas for improvement. This is especially important as ICANN continues to face budget pressures and looks to the potential growth from the new gTLD program. Compliance with both US and international guidelines remains of critical importance.

FY10 Financial Results

ICANN’s overall financial picture remains strong. The Reserve Fund recently passed $50 million with investment growth in FY10 overcoming the market losses of FY09. In FY10, contributions to net assets were $11.4 million. This is $6.8 million more than the $4.9 million originally expected when the FY10 budget was adopted. The positive variance is explained by the following:

• Revenue exceeded the budget by $3.1 million (5%) largely due to actual domain name transactions, registrar renewal, and sponsorship volumes exceeding budget expectations.
• Operating expenses exceeding budget by $1.2 million (2.1%)
• Other expenses, primarily bad debt expense, under budget by $1.3 million.
• Reserve Fund investment income by $3.3 million.

The following chart is a summary of the FY10 financial results and a more detailed analysis of the accounts have been posted here: http://www.icann.org/en/financials/variance-analysis-30jun10-en.pdf [PDF, 68 KB]

FY12 Budget development process

In recent years, the annual operating plan and budget process has involved increasing amounts of SO/AC leadership and community feedback. This has required us to develop a more evolved process with ever increasing community acceptance as depicted with this graphic:

This new process aligns the completion of ICANN’s three planning activities — the annual update to the strategic plan, the framework for the operating plan and budget, and the submittal for adoption by the Board of the final operating plan and budget — with the thrice annual ICANN international meetings. This new approach is designed to obtain more active and earlier involvement of SO/AC leadership. In Cartagena, plans are under way for discussions with community groups on the FY12 Operating Plan and Budget development process — one meeting earlier than ever before.

On a personal note, this will be my last meeting as ICANN’s CFO as I’ll be leaving by the end of January. It’s been an honor to serve the ICANN community, Board and staff. ICANN has progressed greatly these past few years in all areas of operations including finance. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made especially in accounting controls and financial reporting as ICANN has grown from $31 million to over $65 million. I believe with the continued help of the staff, the Board, and the community the future is even brighter. Onward and upward.

I am always pleased to hear from community members, so please contact me directly if you have any questions or comments.

With much gratitude for all that you do,

Kevin Wilson
Chief Financial Officer

Last year, as the FY10 budget was adopted, we committed to perform a midyear review of financial performance against the adopted budget. The midyear review revealed that FY10′s operating expenses were expected to exceed the FY10 budget by nearly $3 million. We communicated about this expected overrun in October and again in January: See http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/minutes-bfc-28jan10-en.htm and http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/minutes-04feb10-en.htm. Although this overrun would still allow for positive contributions from operations to the Reserve fund, the contributions would be less than planned. The reasons for the overrun include:

• Executive personnel expenses were higher than planned resulting in part from positions being filled earlier than called for in the plan, but mostly resulting from additional staff transition expenses not included in the FY10 adopted budget. This included keeping ICANN’s former President and CEO on board as a consultant for an overlap period of six months with the new President and CEO.
• Professional service and travel costs associated with the end of the JPA and the development and ultimate signing of the Affirmation of Commitments were greater than anticipated in the adopted FY10 budget.
• Professional services, especially those associated with the extension of the new gTLD implementation program, and the costs for the Independent Review Panel’s time required to review and analyze the voluminous materials submitted, including hearing testimony, were more extensive than anticipated.

With the oversight of the Board Finance Committee, staff endeavored to combat the cost overruns by implementing a number of stringent cost containment strategies. For example: we delayed some new hires, eliminated some open positions, reduced travel costs by better coordinating staff and Board coverage at industry meetings, and we asked all staff to travel even more economically (note: ICANN’s staff policy has called for economy class travel for staff to all ICANN international meetings since March 2008). More efficient conference call and other technology solutions were researched and implemented. In addition, a number of large invoices were negotiated down and large contracts were either consolidated or renegotiated for lower rates.

One key tenet of the cost containment effort was to ensure the continuity of essential ICANN activities.

Despite the cost containment efforts, several new unanticipated and required expenses materialized during the second half of the year, including:

1. additional security for the Nairobi meeting approved by the Board,
2. travel and other support activities for the beginning of the Affirmation reviews not contemplated in the FY10 budget,
3. additional new gTLD demand studies were initiated,
4. additional executive staff costs (recruiting and other) incurred to fill out the executive team,
5. remote participation at the Nairobi meeting was enhanced,
6. Translation and interpretation services were greater than planned due to the sheer volume of words translated (although rates were managed down),
7. and more

At the strong urging of the community, ICANN has taken an increasingly detailed approach to budgeting – both for revenue and expenses. And, over the last few years, ICANN has come closer to hitting both revenue and expense targets. This improves accountability, but it has also limited the ability of staff to respond nimbly to the changing environment and resultant requests that occur during the fiscal year. A partial answer to this issue is that going forward, staff is going to work even more closely with the Board, Supporting Organizations and Advisory Committees to identify the financial impact of decisions, and ensure these aspects are considered at the time decisions are made before implementation begins.

For FY10, we expect operating expenses to be close to $58 million, or almost $2 million over the planned budget for the operating expense line item. We won’t know the final audited numbers for some time (after all bills for the fiscal year have been received and processed, including the the expenses of running the Brussels meeting).

What does all this mean for ICANN? ICANN’s financial position is strong. Even with world markets uncertain, ICANN’s reserve fund is over $46 million. This reflects investment gains earned while investing in a moderately low risk portfolio. Even without the expected investment earnings on the reserve, ICANN still is on track to contribute positively from operations. Not as much as originally planned, but still positive. We’ll make sure the community sees the final FY10 numbers once the year-end audit is complete.

Compliance is another major focus area for ICANN. We recently submitted and posted the IRS’s 2008 Form 990 covering the fiscal year ending 30 June 2009. The Form 990 is an information return required for all U.S. not-for-profit organizations. The regulatory reporting requirements were substantially increased this year, and required a significant effort for the finance and legal teams, with Board oversight, to get this new Form 990 filed on schedule. You can see the new Form 990, along with FAQs, here: http://www.icann.org/en/financials/fiscal-30jun09.htm. One item some in the community have looked for in the Form 990 is compensation data for ICANN staff. Note that you did not have to wait for that. Exceeding any kind of regulatory requirement, in January 2010 ICANN published executive compensation at: http://www.icann.org/en/financials/fiscal-30jun10.htm

Also in the area of compliance is an ongoing review of ICANN’s internal reporting and accounting processes.  During this review, we found that there had been errors made in ICANN’s 401(k) employee retirement program (explained in more detail at http://www.icann.org/en/financials/report-401k-compliance-project-16jun10-en.pdf).  ICANN has already sought relief under the voluntarily correction programs administered by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Labor, with no anticipated material financial impact to ICANN if the IRS accepts ICANN’s proposed corrections.  Reportedly, ICANN was one of thousands of U.S. companies last year that participated in the IRS voluntary correction program.  Still, we are committed to meeting the highest standards of compliance and we’ve put steps in place to avoid this in the future, including an internal oversight committee.

The last two years have been the "years of reporting" for the ICANN finance team. ICANN has gone from a few pages of basic reporting (i.e., adopted fiscal year budget and annual audit) to a long list of reports posted monthly on the ICANN dashboard and other reports posted regularly on the finance sections of the website. The posted draft budget alone is over 80 pages. Much of this increase in reporting is in response to community feedback. At a recent Board Finance Committee meeting, the Directors reviewed a Board information package with 28 of ICANN’s standard financial reports, a fraction of the total, most shared publicly. While most community members seem to recognize the progress in reporting, I’ve found that with more information comes even more detailed requests for information. The Directors are reviewing the reporting to ensure that we remain accountable and transparent but not overburdened with reports of little use. Your feedback is welcome on this topic.

Finally, let me point you to the FY11 Operating Plan and Budget recently adopted by the Board. ( See http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-201006-en.htm#draft-budget.) It is the most detailed ever for ICANN. More details and more views than ever: over 80 pages, six appendices, and translated into the five UN languages. Never resting on our laurels, we’re also contemplating changes to the planning process itself – seeking to get the SOs and ACs even more involved in the process, and earlier, to yield an ever higher quality budget in Fiscal Year ending 30 June 2012 and beyond.

Looking forward to FY11, a strong theme from the community has been the desire to get specific insight on projects of interest at the SO/AC level, or stakeholder group level, and to ensure the community members can get their input into the process earlier. This is an important focus for staff right now, and we will consider incremental modifications to the just-adopted budget, as well as an enhanced process for the next budget year that will begin soon.

I hope this more informal discussion of some of the important topics in ICANN’s finances has been helpful. Of course, this in no way replaces our formal reports that you normally receive.

I am always pleased to talk with community members, so please contact me directly if you have any questions or comments.

Sincerely,

Kevin Wilson

Chief Financial Officer