ICIS Site Selection, Committee, and Conference Procedures

Top Seven Facts About Submitting a Bid for the ICIS Conference

The International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) is the premier annual global research conference for the information systems (IS) discipline. ICIS enables scholars to publish, share, and discuss research and strengthens the global community of IS scholars.

ICIS conference leadership teams are important in nurturing IS scholarship and strengthening the AIS community and association. Any AIS member in good standing is eligible to develop a bid for an ICIS leadership team.

The following information provides information about the bidding process. Please carefully read through this information to understand the process associated with bidding and serving on an ICIS conference committee.

The ICIS conference committee works closely with AIS staff to perform the activities associated with managing the complexities of a large, international conference. When these groups work together toward the common goal of hosting a successful ICIS, the AIS community can participate in valuable learning events, while also creating a rewarding experience for the members of the ICIS conference committee.

The International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) is the premier annual research conference in the information systems discipline. The conference rotates to different global locations based on AIS regions. Depending on the region, ICIS attracts 1000-2000 attendees from more than 50 countries.

ICIS is conducted under the auspices of the Association for Information Systems, which provides staff support services, such as conference planning, review coordination, IT, registration, and financial management. The AIS Staff, together with the ICIS conference committee collaborate, organize, and execute the conference.

ICIS is held around the second week of December each year. ICIS usually begins with an opening reception on Sunday evening and ends at noon on Wednesday. Because of the holiday season and airplane and/or hotel conflicts, ICIS may be held on a Wednesday to Saturday schedule.

A Doctoral Consortium is held before the start of ICIS. Forty doctoral students are selected from nominations received from universities around the world. Universities are invited to nominate one student for the Consortium. Ten international academics are invited to serve as faculty mentors for the Doctoral Consortium.

The ICIS Conference Committee consists of conference chairs, program chairs, doctoral consortium chairs, and other roles to support various activities associated with ICIS. For instance, in addition to the ICIS Doctoral Consortium, other ICIS-specific events occur before, during, or after ICIS. Some of these activities are facilitated or organized by members of the ICIS Conference Committee.

The ICIS Executive Committee provides oversight for ICIS and has the responsibility to ensure that ICIS is operated in a cost-effective way, consistent with the overall objective of the conference and subject to the articles and bylaws of AIS. Members and activities of the ICIS Executive Committee are defined in the ICIS Terms of Reference. One ICIS Executive Committee activity is recommending Bid Committees for future conferences to the AIS Council by following these ICIS Site Selection Procedures.

The ICIS Site Advisory Committee (SAC) assists Bid Committees in developing bids and advises the ICIS Executive Committee on the merits of each bid. It is comprised of the following five individuals:

  • AIS Vice President of Meetings and Conferences (Chair)
  • Immediate Past Chair of the ICIS Executive Committee
  • Immediate Past Program Chair or a former Program Co-Chair
  • A past Doctoral Consortium faculty member or other suitable person
  • AIS Associate Executive Director
  • AIS Chief Operating Officer
  • AIS Chief Conference Officer

If any of the individuals listed above are ineligible or decline to be members of the ICIS SAC, the AIS Vice President of Meetings and Conferences will appoint a replacement with the experience and expertise to provide high-quality advice and feedback to Bid Committees, and the ICIS Executive Committee.

A SAC member may not be directly or indirectly associated with any bid being considered by SAC. A SAC or ICIS Executive Committee member may not accept any gifts, benefits, or other considerations from any party in connection with any bid being considered.

The SAC has three main responsibilities:

1. The SAC has the responsibility of promoting the opportunity for AIS members to bid to serve as a conference leadership team within a specified region (as determined by the ICIS regional rotation).

a. The SAC Chair will work with the AIS Office to notify all AIS members of the opportunity and process to express their interest or intention to bid to serve as a conference chair for ICIS.

b. If needed, the SAC Chair and SAC members will contact individuals to identify their interest in forming Bid Committees and will explain the bidding process.

c. Individuals interested in developing a preliminary bid are encouraged to contact the SAC Chair for advice on bidding.

(i) As part of the intention to bid process, the interested bidder may or may not have identified a potential city or location for ICIS. If the bidder is open to leading a bid for ICIS across locations, the AIS Office can provide suggestions on possible cities that are viable for ICIS within the region

(ii) If the bidder has identified a preferred city or location for hosting ICIS, the bidder should contact the SAC Chair and AIS Staff as early as possible in the bidding process. The Bid Committees nor the SAC should not solicit information from hotels or conference facilities at bid locations. Rather, this activity will be the responsibility of the AIS office after an Intent to Bid is received by the AIS office.

2. The SAC has the responsibility of assisting Bid Committees in preparing and revising bids. Prior to bid deadlines, Bid Committees are encouraged to contact the SAC with questions about bidding. During the bid process, the SAC will provide feedback to Bid Committees as outlined in the schedule below.

3. The SAC has the responsibility of advising the ICIS Executive Committee on the strengths and weaknesses of each bid as outlined below.

  • 1 Feb: SAC Chair issues open call for Preliminary Bids for ICIS in year X + 4. The SAC Chair and SAC members may also contact individuals to identify their interest in forming Bid Committees. The call for Preliminary Bids will identify the designated region for ICIS and will inform individuals that preferred locations for the conference may be specified or that bid teams can work with the AIS Office to identify a suitable location within the region.
  • 1 March: Chairs of the Conference Bid Committees (Bid Chairs) complete the Intent to Bid form online at the AIS website (the URL for this site is included in the invitation to bid). The Intent to Bid form should allow Bid Chairs to identify if they have one or more preferred locations or if they would like to work with the AIS Office to identify a suitable location to host ICIS. Upon receipt of the Intent to Bid, the AIS office will assist Bid Chairs in preparing their preliminary bid, including gathering information about hotels and conference facilities at any proposed locations in terms of their suitability for ICIS.
  • 1 April: Bid Chairs prepare a Preliminary Bid and send it as an email attachment to the SAC Chair using the guidelines in this document. The Preliminary Bid must be in Word or pdf format.
  • 15 April: The SAC assesses each Preliminary Bid and the SAC Chair provides Bid Chairs with feedback and bid changes requested.
  • After 15 April: SAC Chair informs all prospective bidders of the other sites that are competing for ICIS. Only the names of the Conference Chairs and the proposed location (if identified) will be provided.
  • By 1 May: Bid Chairs submit revised Preliminary Bids, if requested, to the SAC Chair. SAC Chair sends (revised) Preliminary Bids to the voting members of the ICIS Executive Committee.
  • By 15 May: The ICIS Executive Committee meets to consider the Preliminary Bids, and the SAC shares their view of their strengths and weaknesses. The ICIS Executive Committee selects zero, one, two, or three bids whose Bid Committees will be invited to prepare and present a Full Bid at a future meeting of the ICIS Executive Committee. The ICIS Executive Committee Chair and SAC chair will provide Bid Chairs with feedback on their bids. Each Bid Chair is informed as to whether or not they are invited to prepare and present their Full Bid at the meeting of the ICIS Executive Committee. If no sites are selected to prepare Full Bids, the SAC will open the process to new bids including bids from regions not in the regional rotation and will prepare a schedule for reviewing them.
  • By 15 July: Bid Chairs send Full Bids as an email attachment to the SAC Chair. The Full Bid must be in Word or pdf format and should follow the guidelines in this document.
  • By 30 July: SAC assesses each Full Bid and the SAC Chair provides feedback to Bid Chairs as to suggested changes.
  • By August 15: Bid Chairs finalize Full Bids and send them as email attachments to the SAC Chair. SAC Chair sends Full Bids to the voting members of ICIS Executive Committee.
  • August 30 or before of the ICIS Executive Committee in year X-4 for conferences in year X: Invited Bid Chairs present their Bid to the ICIS Executive Committee. Twenty minutes maximum is allowed for the presentation with a question period of no more than 10 minutes. The SAC summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of the bids for the ICIS Executive Committee. The ICIS Committee selects zero, one, two, or three proposals to recommend to the AIS Council. The ICIS Executive Committee Chair notifies each Bid Chair as to the success of their bid and provides feedback regarding the basis for the Committee’s decision. The ICIS Executive Committee Chair sends all selected bids to the AIS President along with the ICIS Executive Committee’s recommendation for the selected bid(s). If no bids are considered acceptable, the ICIS Executive Committee will defer its decision until acceptable bids are received. In this case, the SAC will open the process to new bids, including bids from regions not in the regional rotation and will prepare a schedule for reviewing them.

The Preliminary Bid shall not exceed three pages and shall include the following:

  • If the bidder has identified one or more preferred locations, the bid should identify the proposed location, including brief comments explaining why the location will provide an attractive setting for the conference.
    If the bidder has not identified one or more preferred locations, the bid should clearly state that they are willing to work with the AIS office to identify a location within the designated AIS region.
  • The proposed dates for the conference
  • Proposed Conference Chair (or Co-chairs), Program Chair (or Co-chairs), and Doctoral Consortium Chair (or Co-chairs). For these chairs, list significant AIS, ICIS, or other major information systems conference leadership or organizational experiences.
  • A summary of the Bid Committee’s ideas related to providing a quality ICIS experience from the perspective of the participant. What is it about your team, your institutions, your industry connections, your program plans, your keynote speaker criteria, your panel ideas, your social event ideas, your pre-conference event ideas, or any other aspect of your vision for the conference that will make this ICIS Conference valuable for attendees? None of the ideas at this stage should be finalized since these goals will be wildly premature at this point, but please help us understand how you would envision making this conference successful.
  • Facilities. The AIS staff will provide most of this information to the Bid Committee for this part of the bid to offer details about the potential venue for ICIS. Provide a brief description of the hotels and/or conference centers where the meeting may be held, with brief comments as to how the available option(s) would provide an attractive setting for the conference.

Examples of previously accepted bids can be requested from the SAC Chair

The SAC and the ICIS Executive Committee will examine the preliminary bid using the following criteria. While preliminary bids may not satisfy all criteria, these are the criteria that will be considered:

Criterion 1: The Bid Committee

The experience of the conference, program, and doctoral consortium chairs, their commitment to AIS and ICIS, and the diversity of the team as a whole (including regional, gender, demographic, and research traditions). The following are criteria considered in relation to the bid committee.

The quality of the Conference Committee proposed in support of the bid is a critical factor in securing a favorable result. The Conference Chairs, Program Chairs, and Doctoral Consortium Chairs should have extensive prior experience with conferences in some administrative or organizing capacity. As a group, they should be able to demonstrate experience with, interest in, and a commitment to ICIS.

According to the ICIS Terms of Reference, up to three people may share the positions of Conference Chair, Program Chair, and Doctoral Consortium Chair. This allows Bid Committees to have representation from all three AIS Regions in these roles, especially the Program Chair and Doctoral Consortium Chair roles. When two or more people share a position, they will be known as Co-Chairs. Each will assume all responsibilities and obligations of the position unless otherwise relieved from doing so by provisions herein.

The conference chairs, program chairs, and doctoral consortium chairs from selected bids will become future members of the ICIS Executive Committee. To avoid conflicts of interest during the bidding process and to minimize the potential for a person to represent multiple conferences and roles within the ICIS Executive Committee, preference will be given to bids that avoid having one or more current ICIS Executive Committee members or persons who will serve as a conference chair, program chair, or doctoral consortium chair in an upcoming bid.

Conference Chairs: (Normally, there are two or three conference chairs)

  • At least one of the conference chairs should have prior academic leadership experience, such as with a journal, conference, AIS community, or university role.
  • Preferably, at least one of the conference chairs would have experience in some leadership role with the ICIS conference (e.g., program chair, track chair, panels chair, consortium chair).
  • To avoid governance issues, a conference chair should not be serving in the roles of AIS President, President-Elect, Past-President, or VP of Conferences during the bidding process. Should a person be elected to one of the above AIS Council roles, they would need to rescind their voting membership on the ICIS Executive Committee when serving in one of these roles on AIS Council.
  • It should be clearly identified if the conference chair (or which conference co-chair, if multiple conference chairs) plans to serve as the ICIS Executive Committee chair the immediate year after the conference.

Program Chairs: (Typically, there are three program chairs)

  • Each Program Chair must be an established scholar in the discipline and be capable of judging the quality of scholarship in a broad range of relevant topics.
  • At least one of the program chairs should have experience as a Senior Editor (or equivalent) at one of our major journals (e.g., College of Senior Scholars List of Premier Journals) so that they have experience managing the review process, track chairs, AEs and reviewers and issues that may come up in the review process.
  • At least one of the program chairs should have experience in some program leadership role with the ICIS conference (e.g., track chair).
  • AIS is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. This commitment extends to embracing both demographic and regional diversity. We expect all bids to reflect this ethos by ensuring representation from the three AIS regions and across different demographic groups.
  • The set of program chairs should also display diversity in research perspectives. To create an inclusive program and recruit track chairs that represent diverse IS research traditions, the program chairs should collectively span research traditions (e.g., behavioral, organizational, design, economics, among others). This does not imply that all perspectives need to be represented; rather that not all three program chairs should come from the same research tradition.
  • Recognizing the international nature of the conference, the Program Chairs must be willing and able to build a Program Committee that draws strongly on the worldwide scholarly information systems community.
  • Bids lacking in such diversity are required to provide a compelling rationale within their submission.

Doctoral Consortium Chairs: (Normally, there are three doctoral consortium chairs)

  • The Doctoral Consortium Chairs must be established scholars in the discipline and be capable of attracting and organizing a highly competent consortium faculty with experience advising PhD students from all three regions.
  • All consortium chairs should have extensive experience mentoring doctoral students; for example, having chaired a considerable number of dissertations.
  • At least one consortium chair should have been a mentor in a previous ICIS doctoral consortium and acquainted with the objectives and consortium process.
  • The AIS commitment to a diverse and inclusive environment extends to the doctoral consortium. Geographic diversity across regions is important because doctoral programs differ considerably across countries. Demographic diversity should also be considered and integrated into the bid. The set of consortium chairs should also display diversity in research perspectives because it enables them to draw faculty mentors from a range of research traditions and because they have to evaluate a range of submissions. This does not imply that all perspectives need to be represented; rather the chairs should not come from the same research tradition.
  • Bids lacking diversity are required to provide a compelling rationale within their submission.

Criterion 2: The Conference Location

The conference location (venue and city) is important. It must be in the region of the planned rotation of ICIS sites and should be attractive to attendees. To evaluate the conference location, the following criteria are considered:

  • A location that is easily accessible to the global traveler.
  • The desirability of the conference location and venue for hosting ICIS.
  • Ability to meet the minimum requirements for the “footprint” of ICIS. The SAC Chair and AIS Office will work with bidders to ensure these requirements can be met when a bidder has a specific city or location in mind. Beyond these requirements, conference attendees tend to prefer:
    • A conference location with space for impromptu meetings with colleagues
    • Hotels located within a short walking distance of the conference center
    • Hotels located within a short walking distance of the city center
    • Hotels suitable for a range of budgets.

Criterion 3: The Bid Committee’s Ideas

The relevance of the team’s ideas for ensuring a positive ICIS experience for attendees. It is not required that the team present new ideas.

Criterion 4: Financial Viability

  • Estimated proposed venue costs.  This information will be obtained by AIS staff
  • Estimated hotel rates and airfare. This information will be obtained by AIS staf
  • Fund-raising proposal. Do not include any monetary figures unless written documentation can be produced.

The ICIS Executive Committee will invite zero, one, or two, or three bids to prepare a full bid for further consideration.

If a bidding team is requested to prepare a full bid, the document (including an executive summary) must not exceed 20 pages (U.S. letter size) including appendices. Bid leader contact details (e-mail, phone numbers, mailing address) should be included. For lesser-known locations or venues, additional pages may be permitted (at the discretion of the SAC chair) to enable the team to provide photographs or other supplementary material to enhance the bid.

The Full Bid should describe, explain, and provide details in support of the main elements listed below. A Full Bid may also include details on other matters that the Bid Committee feels will help the ICIS Executive Committee reach a decision.

The Full Bid should include the following elements:

Criterion 1: The Bid Committee (see Preliminary Bid Criteria)

Criterion 2: The Conference Location (see Preliminary Bid Criteria)

Criterion 3: Conference Program Elements

Although it may be preliminary, they may already have ideas for program elements, such as the specific tracks, keynotes, social events, or the doctoral consortium, among others.

Criterion 4: Financial Considerations

The AIS Staff will work with the bidding team to develop a summary of the financial factors associated with the conference location and venue. Any positive or negative aspects of the financials associated with the conference location should be discussed.

Additional Information:

Conference Chairs

  • The proposed Conference Chairs assume the important responsibility of ensuring that every member of the Bid Committee understands and accepts their responsibilities as a member of the ICIS Conference Committee, should their Full Bid be accepted, and subsequent responsibilities, should they become a member of the ICIS Executive Committee.
  • The right of the Conference Chairs to choose the makeup of the Conference Committee is acknowledged.

Program Chairs

  • Program Chairs can strengthen ICIS by agreeing to provide training for the Program Chairs of the conference for the year following their conference. This may be achieved by inviting a Program Chair for the year following to serve as a track chair, and for future Program Chairs to volunteer to serve as associate editors and reviewers in the years leading up to their conference. This vital form of “knowledge transfer” will help ensure that each Program Committee Chair is knowledgeable regarding peer-review procedures and ready to assume this very important function.
  • The Program Chairs must be willing to serve as an ICIS Track Chair (or Co-Chair) in the year preceding their conference if so invited by the preceding year’s Program Chairs.
  • The Program Chairs must agree to use the AIS-approved Web-based peer review system.
  • The Program Chair (or one of the Program Co-Chairs) must be willing to serve on the ICIS Executive Committee in the years prior to, during, and following their conference.

Doctoral Consortium Chairs

  • The Doctoral Consortium Chairs also accept responsibility for managing the Dissertation Award Competition in the year following the Conference. The Chairs also accept responsibility for notifying Consortium Faculty members that a condition of their accepting an appointment as a Consortium Faculty member is that they will assist in reviewing materials associated with choosing the Dissertation Award in the year following the Consortium.
  • The Doctoral Consortium Chair (or one of the Co-Chairs) must be willing to serve on the ICIS Executive Committee in the years before, during, and following their conference

Questions on preparing a Preliminary Bid or Full Bid may be directed to the Chair of the Site Advisory Committee or the current Chair of the ICIS Executive Committee. Bidders are also invited to contact the AIS Vice President of Meetings and Conferences and the AIS Chief Operating Officer.

 

(Revisions approved by the ICIS EC, March 2024 )