As a community-based organization, continuous outreach and engagement are essential to ICANN’s work. ICANN carries out these efforts via various activities, including through its Supporting Organizations (SOs) and Advisory Committees (ACs).
In the case of the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC), outreach and engagement efforts in APAC falls toAPRALO– the Asian, Australasian, and Pacific Islands Regional At-Large Organization. And one such effort by the APRALO is the APRALO ICANN Readouts. An APRALO ICANN Readout calls APAC community members to examine topics discussed at an ICANN public meeting, with the goal of mapping implications for individual Internet end users in the region, and identifying next steps for action by APRALO and APAC community.
APRALO ICANN Readouts were first introduced in July 2023, as an initiative of the APRALO Policy Forum (APF). The inauguralAPRALO ICANN77 Readout on 06 July 2023,[1] featured a slate of cross-community speakers who discussed, with the APAC community, their key ICANN77 takeaways how they thought were next steps to their takeaways and how they saw individual Internet end users or end user communities playing a role in such next steps. In the beginning, discussants were invited from APAC-based community members from the GNSO, ccNSO, GAC, and the corresponding ICANN Fellowship Program cohort.
Over time, the APRALO Readouts forICANN78 on 09 November 2023,ICANN79 on 19 March 2024,ICANN80 on 27 June 2024, andICANN81 on 28 November 2024, received increasing traction.[2] Thereon, the diversity of conversations was enriched.
The APRALOICANN82 Readout on 03 April 2025 andICANN84 Readout on 13 November 2025 saw the added participation of ICANN GSE – APAC, and theICANN85 Readout on 31 March 2026[3] featured an APAC-based ICANN85 NextGen on the panel, in addition to an ICANN85 Fellow. In particular, the continued inclusion of ICANN Fellows and now, inclusion of NextGens, represents a deliberate effort to incorporate newer voices in APRALO discussions, and to assimilate newer community members into APRALO, as way to and broaden APRALO’s outreach and engagement efforts. The presence of newcomers has indeed made the discussions livelier and relevant, owing to the voicing of new perspectives and exploration of fresh views towards ICANN policy-making. Our readouts also act as a forum for the exchange of knowledge and perspectives between ICANN’s more seasoned, cross-community members, and novice participants.
As a result, this engagement approach will continue, as APRALO remains committed to reaching and including a wider and diverse end-user community throughout the APAC region, and beyond. This is in full alignment with ICANN’s Strategic Plan 2025-2030 and the ALAC’s Fiscal Year 2026 Strategic Goal 1.1, and in particular, Strategy 11.3 ‘Foster appealing environment for next generation’ participants for ICANN.[4]
The other aspect that calls for improvement is a more systematic way to gather valuable input from readouts to formulate a direction for follow through.
Footnotes
[1] APRALO ICANN77 Readout had 53 participants
[2] APRALO ICANN78 Readout drew 45 participants; APRALO ICANN79 Readout drew 55 participants; APRALO ICANN80 Readout drew 61 participants; and APRALO ICANN81 Readout drew 66 participants
[3] APRALO ICANN82 Readout drew 46 participants; we took a breather for ICANN83; while APRALO ICANN84 Readout drew 69 participants, and APRALO ICANN85 Readout drew 55 participants.