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