2003 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MACHINE LEARNING
ICML-03
CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The Twentieth International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) will be held in 2003. The purpose of this call is to invite groups interested in organizing and hosting the conference to submit proposals. The group selected to run the conference will be given full authority and responsibility for producing the conference.

The site for the meeting normally rotates among western North America, eastern North America, and outside North America. According to this rotation schedule, in 2003 the conference should be held in western North America.

Proposals from other regions will be considered, but they should present a reason for breaking the normal rotation. For example, proposals to co-locate with other AI conferences, such as COLT, UAI, KDD, AAAI, and IJCAI, will be given careful consideration regardless of their location.

Proposals should address the following issues:

1. Co-location. A properly organized co-location of ICML with closely related conferences such as COLT, UAI, or KDD, greatly facilitates exchanges between these communities and enriches the conferences involved. If you propose co-locating with another conference, describe how local arrangements will be coordinated. Will the conferences be physically separate or held in the same location? Will they overlap (in time) with the other conference(s)? Will there be a discount for joint registration? The proposal should indicate that initial contact with the organizers of the other conference(s) has been made, and that all parties have approved (in principle) the general plan for co-location.
2. Organization and Format. In some years, the conference has been organized as a set of parallel workshop sessions. In other years, we have had a single plenary session accompanied by a poster session. The most popular format in recent years has involved a mixture of plenary sessions and parallel sessions along with a day of specialized workshops and tutorials. Please indicate what format you would like to have and how you would arrange the schedule to suit the format.

   Briefly describe the management structure for the conference, and name the key personnel such as the program and the local arrangements chairmen. In the past, review of papers has been conducted by a Program Committee selected by the organizers with the help of a general Advisory Committee made up of organizers of past conferences and other senior researchers. Please indicate what organization you would employ. If you propose co-locating with another conference, indicate how the two organizing bodies will interact.

3. Local Parameters.
   • Accessibility. Is it easy and inexpensive for people (especially graduate students) to travel to the conference site? (Compute mean airfares from some major cities in Europe and North America.)
   • Meeting Rooms, AV Equipment, etc. What are the physical facilities like?
   • Meals and Lodging. Is there low-cost, quality housing available for attendees (especially graduate students)? How far from the meeting rooms? Where will attendees eat?
   • Demo facilities. Will there be computing equipment and space available to support demos?
4. Local Machine Learning Community. Is there a local ML group/community that can help with organization and funding?
5. Organizational and Financial Support. Can the host institution(s) provide support for registration and financial management (e.g., credit card payments, accounting, etc.). How will the conference be funded? Provide a draft budget covering expenses, expected registration fee schedule, and sources of financial support. In previous years, funding has been obtained from federal granting agencies, corporations, and universities.
6. Proceedings. The proposal should indicate how the proceedings will be published.

If you are considering submitting a proposal, please contact Ray Mooney, at mooney@cs.utexas.edu. before November 15, 2001. The final deadline for submission of completed proposals is December 15, 2001. Submissions should be sent electronically (email and/or web pages). The choice of organizers will be made by the board of the International Machine Learning Society (which is presently being formed, see IMLS Election).