The organizing committee was composed of Dr. Olivier Le Guen (CIESAS), Lorena Pool. M.A. (UNAM), and Josefina Safar, M.A. (Stockholm University). With this event, organizers reunite world specialists in emergent sign language like John B. Haviland (USCD), Kate Mesh (UT Austin), Lynn Hou (UT Austin), Marie Coppola (UCONN), Ivani Fusellier-Souza (University of Paris), and Lorena Pool Balam (UNAM) to be able to compare development processes of various emerging sign languages.

Because of this focus, most of the research presented were conducted in Latin America and especially Mexico: Yucatec MayaSign Language (Yucatán, Mexico), Sign Language from Zinacantán (Chiapas, Mexico), Chantina Sign Language (Oaxaca, Mexico), but also from more remote places such as Sign Language from Nicaragua (Nicaragua) and Emergent Sign Language from Brazil (Brazil).