Full details on conference cancellation

Why have you cancelled?

The number of sponsors and confirmed attendees were not sufficient to cover the cost of the conference. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to bridge the financial gap.

How did you reach your sponsor and attendees assumptions?

We based this conference on our two previous conferences in San Francisco. With the details of new gTLD applications made public, we had hoped for greater attendance. In fact, we felt we were acting conservatively by pegging the conference at previous levels.

Why the discrepancy?

The announcement of 1,930 applications for 1,409 new Internet extensions would, we assumed, be fertile ground for discussion.

However, the process behind the applications has been fraught with problems. Release of the applicant information was delayed due to a software bug, on top of which a significant degree of uncertainty remains over two months later.

The timeline for approving applications has been extended, without firm dates or a clear process, into the middle of next year (first approvals were originally expected to begin this November). The period for commenting on applications has been extended by 45 days. And the program's two principal directors have both resigned.

On top of this, the organization running the process, ICANN, has shown a willingness to change long-standing plans at short notice, significantly decreasing the value in discussing and understanding the process at it currently stands.

These factors were unexpected and outside our control but they have undermined the value of the conference as planned and so led to a lower sponsor and attendee level than expected.

Wasn't the conference originally planned for June?

Yes, the conference was originally scheduled for 20-22 June. Applicant details were due to be announced on 31 April, giving seven weeks for review and analysis.

However on 12 April, ICANN announced a "glitch" in its software and delayed release of the information until an unspecified future date. The information was finally released eight weeks later on 12 June by which time we had postponed the conference and announced new dates on 29-31 August.

At ICANN's meeting in Prague on 24-29 June, the organization then scrapped a long-held batching process without announcing a replacement solution (a situation that continues today). Several key components of the process were also unveiled and met with significant criticism. A two-day meeting earlier this week in Brussels on one aspect of it raised yet more concerns.

From our discussions with applicants and expected attendees, this high level of uncertainty and the expectation of significant further delays in the process has had the effect of greatly reducing the value in a conference focused on the new gTLD program.

How many attendees were confirmed as of cancellation?

Just under 100.

What do I do if I have already booked?

We are reaching out to all those organizations/attendees that were confirmed and will talk through the options we have available. If you have not received a phonecall, please contact us immediately at conference@dot-nxt.com.

Our hope is to minimize the impact on attendees as far as possible.

If I have booked hotel rooms through the website, is my reservation still valid?

If you booked through the .Nxt website, you will have a room allocated under your name. We recommend however that if you wish to retain the booking that you call the hotel directly to confirm. If you have any subsequent questions, please contact us at conference@dot-nxt.com.

Do you intend to run another .Nxt conference?

We will continue to find ways to enable fruitful discussions between community members, through interactive, professionally moderated online meetings and well as discussion fora and comments on our website.

We do not have any plans to hold a large in-person meeting and will be guided by the community on whether to hold any future in-person meetings.

Anything else?

Yes, we are extremely sorry that we have had to cancel the conference. We were looking forward to it, particularly as we feel that .Nxt conferences have provided a relaxed and friendly atmosphere for what has often been a difficult and contentious process. Our apologies to all those that planned to attend.