IAIC Conference Franchise · SmartCity · MathAI

Become a City Chair

Run a flagship IAIC conference in your city. We bring the brand, the platform and the audience. You bring the room — and you keep most of what you build.

No upfront cost · Paid as you sell · Your city, your edition
Apply to chair a city See the full model →

You don't pay us. You earn from what you build.

There is no licence fee, no retainer, no upfront cost for a founding city. We don't ask you for money — we hand you a recognised conference brand, a platform that does all the heavy lifting, and our existing audience. You earn your share of every ticket and sponsorship you bring in, paid as the money is collected — not at the end.

The deal

We carry the risk. You carry the city.

A new event from scratch means an unknown brand, no platform, no audience, and your own cash on the line. As a City Chair you skip all four.

What IAIC gives you

  • The brand + endorsement — run under SmartCity or MathAI, backed by the International AI Committee. Instant credibility with sponsors and speakers.
  • The ENIGMA platform — registration, invoicing, badges, verifiable certificates. You build nothing technical.
  • Our audience — the IAIC member base, journal authors and existing waitlists, plus cross-promotion across our sites.
  • A proven playbook — programme template, sponsor tiers, timeline, marketing assets.
  • Programme-committee support — we help anchor your scientific committee and keynote line-up.
  • A title that travels — "Chair, SmartCity [your city]" + a seat on the IAIC organising network.

What you bring

  • Local sponsors — the relationships only someone on the ground has. This is where the real money is.
  • Ticket sales — your network, your university, your community.
  • The venue + the room — sourcing the space and running the day.
  • On-ground operations — logistics, local speakers, volunteers.
  • Energy — you're building your own edition, not doing a gig.
Economics

You keep the majority — and you get paid early

Money flows through the ENIGMA platform first (IAIC issues the invoices). Your share is released to you as each ticket batch and sponsorship is collected — so a sponsor you close in month one pays you in month one, not in December.

Revenue stream
You keep
IAIC / platform
Sponsorships where your local relationships matter most
60–70%
30–40%
Ticket sales delegate, student & group passes
50–60%
40–50%
Registration data + brand
retained by IAIC

Exact split is set per city in your City Chair Agreement and depends on the operating model (satellite forum vs. full edition). Founding cities get the most favourable terms. One gold sponsor (typically $2,500–10,000) already makes the effort worth it — and your upside is uncapped.

Who we're looking for

Builders, not contractors

This model rewards people who want the title, the network and the upside — not a salary. If that's you, the lack of an upfront fee is the point: you own your edition.

🎓

Academics & PhDs

"Chair, SmartCity [city]" is a real CV line, a committee seat, and a chance to convene your field — worth more than any advance.

🌐

Community builders

Meetup, GDG, hackathon and AI-community organisers ready to level up their audience into a real conference.

🤝

Connectors

People with sponsor and government relationships in their city who want a credible brand to put in front of them.

🚀

Early-career operators

Ambitious organisers building a personal brand who'd rather own revenue than bill hours.

How it works

From application to your city's edition

01

Apply

Tell us your city, your background and why you. A short call follows.

02

Get appointed

We sign a simple City Chair Agreement — your title, your split, the brand licence. No fee for founding cities.

03

We set you up

Platform access, the playbook, marketing assets — and we help you land your first anchor sponsor.

04

You run it — and get paid as you sell

Sell tickets, close sponsors, run the day. Your share is released as the money comes in.

Founding City Chair — best terms, first movers

The first chair in each city gets the strongest deal. We're opening franchise editions now, with Dubai as the first satellite alongside our Abu Dhabi flagships (SmartCity, December 2026 · MathAI, March 2027).

Apply

Chair a city

Tell us about you and the city you'd run. Serious applications get a call within a week.

Prefer email? Write to [email protected] with subject "City Chair Application".