About two months ago, I wrote on this blog that I had submitted a couple of proposals to the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference and the OptaPro Analytics Forum for consideration in their respective research symposia.

About two weeks ago, I received the word from both conferences that none of the proposals was accepted.  I’m never pleased to see a research proposal get rejected, but I accept the decision of the jury and will move forward.  If I choose to look on the positive side, I’ll be able to save money on travel and continue work on the projects at a more deliberate pace.  Looking further afield, this result provides me with an opportunity to decide on the vision and roadmap for Soccermetrics in the current landscape of soccer analytics.

So as far as conferences are concerned in 2016, I will be at the SSAC in early March, and there will be a pre-SSAC gathering for people involved in soccer (look for a Save the Date notice in a few days).  Looking much further ahead, I have tentative plans to attend the 2017 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Atlanta, which has the advantage of zero travel costs.  In between, I have no plans to attend other conferences at this time, and I will decline all travel to overseas conferences for which I am not an invited speaker.

Best wishes to all those who were accepted to the OptaPro Analytics Forum or the latter rounds of the SSAC Research Paper Competition, and I look forward to reading about some interesting research presented at both events.