[agents] Call for bids to host AAMAS 2025

[Sanmay Das]

CALL FOR BIDS TO HOST AAMAS-2025

This is a call for bids to host the 24th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS) in 2025. We will consider bids from all geographical regions; however, for 2025 we particularly encourage bids from North America.

Bids should be made by individuals or small groups, with the backing of a host institution (typically a university or research center).  Please note that we seek bids from volunteers from the scientific community, though they may be supported by paid meeting professionals.

All correspondence regarding bids should be directed to the chair of the IFAAMAS Conference Bid Committee, Yevgeniy Vorobeychik (yvorobeychik at wustl.edu).  You are strongly encouraged to get in touch well before the deadline and before drafting a full proposal, to let us know of your intention to submit a bid and to discuss any questions you may have.

The deadline for submitting a bid is *September 23, 2022*.


BACKGROUND

The initial AAMAS conference was held in July 2002 in Bologna, Italy, as a joint event comprising the 6th International Conference on Autonomous Agents (AA), the 5th International Conference on Multiagent Systems (ICMAS), and the 9th International Workshop on Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages (ATAL).

Subsequent AAMAS conferences have been held in Melbourne, Australia (July 2003); New York City, NY, USA (July 2004); Utrecht, The Netherlands (July 2005); Hakodate, Japan (May 2006); Honolulu, Hawaii, USA (May 2007); Estoril, Portugal (May 2008); Budapest, Hungary (May2009); Toronto, Canada (May 2010); Taipei, Taiwan (May 2011); Valencia, Spain (June 2012); Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA (May 2013); Paris, France (May 2014); Istanbul, Turkey (May 2015); Singapore (May 2016); Sao Paulo, Brazil (May 2017); Stockholm, Sweden (July 2018); and Montreal, Canada (July 2019).  Due to COVID-19, AAMAS was held virtually in May 2020, May 2021, and May 2022. The current plans are for it to take place in London, England in May 2023, and in Auckland, New Zealand in May 2024.

AAMAS is firmly established as the largest and most influential conference in the area of autonomous agents and multiagent systems, routinely attracting several hundreds of participants. The conferences  include a variety of activities, such as plenary keynote talks, 
parallel sessions with contributed talks, poster sessions, associated  workshops, tutorials, and social events.

AAMAS is the flagship conference of the non-profit International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (IFAAMAS); the Foundation's website provides links to the past conferences.  The Foundation's Board of Directors is elected by the AAMAS research community, membership in which is defined on the basis of attendance  at AAMAS conferences. For more information on IFAAMAS, please refer to http://www.ifaamas.org/.

IFAAMAS underwrites the conference. The IFAAMAS Board can provide advance payments as might be necessary for booking venues. The Board seeks neither to obtain a surplus nor a deficit, but wishes to shepherd the community's funds with the best care.

The Board has well-defined processes not only for selecting conference hosting bids, but also for nominating and selecting general and program chairs. The general chairs fill out the remaining organizing committee positions. Those wishing to participate in an AAMAS conference in any capacity should contact a Board member for advice.



CONSTRAINTS ON TIMING AND SIZE

Regarding timing, the Board has a strong preference for May 2025. Based on past experience and trends, we expect the attendance of AAMAS-2025 to be between 600 and 800 people. Plenary sessions need to be scheduled in a sufficiently large hall.

In recent years, AAMAS has included the following components:

* a main conference program of 2.5-3 days (Wednesday to Friday), including: 

  - 6 parallel presentation sessions
  - poster sessions with up to 180 posters at a time
  - an opening reception with an entertainment program
  - a banquet including an entertainment program and awards ceremonies

* a pre-conference program of two days (Monday and Tuesday) consisting of several workshops and requiring around 20 rooms.

However, the IFAAMAS board, as well as the conference chairs may consider alternative formats for the conference in the future that are more asynchronous/hybrid, such as combining pre-recorded, virtual, and actual talks during sessions, as well as an increased level of interactive engagement during conference sessions.  Please describe how you would handle alternative/non-conventional conference formats.

Hosts can sometimes lower expenses by using university facilities for the pre-conference programs, even in case this is not possible for the main conference. This is strongly encouraged whenever possible.




BID CONTENT AND PURPOSE

Bids are geared towards determination of responsibility for local arrangements and designation of a Local Arrangements Chair. Bids will be reviewed by the IFAAMAS Conference Committee and Board.

A bid should consist of a short statement that explains why you meet the criteria listed below. A bid should include estimates of the following expenses:

* charges for the conference venue 
* charges for food and drinks (coffee, lunches, reception, banquet) 
  for 700 attendees 
* typical hotel and student housing costs 
* airfares from a few cities (Beijing, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, New Delhi, New York, São Paulo, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Toronto)

To ease the work of the Conference Committee, please express all prices mentioned in the bid in US dollars. Where applicable, please also state the exchange rate used to translate from prices in the local currency to dollars.

Each bid should identify the proposed team of organizers, and include full contact details. The bid should be led by a member of the scientific community (i.e., an active researcher in the field served by AAMAS), who should remain available to respond to clarification requests, which often come up during review.

The bid document submitted should not exceed 20 pages.



CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING AAMAS BIDS

The following criteria will be used for evaluation:

Site Location: attractiveness to conference attendees, as well as those accompanying the attendees (i.e., nearby attractions, tours, and restaurants). Will people want to attend?

Transportation: location with respect to major air routes and local transportation (trains, buses, automobiles). Since AAMAS attracts world-wide participation, it is important that the venue be conveniently reachable for international attendees. Please include information on visa requirements and procedures. 

Affordability: will it be possible to limit the costs associated with the organization of the conference so as to be able to offer affordable registration fees to participants? Fees will be determined together with the IFAAMAS Board, but bidders may wish to indicate possible measures for minimizing costs already at the proposal stage. Please include an estimate of regular and student registration fees.
 
Dates: relation to possibly conflicting special or local holidays,  conflicting or synergistic conventions, or special events at the same time or immediately before or after the conference.

Climate and Season: particularly as these factors affect (1) the availability of rooms and rate structure (and provide some negotiating edge with the hotels); and (2) attendance by the local community.

Facilities: quantity, quality, flexibility, availability of meeting rooms, meeting support services, and exhibition hall. This factor is linked to the choice of accommodation, as it may be desirable to co-locate meeting facilities and accommodation. Please include preliminary information regarding any space and equipment rental fees that may be incurred by the conference.

Support for Online Attendance: quality of support for virtual conference components and attendance.  Please include preliminary plans for providing such support.

Accommodation: ability to accommodate the anticipated numbers of conference attendees, with a range of income levels. In other words, accommodation options should range from business or luxury hotels to student housing. Please include approximate figures for hotel room rates as well as any student housing options.

Experience: ability of the local organizers in organizing and handling projects of comparable size and complexity. The use of a professional conference organization company may be included as part of the bid, with associated estimated costs, benefits and suitability.

Supportive Scientific Community: the presence of regional and local research communities to support the conference and which will benefit from its occurrence. Interest of the community in hosting or supporting synergistic co-located conferences.

Backing of Host Institution: does the organizers' institution support the conference? Host institutions sometimes can provide free or low-cost facilities for the entire conference or for the pre-conference program. They can loan equipment such as projectors and wireless routers and provide access to housing facilities. The use of institutional facilities or equipment might constrain the schedule, but that might be a worthwhile trade-off.

Supportive Local Industry: is there local or national industry that may be willing to support the conference in some way? Please estimate how many participants the conference would attract from the local industry, as well as potential local industry sponsorship opportunities (if any).

Supportive Local Government: is there a government agency, such as a Ministry of Science or a Ministry of Tourism, that may be willing to support the conference in some way?

Availability of Volunteers: availability of an active local group willing to help before, during, and after the conference.

Special Needs Arrangements: ability to accommodate various special needs of participants, including dietary restrictions (e.g., Kosher, Halal, vegetarian, vegan) and physical disabilities (e.g., wheelchair access, facilities for individuals with hearing/visual impairments).

Childcare Arrangements: plans for childcare arrangements for participants who come with children.

Visa: discussion about how easy it is to obtain a visa, what steps are required, and what restrictions there are (if any) to come to the conference in person.

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