At least two years to eighteen months BEFORE the conference:
Confirm availability of space and administrative support/budgeting at host institution.
Confirm availability of hotel rooms. (Hotels will not usually be able to give a group rate more than a year out.)
Formally propose to host the meeting in a letter to the ACIS vice-president and/or executive.
Establish a local committee, set tentative theme, approach possible plenary speakers.
If realistic, request a course release with your institution during the semester in which the conference will occur.
Establish a web presence for the conference. For ease of management, it is best to have a page on the host institution’s site, to which the ACIS site links to. However, if this is not possible for your institution, please contact the ACIS Web Editor for other options.
One year before the conference:
The conference host should attend the National ACIS meeting and speak briefly at the general meeting and executive committee meeting.
Confirm plenary speakers.
Arrange with the organizer of the meeting preceding yours to include a collateral piece announcing the next year’s conference in every conference packet.
Extend courtesy invitations to the president of the host university, the Irish Ambassador to the United States, and other dignitaries.
Ask the national treasurer to issue you a check for support of the conference.
This can be issued immediately after the meting preceding yours.
Establish a conference account number to which expenses can be charged and revenue deposited.
Estimate your space needs and reserve rooms with the facilities scheduling office at your school.
Contact the Irish consul in your region about hosting a reception.
By August 1 of the year before the conference:
Distribute the call for papers to ACIS membership through the web site, the ACIS Newsletter, and such outlets as IASIL, CAIS, and the various list serves.
Five to six months before the start of the conference:
Close paper acceptances.
Begin setting out a preliminary schedule for the conference (how many simultaneous sessions/ meeting rooms will you need, which plenary speakers on which days, etc.)
Notify proposers that their paper has been accepted or declined. It is generally easier to do this in a bolus, rather than on a rolling basis.
You will receive considerable pressure from some attendees to be told exactly when a paper is scheduled. The general rule is to do so the sooner the better—but realistically, you may not be able to give a time until about two months before the opening date.
One month before the conference:
Provide the ACIS secretary/treasurer with list of expected attendees, so that they can go through and note those who are not paid-up members. The ACIS executive, and not the conference host, takes the responsibility for enforcing the membership requirement.