Organizing IDA

The IDA Council welcomes proposals for organizing future IDA symposia. When preparing a proposal, prospective organizers should keep in mind 1) the specific characteristics of IDA symposia, and 2) the guidelines for proposals, as outlined in the next sections.

Proposals for IDA 202(x+1) should be submitted by January 202x, so that there is sufficient time for the Council to provide feedback and make a decision in March, before IDA 202x; the goal is to have future organizers announce and present IDA 202(x+1) during IDA 202x.

Proposals and/or enquiries should be sent to council@ida-society.org.

About IDA symposia

Distinguishing characteristics and objectives of IDA are:

  • IDA accepts all inspiring papers for both (oral or poster) presentation and publication.
  • IDA promotes ideas over performance (wonder how? see below).
  • In order to create an open atmosphere that encourages discussion, IDA symposia are intentionally small-scale and single-track.
  • IDA is still about the science.

Further, the format of IDA symposia includes:

  • At least three exciting invited horizon talks, part of which is interdisciplinary.
  • Frontier Prize for the most visionary contribution.
  • Regular paper track, with LNCS proceedings.
  • Dedicated PhD Poster & Video track for PhD students (informal; no publication).
  • An exciting 2.5–3 day scientific and social program (e.g., welcome reception, poster session(s), conference banquet, city walk, farewell party).

The IDA Council encourages proposals for creative innovations or other improvements on the existing format. Workshops and/or special issues (of a journal) do not fit the symposium series.

Ideas over performance

IDA uses different acceptance criteria and reviewer guidelines than most conferences in the field. We solicit full papers, which will be peer reviewed following criteria that emphasize novelty and relevance over other factors. Further, any paper for which at least one Program Committee Advisor writes an informed, thoughtful, and positive review will be accepted irrespective of other reviews.

Guidelines for proposals

When preparing a proposal, prospective organizers are encouraged to first and foremost make sure that their proposal honors IDA's characteristics and objectives as described above. In addition, it is strongly recommended to take the following guidelines into account.

  • Symposium dates and timeline
    • From 2020 onwards IDA is organised end of April (± 2 weeks; in the middle between Eastern and Pentecost). Stick to that for consistency and visibility.
    • This implies a timeline with a submission deadline mid to late November.
    • There is a detailed IDA timeline to help organizers keep track of what and when to do; this timeline is available to prospective organizers upon request.
  • Organizing team
    • It is considered favorable if the key organizers have previously attended IDA, and some of them have been previously involved in the organization of IDA.
    • It is encouraged to compose a diverse organizing team, combining experienced with junior people from different backgrounds.
    • Keep the team compact; one General Chair and two Program Chairs should be sufficient. It is recommended to have two Publicity Chairs.
    • The two Frontier Prize Chairs should be former prize winners and/or former Program Chairs.
    • The organizers should be available to present IDA 202(x+1) at IDA 202x.
  • Location and venue
    • A venue in a central location, e.g., in the city centre, is preferred when possible, but note that IDA often uses university auditoria to keep the budget low (see Finances below).
    • The location should be easily reachable and have sufficient hotel capacity for various budgets.
  • Finances
    • Expect around 100 participants, but ideally risk should be minimized by having a break-even point with fewer participants.
    • IDA participants expect registration fees similar to:
      Category Early Late
      BSc/MSc/PhD student € 200 € 300
      Academic € 500 € 600
      Industry € 700 € 800
  • Publicity
    • Last but not least: publicity is crucial and needs a plan/roadmap.
    • Start early with publicity, i.e., in September or earlier (including call for papers).
    • Publicity media typically include a website, social media, mailing lists, and printed postcards and posters.
    • Publicity at related conferences is important. (E.g., distributing postcards at ECMLPKDD.)