Call for Bids to Host ACL-08

The Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) hereby invites
proposals to host the annual conference in North America in 2008. This
conference will be the 46th annual meeting of the ACL, and is jointly
hosted by the North American Chapter (NAACL). 

At this time, we seek draft proposals from prospective bidders. Based
on an evaluation of the draft proposals received, promising bidders
will be asked to provide additional information as needed for the
final selection. 

The ACL Executive Committee will select the General Chair, Program
Committee Co-Chairs and all other Chairs for the conference (e.g.,
Tutorial Chair, Demo Chair, Publications Chair, Student Co-Chairs),
except the Local Arrangements Chair. 

Draft proposals should identify a Local Arrangements Chair, who will
be responsible for activities such as arranging meeting rooms,
equipment, refreshments, housing, on-site registration, participant
e-mail access, security for equipment, the reception, the banquet, and
working with the General Chair and the ACL Executive Committee to
develop the budget and registration materials. 

Draft proposals are due on July 1, 2006. They will be evaluated by the
ACL Executive Committee by Aug 1, 2006. Promising bidders will then be
contacted and asked to provide further information due by Sept 1,
2006. The final bid will be chosen by Sept 15, 2006. 

The conference should take place during June or July 2008, avoiding
religious holidays if possible. 

Draft proposals should include information on:

    * Location (accessibility; conference venue, e.g., hotel or
      university; accommodations, e.g., hotels, motels, student dorms) 
    * Proposed dates
    * Local Arrangements team (chair/co-chair, committee, volunteer
      labor, registration handling)
    * Local Computational Linguistics community
    * Meeting venues (space for plenary sessions, tutorials,
      workshops, posters, exhibits, demos and small meetings)
    * A/V equipment
    * Food/entertainment/banquet/receptions
    * Potential Sponsorships
    * Budget estimates
    * Opportunities for co-location with other meetings.

Proposals will be evaluated in relation to a number of site selection
criteria (unordered): 

    * Experience of local arrangements team
    * Local CL community support
    * Local government and industry support
    * Accessibility and attractiveness of proposed site
    * Appropriateness 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 budget projections and expected surplus

The ACL conference handbook and more about ACL policies may be found
at: http://www.aclweb.org/archive. 

Successful sample bids for previous conferences may be found at:
http://www.aclweb.org/archive/bids.html 

Please send draft proposals electronically to Mark Steedman and
Dragomir Radev: 

Mark Steedman
School of Informatics
University of Edinburgh
2 Buccleuch Place
Edinburgh EH8 9LW
United Kingdom

Email: [redacted]
Phone: [redacted]
Fax: [redacted]

Dragomir Radev
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
University of Michigan
1301 Beal Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2122
USA

Email: [redacted]
Phone: [redacted]
Fax: [redacted]

Important Dates:

July 1, 2006 Draft proposals due
August 1, 2006 ACL Executive Board evaluates proposals
September 1, 2006 Promising bidders provide any requested information
September 15, 2006 Bid selected

Author: Mark Steedman, May 31, 2006