The CMWC host city selection process
Basic Information
The CMWC host city selection is a two-stage process taking place over a period of 2 years/CMWCs, the intent of which is to allow for a longer planning period, while realizing that 2 years is perhaps too much advance notice for organizers to effectively be able to anything beyond thresh out ideas for the first of those 2 years. There is only so much that a potential host city can do in the first of those 2 years, and much of that will be tentative anyhow, and preparations should be made so that it is both easily discarded (or rescheduled to bid for the next available CMWC, if so desired) in the event of not winning the bid, and easily built upon in the event of winning the CMWC bid.
Initial Proposals (2 year lead time)
The deadline for submission of draft proposals for CMWC events is at the second open forum at the CMWC two years in advance of the CMWC being bid for. Draft proposals are not full-blown proposals, but should take into account the following Requirements and Suggestions
After this deadline, bidding for the CMWC year in question will be closed. Draft proposals should simply be presented at the open forum, and the proposing cities recorded and announced for all to note. Proposing cities should do what they can to make information available concerning their intentions to anyone who may be interested.
It should be noted that precedent has been set that should only one city propose for a given CMWC, they will “win” by default (barring withdrawal of their proposal).
Anything that can be done in this first year based on the possibility of holding the desired CMWC should be done. Between submission of draft proposals and the final decision, full and detailed proposals should be laid out by the hopeful host cities, and actions should be taken to investigate such things as street closure permits, other permits, sponsorship possibilities, and budgetary needs. Basically, this is a year for the potential host city to “put their money where their mouth is.”
Final Bids (1 year lead time)
Presentation of final, complete proposals will be a two-part process. First, the bidding cities shall present their final proposals online, to the messengers.org forum and the messengers@dccourier.com mailing list, no less than one month in advance of the CMWC Open Forum. Second, final proposals in print form shall be made available at the CMWC, to be distributed in racer packets at registration, and shall reflect these Requirements and Suggestions. The final decision is based on the efforts and accomplishments of the proposing cities over the preceding year.
Presentation of final CMWC proposals at the open forum should not turn into debate at any time, but should remain just that – a presentation.
At the open forum, each potential host city should simply give a short presentation, which is then followed by a short question and answer session. These presentations should be of equal length, and the order in which presentations are given should be randomly selected.
Exceptions – Late proposals:
The only circumstance under which late proposals are accepted is in the event of all bidding cities dropping out of the running. It is not necessary for these empty slots to be filled, but it is in the best interest of a CMC that there be competition for the host city. (Precedent: CMWC 2000 – Amsterdam, Denver and Guatemala dropped proposals, Boston and Budapest bid at CMWC 1999; CMWC 2001 – Bremen dropped proposal, Paris bid @ CMWC 2000. )
Such replacement proposals shall be accepted up through the Open Forum at the CMWC at which the host city decision for the year in question will be taken. Late proposals being accepted under any other circumstance would be counterproductive and unfair to those cities which have bid in good faith at the proper time.
Those who would propose after the cutoff point (without this exception being met) should wait for the next year. It should be noted that we do not encourage the withdrawal of host city bids, but that sometimes circumstances make this necessary.