ICML 2009 Workshops (and Tutorials)

I’m the workshops chair for ICML this year. As such, I would like to personally encourage people to consider running a workshop.

My general view of workshops is that they are excellent as opportunities to discuss and develop research directions—some of my best work has come from collaborations at workshops and several workshops have substantially altered my thinking about various problems. My experience running workshops is that setting them up and making them fly often appears much harder than it actually is, and the workshops often come off much better than expected in the end. Submissions are due January 18, two weeks before papers.

Similarly, Ben Taskar is looking for good tutorials, which is complementary. Workshops are about exploring a subject, while a tutorial is about distilling it down into an easily taught essence, a vital part of the research process. Tutorials are due February 13, two weeks after papers.