On 20-21 August 2009, ICANN hosted its North American Registry/Registrar Regional Event in Toronto, Ontario. Remote participation for the event was made available via Adobe Connect and an audio conference bridge.

The regional event model was introduced in 2006 as a means to inform and educate gTLD registries and ICANN-accredited registrars about ICANN activities and processes that may impact their operations. These events also broaden participation in the ICANN multi-stakeholder governance model for registry and registrar staff members who do not generally attend ICANN’s annual public meetings. ICANN subject matter experts facilitated discussions on issues such as gTLD registry continuity, contractual compliance, new gTLDs, GNSO policy activities, security initiatives, the 2009 Registrar Accreditation Agreement, and the terminated registrar transition process. Such discussions enhance knowledge and foster better cooperation between ICANN and its contracted stakeholders.

The Toronto event also featured a session on registry/registrar areas of interest that was facilitated by David Maher, Chair, Registry Constituency, and Mason Cole, Chair, Registrar Constituency. The chairs co-led a discussion about how the two groups might work better together on joint areas of interest such as electing leaders for the GNSO Council and engaging in discussions when new registry service requests, submitted via the Registry Services Evaluation Process (RSEP), have the potential to impact registrars.

In the interest of transparency, the presentations are being made public.

The following information is available about the event:

* Master PPT presentation: http://www.icann.org/en/meetings/regional-gathering-toronto-20aug09-en.pdf [PDF, 11,100K]
* New gTLDs: http://www.icann.org/en/meetings/regional-gathering-new-gtlds-toronto-20... [PDF, 369K]