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A Guide to IAB Committees & Councils

What Is a Committee or Council?

IAB helps drive the interactive advertising and marketing industry forward through the efforts of committees and councils in various industry segments. Tapping into the brightest minds in the industry, these groups work together to develop solutions that improve the ecosystem for everyone.

Committees are formed around interest in a particular platform or technology, and include members with roles across the ecosystem. Councils are formed around a functionality, and members involved have that function in their primary role.

What Are Taskforces, Advisory Boards, and Working Groups?

Taskforces are created to address an industry challenge or topic that is emerging and requires discussion, definition, and development of an IAB perspective. They may transition into a committee or council, should the topic require numerous and long-term resources. Taskforces are made up mostly of invited members, and may include non-member partners should their expertise be required to move forward.

Advisory Boards serve as guidance to committees, councils, or initiatives.  These groups are invitation only, and include highly knowledgeable leaders active in IAB initiatives.

Working Groups are formed by members of committees and councils. They are smaller, more focused groups of members, and aim to complete a project, initiative, or committee action that requires member contributions.

What Are the Main Outputs of Committee & Council Work?

White Papers and Best Practices
These are documents that serve to define, understand, or provide an update on a particular industry platform or topic.  White papers tend to provide an industry overview and perspective of a platform, problem, or process.  Best practices are determined by a group of IAB industry experts, and are benchmarks or proven methodologies to approaching a platform process, industry work-flow, or common practice.

Technical Specifications
IAB creative ad formats and technical specifications provide consistency in ad formats and delivery methods (usually in the form of code) so the marketplace can realize efficiencies of scale in ad buying, selling, and ad creation. These standards apply to publishers, other media sellers, and technology vendors.

Implementation Guidelines
Upon the completion of a technical specification, an implementation guideline provides organizations with a clear template for applying and adopting IAB standards into their business practices.

Who Can Join?

Committee and council participation is open to any eligible staff at an IAB member company. As long as that company’s membership status remains active, you can participate in our committees, councils, and initiatives.

To join any of these groups, contact your company’s primary contact with the IAB, and submit your request to them. If you do not know your primary contact, you can reach out to [email protected] with your request.

There is a limit of five employees from one company that can join a single committee, but you can join all of them if you wish. We encourage that only active (attends meetings) participants remain on the roster.

If you leave your company, you can no longer take advantage of IAB member benefits, inclusive of committee or council involvement. In order to resume, your new company needs to be an IAB member.

What Group(s) Should I Join?

Committee participants have roles from throughout the industry, from marketing managers and directors, to strategy leads, or CEOs/CMOs/CTOs. Council participation may be limited to certain roles or titles, e.g. only CFOs or Directors of Finance on the CFO Council, or only CROs or VPs of Sales on the Sales Executive Council. IAB Membership can help advise if you are unsure.

When Do These Groups Meet?

Committees and councils meet quarterly (via phone or in person) to discuss strategy and to share operational updates. They typically meet in one of the following ways:

Committee & Council Meetings
These meetings are a deep-dive on one particular facet of the industry. They can be brainstorms, platform update meetings, or networking functions.

Town Halls
Town halls are focused on industry hot topics. Attendees can gain insight into topical trends and predictions, learn from new research and thought leadership, and voice questions and opinions.

Agency Days
Agency days are educational events, primarily for the media buying community, to gain insight into industry trends, consumer research, and rapidly changing technology solutions.

Taskforces, advisory boards, and working groups meet more often, because they require a greater time commitment to complete the project at hand (writing papers, event planning, reviewing documents, recruiting contacts, etc.). Traditionally, working groups meet a few times a month, via conference call. Advisory boards and taskforces meet less frequently, but usually require in-person meetings.

How Do I Become a Committee or Council Chair?

Leadership of a committee, council, or working group is one of the best ways to demonstrate your commitment to the advancement of a platform, topic area, or initiative in the industry. IAB selects leaders that have proven their commitment to IAB’s mission and goals via their participation and contributions. The time commitment is more than in our working groups, as Chairs work with IAB committee and council leads to shape and lead the group’s agenda.