Digital Government Society 

Call for Bids for hosting dg.o 2023 Conference

Oct 1, 2020

The Digital Government Society (DGS) hereby invites bids to host the 24nd Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research, known as dg.o, in year 2023. DGS is a global multi-disciplinary organization of scholars and practitioners interested in the development and impacts of digital government: https://dgsociety.org/

DG.O SITE SELECTION PROCEDURE

Each year, DGS appoints a committee to manage the conference site selection process, consisting of current and past board members and active members. The Site Selection Committee sends out the call for proposals through DGS outreach vehicles and is available to interested parties to answer questions. The Committee is responsible for collecting bids, conducting their evaluation according to the stated criteria, working closely with the bidding parties, and presenting their recommendation to the DGS Board. Final selection may involve a site visit by members of the Site Selection Committee to the location(s) of interest.

FACTS ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

Timeframe
The 3-days conference takes place each year during the late May or early June timeframe, avoiding national holidays and based on final date approval with the DGS Board.
Attendance
Attendance is typically between 100-150 people.
Venue
The conference is normally held on a university or college campus (who provide the meeting rooms for free and support the local organization).
Format
In total the conference runs four days. The conference begins with one full pre- conference day of workshops, tutorials and PhD Colloquium followed by an evening welcome reception. Two full days of conference activities include traditional plenary speakers, and topical tracks with both research papers and panels. The event includes one evening for a poster reception and one evening for a conference dinner. The fourth half-day (optional field trip) is comprised of cultural exchange and community networking activities including field trips to government or research facilities of interest to the conference participants or trips to local cultural sites.
Tracks
dg.o has recently adopted a track format; currently approximately 10 tracks are offered. Each track has at least two track chairs who work with the program chairs to manage the track. Tracks are based on an open call among DGS members.
Review Process and Acceptance Rate
Papers and posters are selected through a double-blind peer review process. Recent acceptance rates are close to 50% ensuring a high-quality program. Many conference papers go onto being published in leading journals. The program chairs organize a Government Information Quarterly (GIQ) special issue by selecting the best conference papers.

CONFERENCE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

General Chairs: The General Chairs, typically two or three, including one DGS representative and one from the organizing party, are responsible for overseeing operations of the conference. This responsibility, carried out through a conference committee, includes working with the DGS Board and liaising with the Local Arrangements Chair to develop the budget and registration materials; working with the Program and Local Arrangements Chairs to develop the schedule and program; working with the DGS Board to appoint supporting chairs to obtain outside funding, publicize the conference, and organize workshops, tutorials, student events, and demonstrations (none of these supporting nominations need to be included in the proposal); and coordinating the activities of the various chairs and their committees. General Chairs also have the opportunity to arrange keynote sessions. We encourage having a local keynote from the country in which the conference will be held. General Chairs participate each month in the DGS Board Meeting to update the Board on progress and to raise any issues or concerns regarding the conference planning.

Local Arrangements Chair: The Local Arrangements Chair, mostly members from the organizing party, is responsible for activities such as arranging meeting rooms, equipment, refreshments, housing, on-site registration, participant e-mail access, security for equipment, the reception, the poster/demo dinner, and working with the General Chair, and the DGS Board to develop the budget and registration materials. The Local Arrangements Chair often participates in the monthly DGS Board Meeting to update the Board on progress and to raise any issues or concerns regarding the conference planning.

Program Committee Chairs: The DGS Board selects the Program Committee Chairs, typically two, who are responsible for the processes of soliciting, receiving, and reviewing submissions; selecting the papers to be presented at the conference; notifying authors of acceptance or rejection; and developing the conference program.

Conference Committee: The Conference Committee, under the direction of and organized by the General Chairs, meets monthly beginning as early as possible after the preceding dg.o, and no later than the August following the preceding dg.o; the conference Committee for dg.o 2023, for example, should begin meeting no later than August of 2022. The Conference Committee is comprised of the General Chairs, local organizing chair, program chairs, doctoral colloquium chair, panel chair, workshop and tutorial chair, poster and demo chair, and several representatives of the DGS Board including the Treasurer and the Communication Committee Chair. Track chairs typically do not participate in the monthly calls, but are directly coordinated in their efforts by the Program Chairs.

dg.o Conference Elements Roles and Responsibilities

Conference Element
Responsibility and Process
Conference Organizing Committee
General Chairs and Program Chairs.
Call for papers, conference websites including submission and registration systems, management of submission and review, acceptance/rejection of papers, agenda and program setup, session chairing.
General Chairs and Program Chairs working with track chairs and other members of the conference committee and Board. dg.o uses EasyChair as a submission management system and has a robust registration system available as part of the DGS website.
Proceedings
Organized and produced by Program Chairs.
Invited Keynote talks
Typically, two or three Keynote speakers are arranged by Conference Chairs and DGS President. Lump sum for travel support negotiated with DGS Treasurer.
Ph.D. Colloquium.
Organized by Colloquium Chairs in coordination with Program Chairs.
Rooms, installations, A/V and other equipment
Organized and ideally, provided free of charge, by host.
On-site Administrative support for registration desk, technical support, and information desk
Staff of 3 to 5 individuals provided free of charge by host, with free registration to the conference.
Refreshments, including receptions, morning coffee, breaks, lunches and one conference dinner
Organized and operated by host.
Registration fees
Set by Treasurer, in consultation with host and DGS Board.
Budget plan
Jointly developed and maintained by DGS Treasurer and hosts.
Social program, conference dinner, field trip(s)
Organized by host.
Policy for waving fees
Determined by DGS Treasurer in consultation with Conference Chairs and Board.
Recruiting sponsorships
Responsibility of local host with assistance from DGS organizers and specially appointed Sponsorship Committee.

PROCESS AND TIMELINE

The bid process includes two deadlines; the first is for a draft proposal and the second, for selected bidders, a final proposal.

  • Letter of Intent (LOI): Submit one- or two-page letter of intent to host the conference with basic information on proposed location, dates, and intention by Nov 15, 2020. The committee will select two or three candidate The selected LOI will be invited to submit draft proposals.
  • Draft Bid Draft Bids are due to the DGS site committee chair on Feb 15, 2021. The Site Selection Committee makes a selection and recommends it for the DGS board approval. The committee chair will notify the selected bidders to submit the final proposals by April 1, 2021.
  • Final Bids. Final Bids are due to the DGS Treasurer on May 1, 2021.
  • Final Selection. The selection committee will review final bids according to the selection criteria and make recommendations to the DGS Board in its May board meeting. The DGS Board and the selection committee will notify the selected host about the decision by June 1, 2021, and will invite the final selected host to announce it at dg.o 2021.

BID REQUIREMENTS 

Letter of Intent (LOI): A letter on an official host organization’s letterhead expresses the intention to host the dg.o conference. A rationale why it may be beneficial to host the conference at its site may be expressed. Specify approximate dates and exact location of the host institution and who may lead/chair as local host.

Draft proposals and final proposals should include the following:

  • Proposed conference site (organization, affiliation, location)
  • Proposed dates
  • Proposed conference theme
  • Potential General Chair Candidates. The General Chair(s) must be someone other than the Local Organizational Chair, but can be someone from the same The DGS Board approval is required.
  • Names of the Local Conference team (chair/co-chair, committee, volunteer labor, registration handling)
  • General Description of site location (accessibility; conference venue, attractions, safety, )
  • Hotels or university accommodations, e.g., hotels, motels, student dorms)
  • Description of conference facilities in terms of the fit with the traditional dg.o conference format and room requirements.
    • Plenary session space
    • Tutorial and workshop space
    • Capacity of break-out rooms for parallel sessions
    • Space for Poster/Demo dinner/reception
    • Space for Welcome reception
    • Social space for breaks, networking and parallel meetings
    • Possible field trip locations/attractions
  • Describe any suggested changes to the traditional conference format and how such changes would be supported, for example, in terms of facilities, logistics and costs.
  • Estimated cost of A/V equipment.
  • Description of available food/entertainment/banquet/receptions and estimated costs.
  • Description of the strategy to be used for external fundraising efforts and the local capabilities available to support these efforts (e.g., sponsorships and potential sponsors).
  • Note the availability of any startup funding and support available at host institution to facilitate conference planning. The conference venue is sponsored by the host institution or other sponsors to lower the registration costs.
  • Provide cost and revenue estimates for 100, 125 and 150 attendees.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Proposals will be evaluated according to the following site selection criteria (unordered):

Local Site

  • Accessibility (particularly travel) and attractiveness of proposed site.
  • Geographical and national balance, considering conference location sequence.
  • Experience of local arrangements team.
  • Adequacy of conference and exhibit facilities for the anticipated number of registrants.
  • Adequacy of residence accommodations and food services in a range of price categories and close to the conference facilities.
  • Budgetary viability.

Timing

  • Appropriateness of proposed dates.

Budget

  • Adequacy of budget, support from local host and projections of expected surplus (typically about $6000) to be transferred to DGS.

Practitioner Network

  • Extent of network with government: federal, state and/or local and likelihood that such network connections will result in local practitioner participation in the conference.
  • Nature of support from local, state/provincial, and national level government including but not limited to financial, speakers, registered participants and access to cultural, government and research facilities.

Support from the local community – industry, media, etc.

  • Nature and extent of likely support from the relevant industries including but not limited to financial, speakers, registered participants and access to cultural, industry and research facilities.
  • Nature and extent of likely support from local press, civil society, historical and other societies and other relevant professional and community organizations and associations.

To contact the Site Selection Committee by email:

DGS Site Selection Committee

Marijn Janssen (Chair), Andrea Kavanaugh (member), Luis Luna-Reyes (member), Sehl Mellouli (member)

Contact information: m.f.w.h.a.janssen@tudelft.nl