NANOG is an educational and operational forum for the coordination and dissemination of technical information related to backbone/enterprise networking technologies and operational practices. 

NANOG meetings are held three times each year, and include presentations, tutorials, and BOFs. The meetings are informal, and membership is open. Conference participants typically include senior engineering staff from tier 1 and tier 2 ISPs. Participating researchers present short summaries of their work for operator feedback. 

NANOG meetings are organized by NewNOG, Inc., a Delaware non-profit organization, and are hosted by NewNOG and other organizations around the U.S. and Canada. Overall leadership is provided by the NANOG Board of Directors, established in 2005, and the Program Committee. 

NANOG evolved from the NSFNET "Regional-Techs" meetings, where technical staff from the regional networks met to discuss operational issues of common concern with the Merit engineering staff. At the February 1994 regional techs meeting in San Diego, the group revised its charter to include a broader base of network service providers, and subsequently adopted NANOG as its new name. 

Funding for NANOG originally came from the National Science Foundation, as part of two projects Merit Network, Inc.undertook in partnership with NSF and other organizations: the NSFNET Backbone Service and the Routing Arbiter project. In February 2011, NewNOG, Inc. began the management of NANOG. All NANOG funds now come from conference registration fees and donations from vendors. 

NANOG meetings provide a forum for the exchange of technical information, and promote discussion of implementation issues that require community cooperation. Coordination among network service providers helps ensure the stability of overall service to network users.

Source: NANOG