Of course the irony ought not lost on an organization whose primary role regards the functioning of the Internet.

ICANN meetings have always had this air of Americans and Europeans flying around the world so that they can pretend that they're globally aware. It's my own pet belief that this has been quite deliberate, to make ICANN's power centres inaccessible to all except the subsidized and those whose business interests justified the expense. Online meetings could have been a great equalizer long ago, but the ICANN-meeting-as-exotic-getaway culture (often attributed exclusively to At-Large) is pervasive throughout.

The expenses that could be saved (let alone just the carbon one) from making almost all meetings virtual would be substantial to both ICANN and participants. But those who benefit from physical accessibility have nothing to gain and much to lose by being treated as equals online. So it won't happen without external disruption.

- Evan