Goal: The goal of the conference is to bring together the interdisciplinary community required to address this multi-faceted challenge: experts on exoplanet observations, early and extreme life on Earth, atmospheric biosignatures, and planet-finding telescopes.

Format: The sessions of the five-day meeting will include invited review and contributed talks, followed by extended discussions. There will be posters, but no parallel sessions. We will limit the number of attendees to 250 to allow interactions between the participants. The conference will include a banquet (Wednesday evening) and an afternoon break (Tuesday) and two evening slots for collaborative team meetings. The Friday morning session will include a coordinated discussion that will provide input for a conference summary.

Proceedings: The conference proceedings will be published as a special issue of the International Journal of Astrobiology (Cambridge University Press). Contributions will be available through the NASA ADS system.

School: An independently organized 3-day astrobiology school will precede the conference. The school will provide an introduction to graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to the multiple disciplines and concepts the conference builds upon. The school will be held at the University of Arizona's unique Biosphere 2 facility and lectures will be given by some of the invited speakers and University of Arizona faculty. The school, including accommodation and food, will be free for the participants of the EBI2014 conference. The Dean of the Astrobiology School is Dr Rory Barnes(University of Washington).