Neural Information Processing Systems 2020 Is Now Entirely Virtual Due To COVID-19

The Neural Information Processing Systems Foundation Board recently announced in a Medium post, that they have decided to hold NeurIPS 2020 entirely online.

NeurIPS is an annual meeting that is organised to foster the exchange of research on neural information processing systems in their biological, technological, mathematical, and theoretical aspects. The conference critically focuses on peer-reviewed novel research which is presented and discussed in the general session along with talks by some of the best minds of the industry.

The blog post has stated — “We were initially expecting to wait until the end of summer to decide if a hybrid physical and virtual meeting would be possible. However, we determined that it was more beneficial for our ongoing organisation to take this decision and remove the uncertainty of whether an in-person meeting would even be possible in December.”

Consequently, the organising committee of NeurIPS 2020 has now brought on two online experience chairs, Y-Lan Boureau and Hendrik Strobelt, to explore innovations that will enhance the virtual meeting. 

Alongside, the staff NeurIPS is continuously learning to enhance its virtual event experience for NeurIPS 2020. According to the blog post, the registration pricing will be significantly reduced, and there will be no late registration charges or caps on registration. Also, the organisation is welcoming all for this virtual event. 

“We will continue to follow how the COVID-19 pandemic develops, to determine whether NeurIPS Meetups could serve as a safe alternative to the usual main physical meeting. Further details to follow in the coming months, both for attendees and sponsors. But, for now, just one message: virtual meeting,” stated in the post.

The organisation also urges people to send their thoughts and suggestions for how to make the virtual conference as successful as past in-person meetings and how to best transition to an entirely online event.