Local Organization Chair Handbook

Current Chairs:

Name Affiliation Contact
Benjamin Roth University of Vienna benjamin.roth@univie.ac.at
Dagmar Gromann University of Vienna dagmar.gromann@univie.ac.at

Overview of Responsibilities

The Local Organization Chairs at CL conferences are responsible for overseeing and coordinating all of the local contacts to conference locations, restauratns, print services, tourist info, and coordinate requests regarding local organization. The main final event location and catering coordination including any budget decisions is the responsibility of the main event management. The local chairs assist the main event management and all other chairs, but have neither budget nor other direct decision responsibility.\ \ The following are the main responsibilities of the Local Chairs:*

1. Arrange Conference Venues Options for the main conference venue need to be explored time before the final hosting decision is made. It requires substantial availability of local organizers and ideally tourist boards/organizations to support the process. Request for visiting local potential venues for the main conference as well as other side events may happen on short notice, for which researchers usually neither have the time nor the contacts. Thus, a profficient tourism office with the time and contacts would be beneficial for the application as well as organization process.

2. Social Events & Optional Visitor Activities The main social event requires local organizers to provide different available options to be proposed to the general chairs and ACL as such. This requires identifying interesting representative options and asking for specific quotes in order to provide concrete information to these bodies. It also requires getting in touch with social events in terms of temporal availability and quotes. As regards visitor activities, there should be several options for participants to obtain information for local sights, restaurants, events at the time of the conference, etc. should ideally be provided on the website and ideally be supported by a local info desk for tourist info during the conference.

So far *CL conferences have collaborated with a centrally assigned event management, the cost of which are incorporated into the conference budget. This also means that the main decision and budget responsibility is clearly in the hands of this event management, leaving Local Chairs with the task of collaborating and supporting them.

For information regarding writing conference bids pre-acceptance, see here.

Breakdown of Responsibilities

The following list contain typical tasks of a local organizer given the main budget and decision responsibility of the event management. While proposing the initial conference venues is part of the initial proposal process, there are a number of duties and responsibilities of the local organizers as set out below.

Task Start Deadline Dependency Notes
Identify Possible Venues April 2023 Bid Deadline ACL and Event Management (1) Send options to ACL Secretary; (2) ACL has the following requirements for venus: 1 room seating at least 750 people, 4-5 additional ~250 capacity rooms, 3-4 rooms with ~100 capacity, 10-12 small workshop rooms that accomodate ~50 people, 1-2 boardroom style rooms, registration space with phone/printer/internet, and 1 large exhibit space with power.
Prepare for short-notice Site Visits March 2023 November 2023 Event Management Be prepared to obtain short-notice site visit requests, such as from the event manager that they would arrive in your city within two days, expect airport pickup, site visits to the major conference and social event sights, etc. to be organized within this timeframe.
Contact Chairs of Previous Chairs ASAP July 2024 - Gather advice and insights on the visa documentation process for potential conference attendees. Additional information can be gained from the general organizing committee meeting.
Secure Conference Accommodation Block March 2024 Sept 2024 Event Management This entire tasks is entirely within the responsibility of the event management with decision and budget authority, but local organizers should assist finding an optimized list of hotels and negotiate the best rates.
Options and Quotes for Social Events October 2024 March 2024 Event Management and ACL General Chairs The task is to propose and identify interesting entertainment options (representative for the country and city) and provide concrete quotes to the event managemenet and ACL general chair.
Support of Visa Chairs April 2025 July 2025 Event Management, Visa Chairs and Governmental Officials Ensure to support short notice visa applications, as the general conference deadlines are not suitable for visa applications, which require 4-6 months applications in advance. The best idea is to contact foreign ministry officials to short track visum applications, provide support to visa chairs for the invitation letter, and answer requests of individual embassies to confirm invitations.
Support of Website Chairs January 2025 July 2025 Website Chairs, Event Management Provide details especially for travel information and venue, including restaurant options, sights, public transportation, transportation from airport. Negotiate or check on potential discouncts and special issues for participants early on.
Support of Publicity Chairs May 2025 July 2025 Publicity Chairs Prepare social media-friendly teasers for city, sights, culinary and other information. For this purpose, photos that can be published on different channels are required. Furthermore, the publicity chairs require press contacts and support for reaching local media outlets.

2. Social Events & Optional Visitor Activities

This responsibility concerns organizing the primary social event to take place during the conference for all attendees, in addition to scoping potential additional activities that attendees may wish to do during their free time to make the most of the conference location.

Task Start Deadline Dependency Notes
Identify Possible Social Event Venues Sept 2024 Oct 2024 - (1) Send quotes to ACL Secretary & Executive Board; (2) Traditionally, the social event should be in an unusual or interesting setting (e.g., museum, gardens, cultural landmark etc.); (3) You should additionally arrange the Welcome Reception, which should be held within or close to the conference venue and include up to 2 free drinks for attendees.
Compile "Things to Do" List Jan 2025 March 2025 - Include places of interest, landmarks, museums, restaurants, activities etc.
Compile Childcare-Friendly Accommodation Facilities Jan 2025 Jan 2025 Event Management and Local Venue While there very continuous request on this topic, it is entirely within the responsibility of the event management and clocal venue.