The meeting in question was for final approval; ICANN approved plans for opening up gTLD's back in 2008.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/26/icann_approves_custo...
This didn't suddenly happen overnight; everyone was informed three years in advance. Just to illustrate how long ago that was in internet years: the first Windows public beta of Google Chrome wasn't even released until after ICANN's initial announcement.