Journey to IIW-XL
By Stefan Charsley
Recently, I had the incredible honor of being awarded a Kim Cameron Award 2025 by the Digital Identity Advancement Foundation (DIAF). This award was my opportunity to attend the 40th Internet Identity Workshop (IIW XL), a pivotal event for anyone deeply invested in the future of digital identity.
However, the excitement came with a ticking clock. With only three months before the workshop kicked off, I had to scramble to secure flights, accommodation, and the necessary visas within a tight budget. It was a rush, but the opportunity to connect with the global identity community made every bit of the logistical chaos worth it.
The Long Haul: Palmerston North to Mountain View
Getting to California from New Zealand was no small feat. My journey to the other side of the world was a marathon of over 30 hours.
The route was extensive:
- Palmerston North to Auckland flight
- Auckland to Sydney flight
- Sydney to Los Angeles flight
- Los Angeles to San Francisco flight
- San Francisco to Mountain View drive
One of the strangest parts of long-haul travel crossing the date line is the “time travel”. I left New Zealand on a Saturday morning and touched down in California that same Saturday evening.
Sunday: Settling into Mountain View
I stayed in a hotel in Mountain View, conveniently located just a short drive away from the Computer History Museum where IIW is held. Sunday was dedicated to recovery; the 30-hour travel time takes a toll, so I prioritized resting and trying to wrestle my internal clock into the Pacific Time Zone. I spent the day exploring the area around the hotel, getting my bearings before the week kicked off, and acclimatising to US food portion sizes.
Monday: The Real Work (and Fun) Begins
By Monday, the jet lag was (mostly) managed, and the excitement truly began. Before the official “unconference” of IIW started, I participated in the pre-IIW events hosted by the OpenID Foundation (OIDF).
The morning started with the Digital Credentials Protocols (DCP) Working Group meeting. The Digital Credentials Protocols (DCP) Working Group at the OpenID Foundation is responsible for specifications like OpenID4VCI (Verifiable Credentials Issuance), OpenID4VP (Verifiable Presentations), and HAIP (High Assurance Interoperability Profile). It was a roll-up-your-sleeves session where we worked through a large list of outstanding issues. In the afternoon, we shifted to the broader OIDF pre-IIW workshop, a fantastic opportunity to get a feel for what the rest of OIDF was working on.
Monday evening was a highlight of the trip. I was invited as a guest to the OIDF Board dinner where I had the chance to meet leaders in the field and hear about their diverse experiences in identity. Most meaningfully, I was able to talk with people who knew Kim Cameron directly. Hearing stories about him and discussing the tangible impact he made on the industry added a profound layer of significance to the award that brought me here.
Just when I thought the day was over, Elizabeth (the coordinator from DIAF) offered to take me on an adventure. We drove up to San Francisco to see the city’s most iconic landmark. Ending the night with a spectacular view of the Golden Gate Bridge illuminated against the night sky was the perfect start to my time in the Bay Area.
Tuesday: The Unconference Experience
Tuesday marked the official start of IIW XL. This was my first time experiencing the “unconference” format, and it is a world away from the standard tech conferences most of us are used to.
The day began with the Opening Circle. It wasn’t just a formality, it set the tone for the entire week. The facilitators emphasized a culture of continuous learning and personal agency. One of the key principles that stuck with me was the encouragement to always be learning. If a session isn’t serving you or you feel you could contribute more elsewhere, you are free to jump between sessions without guilt.
What followed was the famous Agenda Creation process. Everyone who wanted to host a session wrote their topic on a card and gave a short spiel to the circle. Then came the chaos. Once the pitches were done, it resulted in a mad rush with people literally running to the scheduling wall to win a coveted time slot. It was energetic, slightly chaotic, and completely democratic.
Wednesday: Taking the Stage and Demo Hour
By Wednesday, I was ready to jump into the fray myself. I decided to participate in the “session rush” by scheduling my own session in the afternoon focusing on Digital IDs for Underserved Populations.
Once the schedule was set, I headed to my first session of the day, which focused on the challenges of wallet UI/UX. We often get lost in the technical protocols of identity, but this session brought the focus back to the human element. We discussed the friction points that real users face. A major takeaway for me was the concept of “consent overload.” We learned how bombarding users with too many consent requests or poorly designed permission screens can actually harm adoption, leading to negative experiences that defeat the purpose of the technology we are building.
Because this was a milestone event, the 40th IIW and the 20th anniversary of the workshop, we celebrated with a massive cake and gathered everyone for a large group photo to mark the occasion. It was a great moment to stand alongside the community that has driven this industry forward for two decades.
For my session in the afternoon, we held a roundtable discussion where I outlined the work I’ve been doing at MyMahi, specifically using schools as a source of authoritative identity data to provide digital IDs. It was a fascinating exchange; we explored various methods and options available in different countries and cultures. The group concluded that while there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to equity in identity, it is certainly not an insurmountable problem.
Wednesday also featured the famous Demo Hour, where companies and groups showcase their latest work. I participated by showing off the Digital Learner ID we had developed at MyMahi. It was a proud moment to demonstrate a solution that is already being adopted by schools, with students actively using it to prove their age in the real world.
Thursday: Polynomials and Goodbyes
Thursday, the final day of the unconference, was a shorter day with the conference wrapping up earlier. However, I attended one of the most unique sessions of the week. The topic was “Totemic” wallet recovery, exploring the idea of using totems to recover wallets rather than relying on backup devices. We discussed using physical attributes of a person and polynomials along with Shamir’s secret sharing to generate a recovery key, allowing you to get back your digital ID from nothing.
After the official proceedings wrapped up, I took some time to explore the surroundings. Since the venue is right in the heart of Silicon Valley, I went for a walk around the nearby Google campus. I set out on a mission to find the famous Android statues. I managed to track them down and grabbed a selfie with one to commemorate the trip.
Friday: The Final Push
Though IIW had officially closed, the work wasn’t quite done. On Friday, I attended the Post-IIW DCP WG Workshop.
Following up on the progress we made on Monday, this session allowed us to continue hammering out the remaining issues in these specs. It was a productive day of intense collaboration, focused on driving these standards closer to a stable 1.0 release.
Saturday: Punchcards and Departure
Saturday was leaving day, but with my flight scheduled for the afternoon, I had one last adventure in me. I decided to head back to the Computer History Museum (our host venue for the week) to properly explore the exhibits I had walked past all week.
It was a perfect way to end the trip, connecting the past to the future. A personal highlight was seeing the punchcard machines in action. Watching these mechanical giants process data was a stark reminder of how far we’ve come, from physical cards to the digital credentials and decentralized identity protocols we spent the week debating.
Reflections
My journey to IIW XL was an unforgettable experience, full of learning, connection, and inspiration. From the chaotic energy of the agenda wall to the quiet technical rigor of the working groups, it was a week that solidified my passion for digital identity. I am incredibly grateful to the Digital Identity Advancement Foundation and the Kim Cameron Award for making it possible.
