Call for Bids to Host ACL-06

The Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) hereby invites proposals to host the annual conference in Asia in 2006. This conference will be the 44th annual meeting of the ACL.

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 March 1, 2004. They will be evaluated by the ACL Executive Committee by April 1, 2004. Promising bidders will then be contacted and asked to provide further information due by May 1, 2004. The final bid will be chosen by June 15, 2004.

The conference should take place during June or July 2006, 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
• Sponsorships
• Budget estimates
• Opportunities for co-location with other meetings, especially COLING which will also be in Asia in 2006.

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
• Geographical and national balance with regard to the previous conferences in Sapporo, Japan (2003) and Hong Kong (2000)

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 Martha Palmer and Robert Dale:

Professor Martha Palmer

Levine 504
Department of Computer and Information Science
University of Pennsylvania
3330 Walnut Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6389
United States

Email: [redacted]

Phone: [redacted]
Fax: [redacted]

Professor Robert Dale
E6A328
Department of Computing
Division of Information and Communication Sciences
Macquarie University
Sydney NSW 2109
Australia

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

Important Dates:

March 1, 2004 Draft proposals due
April 1, 2004 ACL Executive Board evaluates proposals
May 1, 2004 Promising bidders provide any requested information
June 15, 2004 Bid selected

Author: Martha Palmer, January 31, 2004