A member is only an individual within the incident response industry that currently holds an analyst, manager and executive role in their organization or someone that has been invited by the community to speak as an industry thought leader or expert. Consultants or non-sponsoring vendors are not permitted access due to the nature of a closed community that is limited to the sales, vendor and capability offerings made to the community. The limitation of sponsors, vendors, and consultants allows the IRC to not turn into a sales channel but instead, a community for education, training, networking and knowledge sharing.