Image 1: Afilias sponsored dinner at West Beach Bathers Pavilion, St Kilda

Today’s blog post provides an overview of APTLD77 held last week in Melbourne, looking closely at the pre-training sessions and more holistically at the days that followed, as well as the opportunities for collaboration with industry peers from across the Asia-Pacific.

Training - Feb 18

The first day of training began with a session from our very own Joe Alagna, Director of Business Development at Afilias. Joe focused on the idea of ‘Marketing Up’, which touched on general marketing concepts and strategies. PR specialist Ian Hanke complemented Joe’s presentation with a detailed breakdown on the importance of Government Relations, with some actionable advice for the audience to consider.

Joe explained his belief that the definition of success in any country is knowing what you’re trying to accomplish. He allowed attendees to realise that in order to grow a registry, we need to stretch our thinking and focus on 3 key priorities:

• Raising your profile
• Attracting resources and
• Staying in charge.

Joe drilled in on challenges when it comes to building trust within the industry and the need to understand your client, find your story and engage in effective communications.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image 2: Joe Alagna, Afilias                                                

Ian Hanke then discussed Crisis Management, and looked at the internet as an integral part of the economy. He spoke about the Government being interested in the security of the internet and its constant availability, and reminded us all that to work cohesively, registry operators and administrators must have a strong relationship with Government.

Ian suggested that we focus on building these relationships and having plans in place to protect ourselves, including a crisis communications policy and a crisis management plan. Ian noted that:

“The nature and severity of a crisis will dictate the response,” which in itself highlights the need to prepare ourselves for all kinds of scenarios.

The session ended with a call from APTLD General Manager, Leonid Todorov, who unfortunately couldn’t make it to Melbourne due to medical reasons, but enthusiastically dialled in. Leonid provided an overview of how Joe’s and Ian’s presentations tied together, explaining how ‘marketing up’ is all about government relations and the need for cctld registry operators and administrators to establish a balanced approach. 

Training - Feb 19

Day 2 of pre-training included presentations from LK Domain Registry and TechCert Sri Lanka, who spoke to us about ‘Securing Registry IT Systems and Security Incidents Management.’ 

Gihan Dias and Dehigaspitiyage Don Prabhath explained the importance of securing our DNS infrastructure and took us through various types of security threats, including registrar hijacking. 

We looked at mitigation techniques and ways to monitor potential vulnerabilities, and Sashika Suren Wijathunga Gamaje from TechCert took us through ways to best manage security incidents, including:

• Risk Assessment
• Assessing host and network security and;
• Ensuring user awareness and training is provided.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image 3: Gihan Dias, LK Domain Registry

Members Meeting - Feb 20 and 21

Over the following two days, attendees were exposed to the world of cctlds in the Asia Pacific region through various insights from presentations and panel discussions. Speakers focused on topics including registry operations, marketing, compliance, policy-related issues, internet governance, Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) and general discussion on cctld management.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image 4: APTLD Member Update

On Thursday February 20th, Afilias was delighted to sponsor a beautiful dinner, on the shores of St Kilda, at West Beach Bathers Pavilion. This event allowed attendees to collaborate in a less formal environment, and take some happy snaps with a beachside backdrop for friends and families at home to enjoy.

It was an informative four days, with a range of ideas covered, and a lot of substantive discussion of the challenges facing the internet in the Asia Pacific region. Afilias would like to give a shout out to APTLD General Manager Leonid Todorov and to the host auDA, for their efforts in organising the event, we are looking forward to next year already.

Have a question, comment or idea for a future blog post? Email us at blog@afilias.com.au today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image 5: Afilias sponsored dinner, West Beach Bathers Pavilion