ACL 2013 Call for Bids

Call for Bids
51ST ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ACL

The Association for Computational Linguistics invites proposals to host the 51st Annual Meeting of the ACL, to be held in Europe, the Middle East or Africa (EMEA) in June, July, or August 2013.

At this time, we seek preliminary draft proposals from prospective bidders in EMEA. Promising bidders will be asked to provide additional information for the final selection.

The ACL 2013 Coordinating Committee, made up of members of the Executive Committee of the ACL and representatives of EACL, will select the General Chair and the Program Committee Co-Chairs for the conference. Draft proposals should identify a Local Arrangements Chair, who will work with the General Chair and the Coordinating Committee to develop a detailed plan and budget.

To facilitate conference organization, bidders may delegate many tasks of their choice to a Professional Conference Organizer and/or to the ACL Office (Priscilla Rasmussen). Handy bid guidelines, including expense and task list templates and additional useful links are provided at: http://aclweb.org/adminwiki/index.php?title=Bid_Guidelines.

Bid Highlights: Draft proposals include information on the following:

  • Location (accessibility; conference venue, e.g., hotel or university; accommodation; dining options)
  • Proposed dates. Religious and local national holidays should be avoided, as much as possible.
  • Local arrangements team (chair/co-chair, committee, volunteer labor, registration handling; describing any experience the team has had in organizing previous conferences and the number of participants at those conferences)
  • Local Computational Linguistics community
  • Meeting venues (space for sessions, tutorials, workshops, posters, exhibits, demos, small meetings and registration)
  • High-speed, all-ports-open, easy-to-use internet access
  • Audiovisual equipment
  • Catering, including breaks, receptions, banquet and entertainment (traditionally, dancing for participants at the banquet)
  • Local sponsorships
  • Local expenses estimates spreadsheet (template provided, linked from the Bid Guidelines)

Evaluation: Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria (unordered):

  • Experience of local arrangements team
  • Local CL community support
  • Local government and industry support
  • Accessibility and attractiveness of proposed site
  • Suitability of proposed dates
  • Adequacy of conference and exhibit facilities for the anticipated number of registrants
  • Adequacy of residence accommodations and food services in a range of price categories and close to the conference facilities
  • Adequacy of expense projections
  • Geographical balance with regard to ACL meetings in EMEA in the decade prior to 2013.

Important Dates:

December, 2010 - Final Call for Bids
February 15, 2011 - Notify intention to submit proposal
March 15, 2011 - Draft proposals due
Through May 1, 2011 - Feedback to bidders
May 28, 2011 - Final bids due
June 28, 2011 - Bid selected

The selected location for ACL 2013 will be announced at the ACL 2011 conference.

For any queries please contact Ken Church, the Coordinating Committee chair. Please send notifications and draft proposals to: Ken Church Kenneth.Church [at] jhu.edu +1 4109496340