ICANN84 Annual General Meeting
CASE STUDY
Client: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
Location: Dublin Convention Centre, Ireland
Date: 25th-30th October 2025
Delegates: 1500+
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Overview
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The ICANN84 Annual General Meeting brought together global Internet governance leaders for six days of policy discussions, leadership elections, and critical technical decision-making. With participants joining both in person and online from every major region, the meeting required a highly resilient multilingual solution capable of delivering consistent interpretation across a complex hybrid environment.
Congress Australia was engaged to deliver a fully integrated interpretation system that ensured every delegate, regardless of language or location, could participate equally and without interruption. Building on a long-standing relationship with ICANN, this delivery demanded absolute reliability, operational precision, and proven experience in large-scale multilingual hybrid meetings.
The Challenge
ICANN84 was a mission-critical governance forum rather than a conventional conference.
The delivery involved:
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Seven simultaneous interpretation languages
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Multiple concurrent sessions across four primary rooms
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A combination of on-site and remote interpreters
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Hybrid participation via Zoom alongside in-room delegates
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Strict expectations for audio consistency, latency, and redundancy
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Every session needed to feel unified. A delegate listening via infrared receivers in Dublin had to receive the same interpretation feed, at the same time, as a participant joining remotely from another continent. Any loss of synchronisation or audio integrity would have directly affected decision-making at a global level.
Why Congress Australia
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ICANN selected Congress Australia based on the successful delivery of previous ICANN Annual General Meetings, including ICANN74 in The Hague. This repeat engagement reflected trust not only in technical capability, but in Congress Australia’s ability to plan thoroughly, adapt quickly, and deliver consistently under pressure.
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With ICANN meetings occurring three times per year, expectations extended beyond execution alone, requiring continuous refinement of workflows and delivery models to support evolving hybrid and multilingual requirements.
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The Solution
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Congress Australia designed and delivered a fully unified hybrid interpretation environment, treating on-site and remote participation as a single, integrated system rather than parallel workflows.
The solution combined:
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BOSCH infrared interpreting systems for on-site delegates
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Full Zoom language channel integration for virtual participants
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A fully digital, Dante-based audio network
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Congress Australia’s proprietary Multi-Zoom workflow, enabling seven Zoom language channels to be managed from a single control point
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This architecture ensured that all interpretation feeds remained consistent, synchronised, and accessible across every platform, regardless of how participants joined the meeting.
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Delivery was supported through close collaboration with Congress Rental Network partners, Ubiqus and Acolad, enabling both in-booth and remote interpreters to operate seamlessly within the same ecosystem.
Technical Delivery by Space​
The Main Ballroom hosted the most prominent ICANN84 sessions, including the Welcome Ceremony, ICANN Board Meeting, and the Geopolitical Forum. Given the scale and importance of these sessions, a high-capacity, fully redundant interpretation setup was deployed.
Six ISO 4043-compliant interpreter booths delivered interpretation in English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, and Portuguese. Each booth was equipped with BOSCH Dicentis Interpreter Consoles, providing stable routing, interpreter handover, and real-time monitoring.
Infra-red transmitters and radiators were strategically positioned to ensure complete coverage throughout the space. All interpretation channels were recorded and simultaneously integrated into Zoom, allowing remote participants to access identical live language feeds without delay.
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Main Ballroom
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Main Ballroom
The GAC room hosted key sessions addressing DNS abuse mitigation, the next round of gTLDs, and strategic planning discussions.
As in the Main Ballroom, six interpreter booths supported the same seven languages. Interpretation feeds were distributed to on-site delegates via infra-red receivers and to virtual participants through Zoom language channels, maintaining full parity across participation modes.
GAC Room
The Secondary Ballroom (ALAC) supported smaller-scale meetings, including leadership sessions, capacity-building workshops, and Fellowship and NextGen programmes.
A streamlined configuration with two interpreter booths was implemented, providing English, Spanish, and French interpretation. While scaled to suit the room, the setup maintained the same quality standards applied to the larger plenary spaces.
Secondary Ballroom
Main Ballroom
The ccNSO room required a fully remote interpretation model due to the session structure and interpreter availability. Congress Australia delivered this using the Interprefy platform, integrated directly into the broader hybrid signal path.
Remote interpreters received live vision and audio feeds and delivered interpretation in English, Spanish, and French. These feeds were routed into Zoom language channels for virtual delegates and distributed to on-site participants via the infrared system, ensuring a consistent experience across all rooms.
ccNSO Room
Managing Complexity at Scale
Operating multiple multilingual rooms simultaneously required meticulous planning and precise coordination. Each space had its own technical configuration, interpreter allocation, and session flow, yet all needed to remain perfectly synchronised.
Congress Australia’s fully Dante-based audio network enabled clean, flexible digital routing between booths, rooms, and hybrid platforms. The proprietary Multi-Zoom workflow allowed seven live language channels to be coordinated from a single laptop, reducing points of failure and improving operational efficiency.
Daily alignment meetings, continuous signal monitoring, and close collaboration with the venue and ICANN’s technical team ensured smooth transitions between sessions and rooms throughout the six-day programme.
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Logistics and Adaptability
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Delivering ICANN84 involved complex international logistics, with equipment freighted from the United Kingdom to Ireland and coordinated around tight venue schedules.
When freight arrived earlier than planned and was delivered to an unexpected location within the venue, Congress Australia adapted quickly by increasing labour resources and re-sequencing the installation schedule. The issue was resolved without impact on rehearsals or live sessions, demonstrating the team’s ability to manage unforeseen challenges without compromising delivery.
The Outcome
Across six days of intensive programming, Congress Australia delivered a stable, high-quality multilingual hybrid experience that enabled every delegate to engage fully in ICANN84’s discussions and decision-making.
All interpretation channels operated without interruption. Session transitions ran smoothly across all rooms, and both on-site and remote participants accessed identical interpretation feeds throughout the event.
Behind the scenes, success was driven by detailed preparation, clear communication, and a highly refined signal-flow design developed through repeated ICANN deliveries. As one on-site technician observed, the defining strength of the event was “understanding their issues, then solving them.”
The continued trust placed in Congress Australia to deliver ICANN meetings multiple times each year remains the strongest endorsement of the solution’s reliability and effectiveness.
The meeting highlighted Congress Australia’s deep familiarity with CCAMLR’s technical requirements and the value of a fully integrated workflow that is continually refined.
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