Bid Guidelines

Preliminary and Final Bids

The preliminary bid is a draft of the final bid, and they are submitted 2-3 months apart. The purpose of a preliminary bid is to give the committee a detailed description of the organization, venue, and setting (approx 10-12 pages). The first round of review will help bidders to create a stronger bid, one which is better tailored to the distinctive needs of the ACL. The purpose of the final bid is to convince the committee that the organizers are capable of running a large scientific conference with considerable professionalism and attention to detail (approx 20-25 pages).

Covering Letter

Addressed to the ACL, naming venue and dates, identifing contact person(s) and contact details, signed.

Organization

Local Organizing Committee

Please name the members of the local organizing committee, including titles and affiliations. For each person, provide a statement about their activities in the CL community and their experience organizing scientific events.

Local CL Community

Describe the profile of the local CL community, including any research groups, graduate programs, professional bodies, companies.

Professional Conference Organizer

Identify the organization that will be responsible for local arrangements, including venues, catering, accommodation, the social program, and finances. What is the scale of their operation? List major scientific meetings organized recently.

Venue

Conference

Describe the main auditorium, theatres for four parallel sessions, spaces for tutorials and workshops. Describe capacity, seating style, A/V facilities, sloping vs level floor, availability of (fold-out) tables in theatres. For what dates have the venues been booked?

Workshops - capacity for 2 two-day workshops, and 8 one-day workshops

For what dates have rooms been reserved?

Accommodation

List categories of accommodation and their approximate capacities and prices. State the proximity of the accommodation to the conference venue, and the means of access.

For what dates have rooms been reserved?

Social Program

Describe plans for breaks, student lunch, welcome reception, and banquet.

Estimated Costs

Provide a one-page summary budget specifying approximate total cost for each component of the conference (main conference, tutorials, workshops, banquet, overheads), the attendance estimates on which this is based. Please give figures in both local currency and US dollars, and specify the exchange rate. What is the situation with VAT?

Setting

Map

Provide a detailed map showing positions of venues and accommodation.

Food

Describe the eating options within and near the conference venue.

need to describe the kinds of breaks, lunches, we expect...

City

Describe the city and region, and the principal attractions. What is the climate at this time of year? Any optional social program. List any cultural events scheduled for the conference period.

Transportation

Describe the air and ground transportation that provides access to the city. What is the commute time from regional airport(s) and railway stations to the venue?

Extras

(not needed for preliminary bid)

• Letters of support
• Photographs of venues and regional attractions
• Evidence of sponsorship
• Information about visa, drivers licenses

Budget Guidelines

The full budget is a separate spreadsheet (available here). The budget only includes items which vary from one venue to another. Costs which are largely fixed across venues (such as proceedings) are omitted.

• banquet cost should be in a given range
• describe what is included in the breaks, etc