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Call for Locations

World Information Architecture Day is a one-day annual celebration hosted by the Information Architecture Institute and held in dozens of locations across the world. We are a community of like-minded professionals and enthusiasts who share the common goal of teaching, learning, and shaping the future of information architecture. Because of the ubiquitous nature of information, we see information architecture is not just practiced by specialists. Instead, information is architected by people holding all sorts of titles, coming from all walks of life.

Each year, a new theme is selected, new locations are added, and our community continues to grow as more people from all over the world join this truly global celebration of information architecture.

Want to bring World IA Day to your community?

Here’s some information on how to get started.

Chances are you’ve been to a World IA Day event, and watched World IA Day talks online. Now you want to start a WIAD event in your city – great! Answer the call for locations below to tell us more about you, your community and why you want to bring World IA Day to your community.

Deadline: June 30. Location organizers have been notified by the second week of July. We are accepting rolling applications. Please email us at global@worldiaday.org

Organizing a World IA Day Event

‘Whether you have 10 people in a coffee shop or 300 in a theater, your goal is the same; provide a place and time to discuss and learn about information architecture.’
Abby Covert, Co-founder of World IA Day

Frequently Asked Questions

What does it mean to be a local organizer?

Each World IA Day celebration is hosted by one or more individuals. You will represent your location by leading a team and organizing the celebration.

Location organizers are in charge of all the details for the local celebration such as:

  • Securing a venue for the celebration. It could be a conference hall, an educational institution, or a coffee shop.
  • Curating presentations or other content that promote an understanding of IA preferably in the context of our selected global theme.
  • Funding the celebration. We encourage events of all sizes, shapes and forms. From small informal gatherings to large conference style events, it is up to you and what you feel will work in your community.
  • Leading a local team (including a photographer and videographer).
  • Marketing the celebration to your community.
  • Maintaining open communication and a participatory spirit with the IA Institute and the Global Team.

What is the time commitment?

It depends on the size of your celebration and how you structure your team. Some locations with larger celebrations spend on average about 40 hours per month. Other locations hold small gatherings which equate to 5 hours per month.

The commitment runs from July to March and in most cases we offer local organizers the opportunity to renew their commitment each year.

What qualities do you look for?

We are a community of like-minded professionals and enthusiasts who share the common goal of teaching, learning, and shaping the future of Information Architecture. We do this out of passion and not for financial gain. If this sounds like you, we encourage you to apply.

You may be the lead organizer for your WIAD event, but we highly recommend that you recruit a co-organizer and or a dynamic team of decision-makers to help you.  World IA Day is a community event where building communities, empowering leaders, and growing together have been our driving principles since the beginning. Having a co-organizer or team will strengthen your application.

Is the application accepted on a first come, first serve basis?

No, not necessarily. Each location has to reapply annually and we value the relationships we have built along the way. If more than one individual applies for the same location, we encourage collaboration but reserve the right to select organizers based on their existing contributions to the community at large.

Each location must have a unique organizer. We do not permit one person to run multiple celebrations.

My location is small. Can I still apply?

Yes. If your location is small, which could include living in a smaller town or a less populous region, we would love to have you apply. Celebrations of any size are welcome. You may want to check last year's locations to see if there was a celebration nearby.

Can there be more than one event per location?

No. We encourage members of the community who have a shared interest in bringing World IA Day to their location to work together collaboratively. The general rule of thumb is to ask yourself whether another celebration in your region would cause competition for resources and attendees.

After I apply, how soon should I expect to hear from you?

We will close our call for locations on the third Monday in June. We expect to notify our selected location organizers by July 1st.

Are evets always free?

We encourage our celebrations to remain free and open to anyone that can attend. However, because of the global nature of World IA Day, we understand there may be different needs within each community and are open to locations asking for a reasonable fee from attendees to help cover the expense of their celebration. We will ask that you to submit your proposed ticket price to the Global team. Admission must always be affordable to all and the funds should go towards operating costs. The idea of World IA Day is to be sustainable, which is a different goal than to be profitable. If your celebration takes in more money than it cost to put on, the expectation is that "overage" goes back to the World IA Day Grant Fund to help support next year's celebrations. We will have more details on this process in July.

What support should I expect as a local organizer?

World IA Day is supported by the Information Architecture Institute and a dedicated team of volunteers. We are here for you and have structured our Global Team to help support locations around the world. Each of our locations receives resources (e.g. brand assets, slides templates, sample marketing materials, a location page on our website, an email address etc.), guidelines and learnings from other locations, and access to an internal message board used by all location organizers worldwide.

Can I reach out to potential sponsors, venues or speakers before applying?

Yes. Committed sponsors, venues and speakers will strengthen your application. However, our expectation is that you are clear, explaining that you do not officially represent World IA Day and are applying to host a celebration in your location.
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