Summary

  • ICANN’s 3 November account counts 1,698 in-person attendees at ICANN87, 201 of them first-timers, from 126 countries and territories. Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands supplied 847 people, or 50% of the room.
  • The other reported regional counts are North America 345, Europe 308, Africa 124 and Latin America and the Caribbean 74. ICANN promises a fuller By the Numbers report in the coming weeks; the current count leaves participants’ governance roles unbroken out.

The badge chart is striking; the agenda has its own owners

Bali gave ICANN a meeting room with a pronounced regional tilt. In his 3 November look back, CEO Kurtis Lindqvist reports 1,698 people in person at ICANN87. Half—847—came from Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands. North America supplied 345, Europe 308, Africa 124, and Latin America and the Caribbean 74. The five counts add to the total. ICANN also records 201 first-time attendees across a meeting representing 126 countries and territories.

That is a meaningful change in the picture many readers carry of a global Internet institution: a host-region meeting can draw a different physical crowd. Yet the work Lindqvist lists followed more specific routes. The GNSO advanced policy development on checks for associated domains and prepared work on safeguards for high-volume registrations. The GAC ran capacity sessions for the next stage of the 2026 new-gTLD round. RSSAC and SSAC held a joint open mic. The audience entered one conference; those bodies held different agenda pens.

The official ICANN87 meeting page describes a hybrid AGM from 17 to 22 October. Lindqvist’s new regional figures cover the in-person crowd. His post does not split those 1,698 by committee role or map the 201 newcomers to sessions, speaking turns or policy work; ICANN says a fuller By the Numbers report will follow in the coming weeks. That report can turn an impressive headcount into a clearer account of participation.

For now, the useful comparison is between the arrival chart and the named workstreams, not a contest over which region “won” a meeting. Fifty percent from Asia Pacific tells us who filled seats in Bali. The GNSO and GAC examples tell us where specific decisions and preparations were being made. A newcomer’s badge is an opening. The next public record should show how far that opening led.