Call for Cities
By: Brenda Sanderson
Tags: Ixda, Interaction Week, Interaction Design

IxDA is pleased to open the Call for Proposals for North American cities interested in hosting Interaction Week 2021, which includes the annual Interaction conference, a two-day Interaction Design Education Summit, the IxDA Student Design Charette, and the Interaction Awards ceremony. Each year, Interaction Week is held in February.

Since its inception in 2008, the Interaction conference has grown to be a significant and must-attend event for design professionals interested in the practice and discipline of interaction design and related fields. The Interaction conference, which is a sell-out event each year, is envisioned and created almost entirely by passionate volunteers from local design communities. In 2016, IxDA created the Interaction Week brand to recognize the integrated nature of the activities that take place each year around the conference. This year’s Interaction Week, held in Seattle, United States was a tremendous success, and we’re looking forward to Milan hosting a fantastic week in 2020.

Hosting Interaction Week will bring the world’s interaction design community to you. It is a great way to showcase your local design community, share your city’s unique voice in design, and expose local designers to the leading thinkers and practitioners in interaction design. It is also a great outlet for networking and recruitment with companies from around the world gaining access to a skilled practitioner base.

Timing for Submissions

All submissions are required no later than midnight GMT 30 Aug 2019

Review of submissions will take place 2–13 September 2019

Shortlist of locations presented to IxDA Board, 14 September 2019

Site visits of shortlisted candidates, September/October 2019

Final selection of location for Interaction Week 2021 will be made by 30 October 2019

The ideal host city candidate for Interaction Week will

Have an active IxDA local group

Feature a strong and vibrant design community, and unique contributions to the field of interaction design

Name a conference chair and co-chair, submitted with biographies. The chair/co-chair do not need to be local, but they need to be active in the field of design and present a strong vision for the Interaction Week events. (Leads for the Education Summit, Student Design Charette and Interaction Awards are selected through a separate process from the Call for Cities.)

Partner with a local design school with a strong interaction design program to support the Interaction Design Education Summit

Demonstrate an engaging conference experience for ~1500 attendees, including the potential venues, a range of convenient hotels and high-level conference logistics

Conference committees and the IxDA

Hosting an international conference is a significant undertaking. The IxDA is committed to providing guidance, support and infrastructure components to ensure continuity from the previous conferences and a strong foundation for the planning team.

Submitting your city

We encourage local interaction design communities to make a case for Interaction Week to be held in their city. The detailed requirements for proposals are outlined below, along with a summary of the submission guidelines, timing, review and selection process.

Should you have any questions about the process, the requirements, or the conference itself, please send an email to interaction@ixda.org. All questions relating to clarification of information surrounding this Call will be responded to publicly.

We look forward to your submissions!

Regards,

Alok Nandi

President, IxDA