The Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) has as a central goal for its organisation the support of an international conference on digital gaming. Two world conferences have taken place, the first in Utrecht, the Netherlands (2003), the second in Vancouver, Canada (2005), see: www.gamesconference.org.

It is intended that DiGRA organises a conference at least once in every two years and this document is a call for proposals for a committee and location to host the next of DiGRA’s international games research conferences in 2006-2007. In addition to the wide and interdisciplinary games research conference (DiGRA 2007), more thematically focused smaller events are also being considered this time, particularly in 2006, when there is no main DiGRA conference taking place.

Institutions wishing to put themselves forward should consider the following aims of DiGRA when putting their proposal together and highlight how the event they would organise would achieve these:

• To support digital games research as an interdisciplinary field
• To encourage dialogue between researchers, practitioners, commercial organisations and policy makers
• To support digital gaming students and curriculum development
• To disseminate work produced by the association’s community

DiGRA is keen to receive proposals that tackle these issues in an innovative manner and build upon established conference practices.

It is envisaged that DiGRA conferences will each have a central theme but that this will in no way comprise the inclusiveness of research into digital gaming from a wide range of researchers, disciplines and empirical domains.

To support this, DiGRA places emphasis on the rigorous and appropriate peer review for abstracts submitted to the conference and the support of ethical practice. Proposers are recommended to read the current version of DiGRA’s guidelines for peer review.

There is no compulsory format for conference hosting proposals but is it highly recommended that they deal with the following:

Venue:

• Location: Institution, town/city, country.
• Background: What is the host city like? Attractions for visitors?
• Entertainment options: Location for visiting other areas before/after conference? Proximity to local game industries or other relevant sites?
• Venue: Description, facilities, access, lecture theatres, meeting rooms,
  exhibition space, technical resources, etc.

• Programme structure
• Overview of themes
• Draft Call for Papers
• Type of abstracts requested and review process
• Potential keynote/plenary speakers
• Special events: any special thematic days and/or collaborative events organised in connection to the conference?
• Social events: What? When? Where? Are they particularly digital gaming relevant or locally typical?
• Delegate packs: Contents. Proceedings.

Travel and Accommodation:

• Distance from international airport/s?
• Access by bus, cab, coach, train, etc
• Travel between conference venue and accommodation
• Estimated travel costs from a range of major cities
• Costs & Finance (in €,US$ as well as in local currency)
• Conference registration: Full & Day rates, student rates, DiGRA member rates (Note: it is now adopted as a standard practise that a DiGRA membership will be included in the DiGRA conference registration fee, monies directed afterwards to the association by the organiser, thereby guaranteeing its basic funding and continuity; those conference delegates who are already DiGRA members will have a lower rate)
• Accommodation: Description, university/hotel options, location in relation to conference venue, facilities, capacity, etc. Per person, room share scheme? Discount for DiGRA delegates?
• Meals/Conference Dinner
• How will booking be handled?

• Conference committee: Details of organisers, responsibilities, administrative support, etc. It is expected than key individuals in the proposal and proposed conference committee will hold current DiGRA membership.
• Scientific committee: Details of lead researchers, practitioners and policy makers who have agreed to sit on an international committee.
• Short research biographies. Plan for coordination of duties within committees as well as with DiGRA executive board; estimate of deadlines for conference planning schedule.
• Institutional support: Level and nature of department/institution
  involvement and funding.
• Additional support: Details of finance, facilities, sponsorship or other
  involvement from additional organisations at a regional, national or international level.
• Dates: Proposed conference dates, deadline for abstracts, etc. (It is strongly recommended that proposers avoid dates conflicting with events such as E3, GDC, GDCe, ECTS, ISAGA, SIGGRAPH, CHI, etc)

• Conference proceedings: How will they be made available – in book format and/or electronically? When will they be available to delegate? (Note that all DiGRA conference papers need to be archived in the online DiGRA Digital Library, and conference organisers are expected to collaborate in this.)
• Publications: Are special editions of journals planned for after the conference? Are publishing contracts for edited collections planned? How will edit these? What is he planned timescale?
• How will conference publicity be planned?

It is recommended that proposers produce a simple business plan to estimate incoming and outgoing monies for the conference depending on different levels of attendance and financial support. Issues such as how any loss will be accounted for should be dealt with, as DiGRA cannot currently offer any financial guarantee. Procedures should be in place so that in the event that the conference makes a profit DiGRA will receive 30% of this. The association will use this towards developing funds to support conference costs for some students or researchers coming from economically unstable countries.

There will be more details in the Conference License Agreement that will be signed by the representatives of the conference organiser and the association, this signing happening before the actual conference arrangements will go forward.

Completed proposals or general enquires about the conference hosting call, and details of the Licence Agreement etc. should be directed to Jason Rutter (Jason.Rutter@manchester.ac.uk) and Frans Mäyrä (frans.mayra@uta.fi).

Finally, if you haven’t organised an international conference before do not underestimate the time and resources it consumes. Think carefully about your organisational network and distribution of labour as well as contingency plans for if your people or funding arrangements change.