General Information

The Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) is an annual research conference in the information systems discipline held in North, Central, and South America. Each year AMCIS attracts approximately 700-900 attendees principally from the Americas, but increasingly the conference includes participants from other regions of the world. AMCIS is conducted under the auspices of the Association for Information Systems (AIS), and AIS members with leadership experience take responsibility for organizing the Conference with significant support from AIS staff members.

AMCIS is held around the first or second week of August each year. Typically, the conference program begins on a Thursday with the social event and conclusion of the conference being on Saturday evening. The conference dates should be selected to avoid overlapping with Academy of Management meetings. An opening reception is typically held on the first evening of the conference, and a social event is held on the last evening of the conference.

In addition to 20 parallel paper sessions on average, a number of other events have traditionally been scheduled in conjunction with AMCIS including:

• Doctoral Consortium: One (or two) day event prior to the conference to enable doctoral students to receive guidance from prominent academics with two tracks for students at different phases of their careers (early stage and mid-stage).
• Early Career Faculty Consortium: Workshop to offer career advice for new MIS faculty prior to the conference.
• Mid-Career Faculty Consortium: Peer-led workshop for mid-career faculty by mid-career faculty prior to the conference to provide support and advice for faculty that are mid-career.
• Workshops: Tutorials or interactive sessions on new and innovative ideas in research and teaching prior to the conference that may be offered by AIS Communities, industry sponsors, or fellow academics. Workshops are offered prior to the start of the conference program and can be a source of revenue.
• Panels: Facilitated discussion groups comprised of academic and/or practitioner leaders held during the conference.
• Keynote Speakers: Opportunities for attendees to hear a recognized leader during the conference.
• Ancillary Meetings: Additional groups, including AIS Communities and other organizations, may host business meetings, receptions, or other events at the conference (as long as it does not overlap with the conference program).
• Career Connect: Universities have an opportunity to interview candidates for open positions during the conference.
• Doctoral Student Corner: Managed and organized by the Doctoral Student College, the Doctoral Student Corner hosts a series of events designed to facilitate networking, highlight research and enhance the student experience
• Other innovative ideas are welcome.

The AMCIS Executive Committee is responsible for recommending the site for future Conferences to the AIS Council by following these AMCIS Site and Team Selection Procedures. For a detailed timeline of Site and Leadership Selection Process, download the PDF HERE

A general outline for geographic rotation of AMCIS is available on the AIS web site found HERE This outline gives the desired geographic region for each year. Exceptions to this rotation may be considered if necessary.

The AMCIS Site Advisory Committee (SAC) solicits ideas for locations in which to hold AMCIS and bids from leaders interested in hosting AMCIS, they assist Bid Committees in developing bids, and advises the AMCIS Executive Committee on the merits of each bid. It is comprised of the following six individuals, all members of the Conferences Committee:

• AIS Vice President of Conferences (Chair)
• A former Conference Chair of an AMCIS Conference
• AMCIS Executive Committee Chair /Region 1 Representative
• A former Program Chair of an AMCIS Conference
• AIS Chief Operating Officer
• AIS Associate Executive Director

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

A SAC member may not be directly or indirectly associated with any bid being considered by SAC. A SAC or AMCIS 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 four main responsibilities:

1. The SAC has the responsibility of soliciting ideas for locations for AMCIS (through period surveys and/or calls for suggestions from AIS members), narrowing the possible cities/venues based on data compiled by AIS Staff to a few, and recommending these site options to the AMCIS EC. Neither the Bid Committees nor the SAC will solicit information from hotels or conference facilities at bid locations. Soliciting bids for hotels or conference facilities is the responsibility of AIS Staff.
2. The SAC has the responsibility of soliciting leaders or leadership teams to bid to chair AMCIS in the chosen location.  The Chair of SAC will coordinate the efforts of the members of SAC in soliciting bids. Members of SAC will contact individuals who might be interested in forming Bid Committees and will invite them to bid. Individuals not contacted by the SAC are encouraged to bid, but should contact the SAC Chair for advice on bidding.
3. 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.
4. The SAC has the responsibility of advising the AMCIS Executive Committee on the strengths and weaknesses of each bid as outlined in the schedule below.
   
   

The following schedule for selecting the site and leadership team for AMCIS in year X will be followed in year X-3 and X-2 unless modified by the Site Advisory Committee (SAC) Chair:

Site Selection Guidelines

• By 1 August in year X-3: The SAC begins to discuss a list of cities to be researched by AIS Staff.
• By 15 September: Based on research collected by the AIS Staff, cities are eliminated and/or additional cities are considered.
• By 15 September: The SAC submits a short list of candidate cities and their possible conference venues (e.g., hotels and/or conference centers) to the members of the AMCIS EC, with supporting data. Additional cities may be added by the SAC based on feedback from the EC.
• At the Fall (October) AMCIS EC: The SAC presents a short list of cities and summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of the candidate locations and indicates the existence or non-existent. The AMCIS EC selects zero, one or two preferred cities. If no cities are selected, the SAC will prepare a schedule for reviewing additional information on candidate cities or considering cities in other geographic locations.
• At the December meeting of the AMCIS EC: AMCIS EC selects zero, one or two locations.
• At the March Council meeting, year X-2: If the AMCIS EC has identified a single location, the Chair of the AMCIS EC will prepare a recommendation to AIS Council to choose the location of AMCIS, pending a successful site visit. If more than one location and/or leadership teams are proposing different locations, decision will be postponed until summer meeting.
• Between March – 1 May: site visit(s) will be conducted on full bid location(s)

Leadership Selection Guidelines

In year X-3

• Mid-August: The VP Conferences solicits Intent to Bid letters from prospective teams in cities that are being discussed by SAC
• By 15 September: the SAC summarizes the Intent to Bid letters to add to candidate city information for AMCIS EC. 
• At the December meeting of the AMCIS EC: The SAC informs bidders of the outcome and invites teams to submit Preliminary Bids.

In year X-2

• By 15 January: Bid Chairs prepare a Preliminary Bid and send it as an email attachment to the SAC Chair. The Preliminary Bid must be in Word or pdf format.
• By 30 January: SAC assesses each Preliminary Bid and the SAC Chair provides Bid Chairs with feedback and bid changes requested. The SAC Chair informs all prospective bidders of the other teams that are competing for AMCIS. Only the names of General Conference Chairpersons will be provided.
• By 15 February: Bid chairs submit revised Preliminary Bids, if requested, to the SAC Chair. SAC Chair sends (revised) Preliminary Bids to the voting members of the AMCIS Executive Committee.
• By 1 March: The SAC reviews the revised Preliminary Bid and summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of each Preliminary Bid for the Executive Committee in advance of the Spring AMCIS EC Meeting
• At the Spring AMCIS EC (typically April – ideally end of March) meeting: The AMCIS Executive Committee meets to consider the Preliminary Bids. The Executive Committee select zero, one, or two bids whose Bid Committees will be invited to prepare and present a Full Bid at the August meeting of the AMCIS Executive Committee. AMCIS Executive Committee Chair provides 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 August meeting of the AMCIS Executive Committee. If no teams are selected to prepare Full Bids, the SAC will open the process to new bids and prepare a schedule for reviewing them.
• By 1 May: Bid Chairs send Full Bids as an email attachment to the SAC Chair. The Full Bid must be in Word or pdf format
• By 1 June: SAC assesses each Full Bid and the SAC Chair provides feedback to Bid Chairs as to suggested changes.
• By 15 June: 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 AMCIS Executive Committee.
• At the August meeting of AMCIS Executive Committee in year X-2 for conferences in year X: Invited Bid Chairs present their Bids to the AMCIS 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 AMCIS Executive Committee. The AMCIS Executive Committee selects zero, one, or two proposals to recommend to the AIS Council. The AMCIS 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 AMCIS Executive Committee Chair sends the selected bids to the AIS President along with the AMCIS Executive Committee’s recommendation for the selected bid(s). If no bids are considered acceptable, the AMCIS 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 geographic rotation, and prepare a schedule for reviewing them.
• At a subsequent meeting of AIS Council: The AIS Council reviews the selected bid(s), the recommendation from the AMCIS Executive Committee, and a report of a site visit by the AIS Conference Director and decides on the site for AMCIS in year X.  Download a PDF version of the timeline HERE.
  
  

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

• Proposed Conference Co-Chairs and Program Co-Chairs. For these chairpersons list significant AIS, AMCIS, ICIS, or other major Information Systems conference leadership or organizational experiences. Prior experience with AMCIS as a track chair, minitrack chair, or some other leadership role is particularly important for Program Chairs.
• A summary of the Bid Committee's ideas for AMCIS in the selected location 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 AMCIS special? Please give us your ideas for enhancing the intellectual stimulation and networking opportunities that AMCIS submitters, reviewers and attendees will experience. We realize that some of your goals or ideas will be wildly premature at this point, and we know that they may not come to fruition, but please help us understand how you would envision making this conference successful.
• A summary of the Bid Committee's ideas for exploiting the selected city and conference venue. How will the strengths of the city and conference facilities be exploited and their weaknesses overcome? Please give us your ideas on how to use the city and venue to full advantage.

For more detail on the above, see the Full Bid section, which follows. Examples of previously accepted bids can be requested from Lise Fitzpatrick, AIS Chief Operating Officer. Since the site has already been identified, there is no need to “sell” the city. This is an explanation of how the group plans to leverage the location to help make AMCIS successful.

The SAC and the AMCIS Executive Committee will consider the following criteria in evaluating a Preliminary Bid:

1. The Bid Committee: The experience of the conference and program chairs, their commitment to AIS and AMCIS, the diversity of the team.
2. The Bid Committee's Ideas: The novelty and relevance of the team's ideas for improving the AMCIS experience for all stakeholders.
3. The Bid Committee's ideas about exploiting the city and conference facilities to create a superior experience for all attendees.

The Full Bid will describe, explain, and provide details in support of the main elements listed below. A Full Bid may also include details on other bid-related matters that the Bid Committee feels will help the AMCIS Executive Committee reach a decision.
The Full Bid (including an executive summary) should not exceed 20 pages (U.S. letter size) including appendices. However, we recognize that some cities are not as well-known as others and might require more photographs and other information that will enhance the bid.  Contact details (e-mail, phone numbers, fax numbers, mailing address) should be included.
The Full Bid should include the following elements:

Conference City

The team should draw on the material prepared earlier regarding the proposed conference city and elaborate on it as they see fit. How will the strengths of the city be exploited and how will its weaknesses be overcome to accomplish the team's goals for the conference? How will the city be promoted to attendees? What opportunities exist for holding social events? Are there nearby tourist attractions? If it is not already obvious, how will attendees travel to the city? Since the conference location has already been approved, it is not necessary to explain why the city is desirable, but rather how the team will use the location to create a positive experience for attendees.

Conference Dates

Proposed dates of the conference and ancillary meetings, which usually reflect hotel or conference center availability, should be given. Any known conflicts with other conferences and meetings (e.g., AoM) should be identified.

Conference Committee

All conference chairs should be listed along with details of their prior experience with conferences administration. At a minimum, the following conference chairs must be identified:

• Conference Co-Chair(s)
• Program Co-Chair(s)
• Doctoral Consortium Co-Chair(s)
• Early Career Faculty Workshop Co-Chair(s)

Other conference committee members may also be identified. Please note that the mid-career consortium chairs may be selected after a bid is approved to ensure that the workshop is peer-led (i.e., run by mid-career faculty or faculty promoted to professor within the past two years).

The Bid need only "sketch" the experience of each member of the proposed Conference Committee. A paragraph on each emphasizing significant conference administrative involvements, especially those which include AMCIS, will suffice. The leadership experience of the Conference Co-Chair(s) and the scholarly accomplishments of the Program Co-Chair(s) and Doctoral Consortium Co-Chairs are also relevant.

Additional information:

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, Doctoral Consortium Chairs, and Early Career Faculty Workshop Chairs should have extensive prior experience with conferences, ideally AMCIS, in some administrative or organizing capacity. As a group, they should be able to demonstrate experience with, interest in, and a commitment to AMCIS. Committee positions such as Honorary Chair, Vice Chair, or Advisory Committee may be included but the role of individuals in these positions should be explained in the bid document.

The Conference Committee should be comprised of AIS members in good standing.
Where two or more persons share a position, they will be known as Co-Chairs. Each will assume all responsibilities and obligations of the position.

Conference Chairs and Program Chairs are expected to serve on the AMCIS Executive Committee. Their term as a voting members on the AMCIS Executive Committee and on subcommittees in the year prior to their conference, the year of their conference, and the year after their conference. Once a bid is selected, Conference Chairs and Program Chairs will be invited members of the AMCIS Executive Committee. It is helpful for the chairs to attend these meetings to learn about the processes within the AMCIS Executive Committee as well as learn from other AMCIS conference teams. It is expected that the Conference Chairs and Program Chairs will participate in AMCIS Executive Committee meetings until their service to the executive committee is complete.

The Program Co-Chairs must be an established scholar in the discipline and be capable of judging the quality of scholarship in a broad range of relevant topics. The Program Co-Chairs must be willing and able to build a Program Committee that draws strongly on the scholarly information systems community. The Program Co-Chairs must also be willing to serve as an AMCIS Track Chair or Minitrack Chair in the year preceding their conference, if so invited by the preceding year’s Program Chair. The Program Chair must agree to use the AIS-approved conference management system. Furthermore, AMCIS is by design an inclusive program in which tracks are proposed by AIS Communities and/or AIS members. Program Chairs may identify and develop their own tracks, but this is a small portion of the overall program. AMCIS also uses minitracks, and solicitations for minitracks are open to AIS members to propose as part of a track.

Each Program Co-Chair can strengthen AMCIS by agreeing to provide training for the Program Co-Chairs of the conference for the year following their own conference. This may be achieved by inviting the Program Co-Chairs for the year following to serve as a track chair. Program Co-Chairs can also learn the process by submitting mini-track proposals and serving as a reviewer for AMCIS in the years leading up to their conference. This vital form of "knowledge transfer” will help ensure that each Program Committee is knowledgeable regarding peer-review procedures and they are ready to assume this very important function.

The Doctoral Consortium Co-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. Ideally, the Co-Chairs will have served as a consortium faculty member previously and be well-acquainted with the objectives and consortium process.

The Early Career Faculty Workshop Co-Chairs should be senior faculty with experience mentoring early career faculty. The Early Career Faculty Workshop Co-Chairs accepts responsibility for organizing the Early Career Faculty Workshop as a pre-conference event and for inviting respected scholars to participate as presenters and facilitators.

Mid-Career Faculty Consortium Co-Chairs do not need to be identified at the time of the leadership team bid. Given that the goal of this activity is to be peer-led, by mid-career faculty, this team would be ideal to determine 2-3 years prior to the conference.

The proposed Conference Co-Chairs assumes the important responsibility of ensuring that every member of the Bid Committee understands and accepts their responsibilities as a member of the AMCIS Conference Committee, should their Full Bid be accepted, and subsequent responsibilities, should they become a member of the AMCIS Executive Committee. For more information about the various roles and responsibilities of the AMCIS Conference Committee, please refer to the AMCIS Roles and Responsibilities document found HERE. This can be provided to leadership team members by the VP of Conferences or the Region 1 Representative.

Hotel and Conference Facilities

Since the location of the conference will be known by the leadership team, the team should draw on the material provided about the conference location so that bid evaluators can visualize the conference experience that the bidders propose, especially with regard to any proposed conference innovations.

Specific strengths or concerns related to the facilities or location should be noted and the bid team should outline their strategies for exploiting strengths and compensating for weaknesses. For example, if it is necessary to use multiple hotels to accommodate all attendees, how does the team propose to create additional opportunities for networking? If there are constraints on the available meeting or lunch space, how does the team plan to deal with these?

Doctoral Consortium Plans

Describe any innovations you are proposing in the design of the Doctoral Consortium that will enhance its value to participants. The location, description, and capacity, of at least one Doctoral Consortium site must be given. The AIS Staff will assist the Bid Committee in determining whether the meeting space available for the Doctoral Consortium is appropriate and adequate for any innovations they have in mind.

Additional information:

The Doctoral Consortium may be held in the conference hotel or in another facility removed from the conference hotel. If removed from the hotel, transportation to and from the hotel should be explained. In recent years, the doctoral consortium has been expanded and divided into two parallel and connected tracks, one for pre-dissertation students and one for  dissertation-stage students, each with about 40 students and 12 faculty mentors. The Doctoral Consortium is no more than one day long, perhaps starting the day before the conference with an informal reception but definitely ending before paper sessions begin.

Early Career Faculty Workshop Plans

Describe any innovations in the design of the Early Career Faculty Workshop that will enhance its value to participants. The AIS Staff will assist in determining whether the meeting space available for the Early Career Faculty Workshop is appropriate and adequate for any innovations they have in mind.

Additional information:

The Early Career Faculty Workshop may be held in the conference hotel or in another facility removed from the conference hotel. If removed from the hotel, transportation to and from the hotel should be explained. Approximately 25 early career faculty and 8 senior faculty will attend. The Early Career Faculty Workshop is no more than one day long, perhaps starting the day before the conference with an informal reception but definitely ending before paper sessions begin.

Conference Program Elements

The nature of the Conference experience that the Bid Committee envisions should be described. Given the very long lead time, the Full Bid need not propose a theme – which may be chosen a year or two prior to the conference. But the full bid should elaborate on the proposals of the Conference Committee for improving the experience of all AMCIS stakeholders -- submitting authors, those who review or otherwise contribute to the selection of submissions, and all attendees. How can this AMCIS be more intellectually stimulating and provide a better networking experience for everyone?

Additional information:

The Bid Committee should examine all programmatic elements of recent Conferences and seek advice from previous Conference Committees on the strengths and weaknesses of various program options such as tracks, panels, keynote speakers, poster sessions, roundtables, pre- and post-conference workshops, receptions, social events and the like.
Program Chairs have some latitude in choosing the format for the Conference scholarly program but must receive approval from the AMCIS Executive Committee for any major changes from the traditional design. AIS Communities are given the opportunity to develop program content through the submission of track or minitrack proposals. Specific details such as track topics need not be specified. The AMCIS Executive Committee’s concern will be to evaluate whether the proposed program format is likely to attract attendees and whether it is likely to result in high-quality research and a diverse program being presented.

Attendance

Estimates of attendance will be provided by the AIS Staff, based on history. However, any unusual factors that may affect attendance (positively or negatively) should be described. These could include, for example, a location that is particularly attractive and thus likely to attract a large attendance or a known conflict with another conference that may draw attendees away from AMCIS.

Budget

The Bid Committee and the AIS Staff will jointly determine expenses and revenues for the Conference based on available contracts and information known at the time of the full bid submission, identifying any revenue or expense items that are likely to deviate significantly from the expected norm net contribution for AMCIS. For example, normally there is no charge for the use of meeting facilities in hotels. However, if facilities in a conference center must be rented, then the expected cost of these facilities must be Any unusual factors that may affect either revenue or expenses must also be described. These could include, for example, significant revenue expected from an associated CIO event, a plan for a particularly expensive but desirable social event, additional transportation charges between hotels and conference facilities, or a donation of facilities or equipment. Normally, particularly expensive options will need to be covered by sponsorships.

Additional information:

Approximately 8 months before the conference, the AIS Staff will prepare a detailed budget for the Conference. The AIS Staff will work with the Conference Co-Chairs to identify the costs of various budget items.

Sponsorship

The Full Bid should describe the Bid Committee’s plans for soliciting sponsorship for the conference. Likely sponsors should be described. Any committed sponsors should be identified.

Additional information:

Sponsorship could be in monetary or in-kind gifts. The CIO Symposium or keynotes can be used to entice vendors with the opportunity to interface with IT executives.

Social Event

One or more options for the social event should be described. The social event is normally held on the night of the last day of the conference. It is a time for attendees to interact in a relaxed atmosphere. The social event should be planned to provide for maximum attendee interaction in an atmosphere that showcases the location of the conference. Facilities that are broken up and distributed are less desirable than spaces where it is easy for attendees to meet each other. Long performances that interfere with attendee socializing should be avoided. The location should be convenient to the conference hotels. The cost is a function of the respective budget and often driven by sponsorship revenue.

The AMCIS Executive Committee will consider the following criteria in evaluating a Full Bid:

1. The Conference Committee: The experience of the Co-chairs relative to their roles, their commitment to AIS and AMCIS, the diversity of the Conference Committee.
2. Conference program elements. The proposed program innovations and the likelihood that the program will draw a large number of attendees, stimulate stakeholder learning and afford networking opportunities.
3. The city and conference facilities: The bid committee’s strategies for exploiting the strengths and compensating for the weaknesses of the city and conference facilities.
4. Financial factors. Any financial factors, including budgetary considerations and sponsorship plans that are likely to affect the conference.
   

Once a bid is approved to host the Conference, key representatives of the Conference Committee must attend certain AMCIS Executive Meetings to present a verbal and written update on the status of their preparations for the Conference. In addition to enabling the AMCIS Executive Committee to monitor the progress of preparations for each Conference, attendance of the Conference and Program Chairs at these meetings keeps them apprised of matters that might affect the conduct of the conference.

Future conference chairs are also invited to attend pre-conference meetings at AMCIS and ICIS to meet the AIS staff members who will support them.

Additional 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 AMCIS Executive Committee also known as the Region 1 Representative on Council. Bidders are also invited to contact the AIS Vice President of Conferences and the AIS Chief Operating Officer.

(Revised August 2024)