[Infovis] Call for Bids to host IEEE VR Conferences

[VR Publicity]

*Call for Bids*. Once a year, the IEEE VR Publicity Committee sends to
relevant email mailing lists a “Call for Bids to host IEEE VR Conferences”.
In the Call for Bids, the IEEE VR Conference Steering Committee is reaching
out to our community to solicit interest for hosting future IEEE VR
Conferences. Bids can be submitted at any time throughout the year. Also,
the Steering Committee encourages those active in the IEEE VR community to
consider hosting a future IEEE VR conference. Those interested in hosting
the five-day conference should email the IEEE VR Steering Committee Chair,
J. Edward Swan II (swan at acm.org), a brief (one page) statement of interest.
The statement of interest should include information about potential hosts,
their previous participation with the IEEE VR Conference, potential
locations (cities, convention facilities), possible years for hosting, the
capacity of the area to support the conference (hotels and options for
international travel), and previous conference organizing experience.

At the IEEE VR Conference, the Call for Bids is reiterated during the
closing conference remarks.



*Consideration of Bids.* The IEEE VR Steering Committee meets regularly to
discuss conference organizing and management topics. During these meetings,
the committee reviews the submitted bids. The committee uses the following
criteria in evaluating bids:

● Previous experience of hosts in IEEE VR leadership positions (e.g.,
conference organizing and program committees) using data collected from
previous conferences.

● Previous experience of hosts in managing large conferences.

● Potential of location and host to successfully host a large event with
(400–1000+) international attendees along with a growing (likely 1000+)
number of online attendees.

● There is a preference (but not a requirement) that a hosting location
meets a 3-year rotation of the Americas, Europe / Africa, and Asia /
Oceania.

● A goal for diversity in representation, research perspectives, and
research areas.



The committee votes on potential hosting locations for future VR
conferences. The top group(s) are asked to develop more extensive proposals
to be presented at the IEEE VR Steering Committee meeting held during the
IEEE VR conference. A final decision is usually made at the conference, and
future conference hosts are put in contact with current hosts to help pass
along critical conference organization information and experience. It is
the Steering Committee’s goal to have IEEE VR conference hosting locations
established at least two years in advance.



The upcoming and previous IEEE VR conference locations:

● IEEE VR 2024 Orlando, Florida, USA

● IEEE VR 2023 Shanghai, P.R. China

● IEEE VR 2022 Christchurch, New Zealand

● IEEE VR 2021 Lisbon, Portugal

● IEEE VR 2020 Atlanta, Georgia, USA

● IEEE VR 2019 Osaka, Japan

● IEEE VR 2018 Reutlingen, Germany

● IEEE VR 2017 Los Angeles, California, USA

● IEEE VR 2016 Greenville, South Carolina, USA

● IEEE VR 2015 Arles, Carmargue-Provence, France

● IEEE VR 2014 Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

● IEEE VR 2013 Orlando, Florida, USA

● IEEE VR 2012 Orange County, California, USA

● IEEE VR 2011 Singapore

● IEEE VR 2010 Waltham, Massachusetts, USA

● IEEE VR 2009 Lafayette, Louisiana, USA

● IEEE VR 2008 Reno, Nevada, USA

● IEEE VR 2007 Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

● IEEE VR 2006 Alexandria, Virginia, USA

● IEEE VR 2005 Bonn, Germany

● IEEE VR 2004 Chicago, Illinois, USA

● IEEE VR 2003 Los Angeles, California, USA

● IEEE VR 2002 Orlando, Florida, USA

● IEEE VR 2001 Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

● IEEE VR 2000 New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

● IEEE VR 1999 Houston, Texas, USA

● IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium 1998
Atlanta, Georgia, USA

● IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium 1997
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

● IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium 1996 Santa Clara,
California, USA

● IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium 1995
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

● IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium 1993
Seattle, Washington, USA

● IEEE Research Frontiers in Virtual Reality 1993
San Jose, California, USA



*The process used to select the general and program chairs*. The IEEE VR
Steering Committee selects the general and program chairs for the IEEE VR
Conference. To select the chairs, the IEEE VR Steering Committee applies a
data-driven methodology to identify and invite candidates. The IEEE VR
Steering Committee begins the selection process in March. The goal is to
staff all committees rapidly.

The IEEE VR General Chairs are a combination of (usually one to two) people
who are hosting the conference along with chairs that hosted the IEEE VR
conference the previous year. This combination of new and returning chairs
enables expertise and experience to be carried over from previous
conferences. This year, the IEEE VR 2023 General Chairs (Xubo Yang and Kun
Zhou) have been joined by two IEEE VR 2022 General Chairs (Tobias Langlotz
and Stephan Lukosch) to improve the preparation and organization of the
conference.

The IEEE VR Program Chairs are a combination of people who are invited by
the Steering Committee along with program chairs from previous IEEE VR
conferences. New program chairs are selected by first rank-ordering recent
conference organization committee membership and international program
committee membership. Then, the geographical location and background of
researchers are also considered, with a goal to form a group of diverse and
representative chairs that are well-versed with the paper submission and
review process.

The steering committee sends out invitations to the general and program
chairs selected. If people decline the invitation, the committee invites
the next candidates from the ranking given the desired makeup of the final
committee.



*The process used to select members of the steering committee. *The IEEE VR
Steering Committee is composed of members who serve six- to seven-year
terms. New committee members are considered each year to replace a retiring
member or to expand the committee to manage the expanding growth and
complexity of the IEEE VR community and conference. Potential steering
committee invitees are selected from a rank-ordering of recent conference
organization committee membership and international program committee
membership. In particular, IEEE VR conference hosting is valued. The
geographical location and background of researchers are also considered.
The goal is to form a diverse and representative committee with a global
perspective of the IEEE VR conference.

The committee recognizes that there are still many areas underrepresented
in the IEEE VR community. In recent years, three initiatives have begun to
improve representation: the committees increasingly are using data on
participation and contribution to the community to make informed decisions,
have increased documentation of the processes employed in awards and
conference leadership selection (through archived statements such as this
one), and have developed a mentorship initiative to develop leadership
skills amongst our newer and junior members in the IEEE VR community. Our
goal is to establish a process of leadership development to make
opportunities more available to a broader global community.



(This information also appears in the front matter of the VR 2023
Conference Proceedings)

-- On behalf of the IEEE VR steering committee