Guest policy for meetings

Status of this document: This policy is binding as of 20 August 2025.

Guest admission to W3C annual meetings (examples include AC, TPAC, and W3C Workshops) and other events is subject to review, approval and retraction by W3C Management. Invited guests are welcome to attend sessions open to observers. However, guests must register to attend, and must read and agree to uphold the W3C Code of Conduct (Code), event health rules, and confidentiality agreements from the W3C Process Document or the meeting site.

All guests must be pre-approved. In general, adult guests should fall into one or more of the following categories:

• invited speaker;
• interested in future individual participation in W3C activities, either via Community Groups or as an Invited Expert;
• representative of recognized W3C Liaison organizations; or
• employed by a company or organization that has interest in becoming a W3C Member.

Guest observers should respect that the meeting is for the benefit of event participants and should only engage with event participants upon invitation to do so while the meeting is in progress. Failure to behave professionally or to comply with all meeting policies, including the Code and event health rules, and/or any rules imposed by the host venue, could result in consequences including ejection from the event and/or a ban from future W3C events.

Registered Member or Team attendees are welcome to request guest attendance for underage (17 or younger) children, if childcare is an impossibility. Please consult with the Events team and Program/Meeting Facilitator as early as possible in this situation. Underage children remain the responsibility of their guardians and the guardian will be asked to remove the minor from the room if they are disruptive.

This policy applies to all in-person, hybrid or fully remote meetings, and includes interactions with all other meeting or event participants and W3C Team via messaging platform(s), email or the digital meeting platform.